Susanne B. Montgomery

Over 50% of the 21 million veterans in the U.S. with behavioral health challenges are not having their needs met due to stigma and other barriers to care. Resiliency-based models focused on strengthening protective factors to help individuals adapt to adversity in community-based settings, that can be delivered by trained lay persons, are emerging approaches to help address this issue. This longitudinal pilot study evaluated the impact of one such evidenced-based intervention, the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), on veterans’ behavioral health and daily functioning. A sample of 46 English-speaking, ethnically diverse veterans were recruited for this study. Repeated measure analyses showed that CRM skills significantly decreased distress and increased well-being. We also found strong short-term results for measures of daily functioning with a significant longer-term impact on participants’ ability to control their feelings of being ‘amped up’. Most (82%) participants maintained and continued to use the CRM skills daily to weekly and had very positive reactions to the program. Across our analyses, the results of this pilot study suggest that providing CRM trainings to veterans is a feasible, efficacious, and well-received approach to help address much-needed veteran behavioral health.