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VETERANS ON DECK
Veterans on Deck is a non-profit maritime initiative for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), past experience of military sexual trauma, or serious mental illness that was created by Associate Dean Ron Acierno. Veterans on Deck uses the forum of sailing as a therapeutic milieu to foster experiences of empowerment, mastery, and successful social interaction. Dr. Acierno explains, “I started Veterans on Deck because I felt that the excellent work toward symptom reduction we were doing at the VA needed to be complemented by a vehicle to facilitate community reintegration and social interaction, two very stressful topics for veterans with PTSD. Sailing involves inescapable social stress, with the probability of eventual enjoyment of the socially stressful situation if they stick with it, which they do because, well, you’re stuck on a boat.” He further explains, “This combination of social stress with potential social reinforcement is a perfect training experience for veterans who need to ‘recalibrate’ themselves and their sense of perceived danger (i.e. uncontrolled social situations equals life threat) so that they can actually enjoy social interactions, which by their very nature, are somewhat stressful.” The Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center is located next door to a marina and Dr. Acierno loves to sail. He shares, “It was a natural next step to take the clinical work out of the clinic and onto the boats. It has been a tremendous success, and we even have some outcome data showing improvement above clinic-based care on measures of PTSD, depression and social connectedness.” Veterans on Deck has received significant press, including a 15-minute segment on national television when country singer Trace Adkins set sail with the Dr. Acierno and the veterans on the television show, Great American Heroes that aired on Great American Country.
ristina M. Lopez, PhD joined the faculty as an
assistant professor in November 2013. She also holds a joint appointment in the Mental Health Disparities and Diversity Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC. Dr. Lopez received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her Master of Science and PhD in clinical psychology from Florida State University. She completed a pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at MUSC and is a member of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos, Latinos, and Native Americans in Science. Dr. Lopez’s research interests include identification of barriers to treatment engagement in mental health services, the use of culturally tailored interventions as a means of engaging specific high-risk ethnic groups in prevention and behavioral health services, increasing visibility and access of trauma related services to Latino and other underserved populations, and assessment of provider-level factors that affect youth and family involvement in outpatient community-based therapy. In addition to her role as a researcher, Dr. Lopez is a licensed clinical psychologist and serves as a clinical supervisor for predoctoral psychology interns at a schoolbased MUSC mental health clinic at Stall High School in North Charleston. She also sits on several committees that address recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented ethnic minorities in academia. Dr. Lopez has been honored as a National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Scholar and serves as Associate Editor for the Clinician’s
Research Digest, a publication distributed monthly by the American Psychological Association.
SPRING | SUMMER 2014
Lifelines
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