Fifth Annual UNC Charlotte Veterans’ Conference to Address Women Veterans’ Health and Reintegration

A daylong conference will bring top experts to UNC Charlotte’s campus to discuss strategies to serve women veterans transitioning from active military to civilian lives.

“Joining Forces for Women Veterans’ Health and Reintegration,” is free and open to the public, and will be held February 27, 2018 at the UNC Charlotte Student Union.

National, state, and regional experts, students, faculty, service providers and others from across the reigon will join in a dialogue on military culture and the need to join forces to support women veterans’ health and reintegration to civilian life.

The conference’s keynote speakers include:

• Rear Admiral Martha Herb, EdD, LCPC and Director, Inter-American Defense College;
• Penny Greer-Link, Women Veteran Program Manager, W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center, Salisbury, N.C.; and
• Janene McGee, Director of Mecklenburg County Community Support Services Veterans Services Division, and Interim Region III Manager.

“Understanding military culture and health needs of women veterans will help service providers to be military informed and support successful transition of veterans into roles as students, employees, and family members,” said RADM Herb.

The state’s large military presence highlights the need to make veteran’s services a priority, noted McGee. “North Carolina is home to more than 80,000 female veterans reside in NC. Mecklenburg County is barely third in the state with 6,293 female veterans. Through education and awareness, together we can recognize their service too.”

A series of breakout sessions at the February event will feature presenters from community organizations, the Veterans Affairs Health Center, and the university discussing military culture and implications for women veterans’ health care practice. Three of these sessions will be panel discussions, one composed of community clinicians, one composed of veteran students, and the other of clinician researchers from the Raleigh Regional Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC).

The conference will feature a research poster session and community services vendor fair that will provide an opportunity for participants to better understand military culture and implications for education and evidence-based practice.

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The UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services, Schools of Nursing and Social Work, the Health Psychology Graduate Student Association, the Office of Veteran Student Services, and the Student Health and Counseling Center, in partnership with Mecklenburg County Community Support Services Veterans Service Division, Department of Veterans Affairs, and W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center, are partnering to present “Joining Forces for Women Veterans’ Health and Reintegration”

The event is funded by a grant from the UNC Charlotte Chancellor’s Fund, and resources from the Health Psychology Graduate Student Association and the Academy for Veteran and Military Health.