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MST Monologues. Sonja Fry, LCSW, US Army Veteran Marcia Hall, PhD, MA, RN APHA November, 2013, Boston, MD. Sonja Fry, LCSW. US Army Veteran – 1981-1989 Member of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Ok
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MSTMonologues Sonja Fry, LCSW, US Army VeteranMarcia Hall, PhD, MA, RN APHA November, 2013, Boston, MD.
Sonja Fry, LCSW • US Army Veteran – 1981-1989 • Member of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Ok • Currently working for the Roseburg VA Healthcare System as a Military Sexual Trauma Social Worker at the Eugene VA Clinic. • Member, Governor’s Task Force on Women Veterans Healthcare in Oregon,2009 - 2010. • 13 years in the field of social work – Drug and Alcohol counseling/preventionist/sexual trauma.
Marcia Hall, PhD, MA, RN • 13 Years as Military Sexual Trauma Counselor at VA Roseburg Medical Center • Women Veteran Program Manager Roseburg Healthcare System: Overseeing Services for Women Veterans at: Roseburg Medical Center and Clinics in Eugene, N. Bend, and Brookings, OR and Crescent City, CA. An “Extremely Rural Area” - Member Governors Task Force on Women Veterans Healthcare 2009 - 2010 - Member Attorney Generals Advisory Council - Domestic and Sexual Violence 2006 - 2012 • Author: Lifelines: Women, Male Violence and Personal Safety • Peer Reviewed Publications: MST Practice Environment and Organizational Support; Frontlines of Domestic Violence; Addressing Cumulative Trauma in Female Veterans • Lead/Consultant: Oregon Violence Against Women Prevention Plan: A guide and framework for funding, practice, research, and policy in Oregon - Centers for Disease Control. • 35 years working in efforts to prevent and respond to sexual assault and domestic violence against women.
Military Sexual Trauma: MST • “Evidence suggests that the problems and the after affects of MST continue to be a leading health consequence of military service for women”. ~ Carol Turner
Gaps and Opportunities • We can view “gaps” as unavailable needed intervention services in response to MST for survivors of MST • We can also view “gaps” as the need for primary prevention – the prevention of MST before it occurs. • We view both military and civilian communities as having critical gaps in accurate education and understanding of MST. • The MST Monologues seek to utilize narrative education – ‘story telling’ as a means of promoting both prevention, intervention and post-vention efforts.
Prevention and Intervention begin with Education and Awareness • Both the VA and DoD have launched efforts to increase awareness of MST with brochures, posters, media messaging. Yet the subject and the survivors remain – largely invisible and marginalized. • After years in the field, as well as conducting and reviewing research, we recognized a need to develop additional new methods of reaching both civilian and military communities. • We sought to harness the power of ‘narratives’ to educate and engage individuals, systems, and communities to recognize and respond to MST.
MST Monologues: Overview • The MST Monologues are a new approach to educating veterans, non-veterans, VA Staff and community members on identifying the physical and mental health effects of military sexual trauma, and educating staff and the public on social and occupational impairment on those veterans. • The MST Monologues have been developed as ‘a culturally competent’ approach to education which puts the survivor-Veteran at the center of the experience and the educational content. This is a ‘Veteran Centered’ approach to increasing awareness and knowledge of MST survivors experienced reality. • The MST Monologues weave histories, research, and experiential knowledge into a cohesive whole - a story shared and told.
The use of “Narrative”. • Narratives are pervasive and hold fundamental appeal across cultures and ages. • Narratives provide links, connections and meaning to human activity. • Narratives provide a coherent structure that promotes learning and reflection. • Narratives can move audiences, through empathetic listening, to think and act in ways that benefit advocacy for a subject or individual (MST). • And, Narratives give a voice to those who may not otherwise be heard.
Today we will share with you ‘voices’ of women Veterans – The shared stories, the manifestations, the longitudinal effects, and the lifetimes of survival afterMST – revealed through our presentation of MST Monologues.
Afghanistan/Iraq (OEF/OIF) Monologue Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Afghanistan Operation Iraq Freedom (OIF) - Iraq
VIETNAM ERA Monologue Vietnam Era Female Veteran
POST VIETNAM VETERAN Monologue Post Vietnam Female Veteran
WW II Monologue WWII Female Veteran