Work Type
Poster
Abstract
For my Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstone, I want to provide a secondary resource to the Yellow Ribbon Program provided by the Iowa National Guard to assist individuals who are experiencing mental health challenges due to the time they spent in service and address how this can impact community reintegration. Mental health is a growing topic within our society today and has been very big within the setting of our military. Through conversations with key informants there has been a large stigma related to the use of mental health services in the past while individuals are active duty. They say this is due to feeling like they are weak, they are scared that if they bring it up, they with be discharged, and there is a stigma from civilians that it is posing a risk to the safety of their country. This is resulting in many individuals coming out with many mental health challenges that have been untreated for extended periods of time such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Depending on what branch you are in and if you are in any special forces unit it can also dictate what resources are available to you to support different mental health challenges you might experience.
Publication Date
5-17-2026
Citation Information
Buerger, Ashley, "Community Reintegration and Mental Health Support Program for the Iowa National Guard" (2026). Student Works Occupational Therapy Capstones. 2.
https://digitalcommons.dmu.edu/stu_ot/2
