STMSS02 - Dr. Craig Bryan - National Center for Veteran Studies

Seeking the Military Suicide Solution

About Today’s Guest:

Dr. Craig J. Bryan, PsyD, ABPP, is a board-certified clinical psychologist in cognitive behavioral psychology, and is currently the Executive Director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at The University of Utah. Dr. Bryan received his PsyD in clinical psychology in 2006 from Baylor University, and completed his clinical psychology residency at the Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, TX. He was retained as faculty in the Department of Psychology at Wilford Hall Medical Center, where he was Chief of the Primary Care Psychology Service, as well as the Suicide Prevention Program Manager for Lackland AFB.

Dr. Bryan deployed to Balad, Iraq, in 2009, where he served as the Director of the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic at the Air Force Theater Hospital. Dr. Bryan separated from active duty service shortly after his deployment, and currently researches suicidal behaviors and suicide prevention strategies, and psychological health and resiliency. He currently manages numerous federally-funded projects in excess of $10 million, to include studies testing cognitive behavioral treatments for suicidal service members, developing innovative methods to identify and detect high-risk military personnel and veterans, and disseminating effective treatments to health care providers and the public.

Dr. Bryan has published over 120 scientific articles and several books including Managing Suicide Risk in Primary Care, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Preventing Suicide Attempts: A Guide to Brief Treatments Across Clinical Settings, and the Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Veterans and Service Members: A Guide for the Non-Military Mental Health Clinician. He is the lead risk management consultant for the $25 million STRONG STAR Research Consortium and the $45 million Consortium to Alleviate PTSD, which investigates treatments for combat-related PTSD among military personnel, and has served on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Suicidology. He is considered a leading national expert on military and veteran suicide. For his contributions to military mental health and suicide prevention, Dr. Bryan has received numerous awards and recognitions including the Arthur W. Melton Award for Early Career Achievement, the Peter J.N. Linnerooth National Service Award, and the Charles S. Gersoni Military Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association; and the Edwin S Shneidman Award for outstanding contributions to research in suicide from the American Association of Suicidology.

Links Mentioned in this Episode:

National Center for Veterans Studies

Dr. Bryan on Social Media

Twitter

LinkedIn

Episode Sponsor:

milMedia Group

Shauna's latest book: Beyond the Military: A Leader's Handbook for Warrior Reintegration

Duane's latest book: Military in the Rear View Mirror: Mental Health and Wellness in Post-Military Life

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Episode Transcript:

Duane France: (00:00) Welcome to seeking the military suicide solution podcast brought to you by the military times. I'm Duane France

Shauna Springer: (00:06) And I'm doc Shauna Springer

Duane France: (00:08) And we'd like to thank you for taking the time to learn more about suicide in the military affiliated population. I'd like to thank our sponsors, milMedia group. milMedia group is a proven web design and digital media agency specializing in supporting organizations focusing on the military population. Find more about them at milmediagroup.com.

Duane France: (00:34) Thanks again to everybody who joined us to listen to an honest conversation about service member veteran and military family suicide. Our guest today is Dr. Craig Bryan from the University of Utah. Shauna, how about you tell us about our guest.

Shauna Springer: (00:47) Sure. Dr. Craig Bryan is an Air Force veteran, a board certified clinical psychologist and Executive Director of the National Center for Veteran Studies at the University of Utah. Greg and his wife Annabel met in Iraq in 2009 when both of them were engaged in military service roles. After separating from the military, at times, they've both considered going back in and their daughter posed this question to them: why would you think about going back to Iraq when you're both satisfied with your job, with your housing, with really just about everything else in your life? And so as Craig reflected on this question, he realized that the pull of returning to Iraq had a feeling of unfinished business and then he saw that this was actually an illusion. One that is maybe common to many who serve. As he put it, it's something we do to ourselves. Always thinking about what we've done and how it's not good enough even when we've done more than enough. Before we built a friendship, I admired Craig and AnnaBelle for their dedication to the mission of suicide prevention and their ability to engage in both in the trenches work with those who are suffering and their high level thought leadership. Craig and AnnaBelle are on mission to support fellow veterans. They are considered field leading experts on suicide and suicide prevention strategies. It's such a pleasure to have them on the podcast as one of our lead off interviews for Seeking the Military Suicide Solution.

Duane France: (02:07) I really appreciate that. You know, when we started putting this together, a lot of people, when I said, "who should we have on the show?" A lot of people said, Dr. Craig Bryan, he was usually top of the list. And so I'm really glad that we were able to have him on the show. Let's get into the conversation and we'll come back afterwards to pull out some of the key points.

Duane France: (02:35) From Your perspective, what is the thing that really works when it comes to preventing suicide in the military population?

Craig Bryan: (02:41) There's sort of two, I think, arms to thinking about what works in suicide prevention. One arm falls on the healthcare side of the house and then the other arm is outside of the healthcare system. And I point that out, because we know, you know, 70% of veterans who died by suicide are not actively seeking out of mental health care at the time of their death. And that seems to be true for both active duty currently serving military as well as those who are no longer in...