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Our Next Lecture

Veterans with PTSD and Criminal Legal Involvement: Understanding Intersectional Aspects of Care

Matthew Stimmel, PhD and Ryan Holliday, PhD

Wednesday, December 21 at 2:00pm ET 

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About the Topic

Veterans with criminal legal involvement  (i.e., justice-involved Veterans) have heightened rates of mental health and psychosocial needs, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorder, depression, suicidal ideation and attempt, overdose and homelessness. Legal involvement and trauma histories often serve as reciprocal stressors that make Veterans’ experience in treatment and in navigating the criminal justice system more challenging. Furthermore, treatment providers may not be aware of the typical pathways that lead to justice system involvement, assess for the stressors and risks associated with this justice system involvement, nor be aware of the stigma these Veterans often face while accessing treatment at VA. Given these complex clinical and contextual factors this presentation will explain a model for understanding justice-system involvement, the relationship between justice-involvement and trauma, how to work with Veterans who have compounding clinical and legal stressors, and how to recognize and combat potential stigmatization when working with these Veterans.

About the Presenters

MATTHEW STIMMEL, PhD is the National Training Director for the Veteran Justice Programs (VJP).  In this role, he is responsible for developing and sustaining the education and training of over 400 VJP field staff, contributing to national VA policy on justice-involved veterans, and cultivating operational partnerships both internal and external to VA that advance VJP’s mission of ensuring access and care to justice-involved Veterans and reducing their risk of recidivism and homelessness. He is also a clinical instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry.  Dr. Stimmel completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology with a PTSD emphasis at VA Palo Alto Health Care System.  He continued there as a clinical psychologist and Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist and helped to establish several Veterans Treatment Courts in Northern California.  Dr. Stimmel received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Fordham University with a specialization in forensic psychology.

Featured Article

Veterans with PTSD in the Justice System

In recent years, programs have been developed to avoid unnecessary incarceration of Veterans who have deployed to war and subsequently developed mental health problems. The programs aim to assist Veterans who become involved in the justice system to get treatment for mental health problems that may exist.

Read the full article

Free Resources

Veterans Justice Outreach

The mission of the Veterans Justice Programs is to identify justice-involved Veterans and contact them through outreach, in order to facilitate access to VA services at the earliest possible point. Veterans Justice Programs accomplish this by building and maintaining partnerships between VA and key elements of the criminal justice system.

Read more

Download a factsheet

Find a VJO Specialist near you

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Additional Resources 

Are you treating U.S. Veterans?

Our team of expert clinicians is available to consult with any healthcare provider treating U.S. veterans in any setting.   We can discuss assessment, diagnosis, psychotherapy, medications, collaborating with VA care, patient and family education, continuing education, and just about anything else related to veterans and PTSD.  No question is too big or too small. Contact us at PTSDconsult@va.gov or 866-948-7880.