Emory University and the BraveHeart: Welcome Back Veterans Southeast Initiative have launched the Star Behavioral Health Providers (SBHP) registry. The registry is a directory of behavioral health professionals throughout the state of Georgia who have received specialized training in serving military and veteran clinical populations. It represents collaboration between Emory University, the Georgia National Guard, the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Center for Deployment Psychology and the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University.

Anyone in the community who may be seeking mental health services from a therapist familiar with the specific needs and culture of the military will now be able to search for such a provider online. Consumers can search by provider location or clinical specialty (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, addiction). All providers on the registry will have received, at minimum, Tier One of the three-tier training that covers military-specific cultural competence. Only clinicians who are independently licensed by the state of Georgia and who have participated in SBHP training are eligible to be listed in the registry.

The SBHP initiative works with course content created by the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), a triservice psychology training consortium headquartered at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. Tier One will be taught by SBHP partners in various regions around the state of Georgia. Tier Two and Tier Three will be taught by special teams from CDP. 

• Tier One provides awareness about topics specific to the military and an introduction to military culture and information about deployments.
• Tier Two focuses on assessment and provides education about challenges and difficulties that may arise and are often associated with the military.
• Tier Three focuses on treatment and offers clinical training in specific evidence based treatments to address some of the behavioral health issues facing service members, such as PTSD.

For questions about the registry or training, call Dr. Liza Zwiebach at 404-727-8964, or send an email to georgiaadmin@starproviders.org.

To access the registry, please visit http://starproviders.org/services/states/georgia/.