PTSD Awareness Month Begins Today

June is PTSD Awareness Month

Raise Awareness 

Ten steps to raise awareness on PTSD
10 Steps to Raise PTSD Awareness

Know more about PTSD.
Understand common reactions to trauma and when those reactions might be PTSD.

Challenge your beliefs about treatment.
PTSD treatment can help. We now have effective PTSD treatments that can make a difference in the lives of people with PTSD.

Explore the options for those with PTSD.
Find out where to get help for PTSD and learn how to choose a therapist. Also see our Self-Help and Coping section section to learn about peer support and other coping strategies.

Reach out. Make a difference.
You can help a family member with PTSD, including assisting your Veteran who needs care. Know there is support for friends and family too.

Know the facts.
More than half of US adults will experience at least one trauma in their lifetime. How common is PTSD?.
For Veterans and people who have been through violence and abuse, the number is higher.

Expand your understanding.
Learn about assessment and how to find out if someone has PTSD. Complete a brief checklist or take an online screen to see if a professional evaluation is needed. June 20th is National PTSD Screening Day.

Share PTSD information.
Share handouts, brochures, or wallet cards about trauma and PTSD.

Meet people who have lived with PTSD.
Visit AboutFace, an online gallery dedicated to Veterans talking about how PTSD treatment turned their lives around.

Take advantage of technology.
Download PTSD Coach mobile app and treatment companion apps in the National Center for PTSD's growing collection of mobile offerings.

Keep informed.
Get the latest information about PTSD. Sign up for our PTSD Monthly Update, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Four Houston Firefighters killed fighting motel fire

4 firefighters killed in Houston motel fire
CBS News

Four firefighters were killed while battling a fire that engulfed a Houston motel and restaurant on Friday, and at least five other people were hospitalized, authorities said.

Flames were shooting from the roof of the Southwest Inn, along one of Houston's most heavily traveled expressways, and black smoke was blanketing the area are firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze.

Three firefighters were killed at the scene, while the fourth died at a hospital, according to the mayor's office and local medical examiner. Five other people were injured and are hospitalized for chest pains or leg injuries.
read more here

Arkansas flash flooding kills sheriff, sweeps away officer, official says

Arkansas flash flooding kills sheriff, sweeps away officer, official says
By John Newland and Elizabeth Chuck
NBC News
May 31, 2013

Severe thunderstorms packing high winds, heavy rains, large hail and possibly tornadoes threatened eastern Oklahoma and much of Arkansas Friday, where flash flooding killed a sheriff and left a wildlife officer missing.

The death of Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpenter was confirmed Friday by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which said it was still in search-and-rescue mode for missing wildlife officer Joel Campora.

Carpenter had been responding to a swift water rescue near the Fourche La Fave River in western Arkansas, close to the Oklahoma border, when flash floods overcame him, according to the Game and Fish Commission.

Thursday’s storms also injured nine.
read more here

Air Force’s first African American female colonel buried

Air Force’s first African American female colonel buried
By Patricia Sullivan
Published: May 29, 2013

The first African American woman to be promoted to colonel in the Air Force was buried on a sultry Wednesday afternoon in Arlington National Cemetery, surrounded by scores of airmen in dress blues and about a dozen friends and family in somber summer suits and within sight of the soaring Air Force Memorial.

Ruth Alice Lucas, 92, who died March 23, “never accepted the injustice and prejudice of her time, and today we too must look for new ways in which we can better our world,” an Air Force chaplain, Maj. Robin Stephenson-Bratcher, said at the graveside.

Lucas worked the field of research, education and training, with particular interest in literacy.

In the November 1969 issue of Ebony magazine, she noted that among the servicemen then entering the military annually, “about 45,000 of them read below the fifth-grade level, and more than 30 percent of these men are black. Right now if I have any aim, it’s just to reach these men, to interest them in education and to motivate them to continue on.
read more here

Actress turns husband in over ricin mail

Texas Army veteran quizzed over poison letters sent to Obama and Bloomberg after his actress wife 'finds ricin in their FRIDGE'
Nathan Richardson's wife raised the alarm after finding a substance in refrigerator and internet searches for ricin, the Mayor and Obama
Richardson is an Army veteran and works at an army depot in Texas
Letters warned Bloomberg and Obama to stay away from gun law debate
Daily Mail
By HELEN LAWSON, JAMES NYE and LYDIA WARREN
31 May 2013

A Texas Army veteran is being questioned in connection with poison letters sent to President Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg after his wife found a container in their refrigerator filled with what appeared to be ricin.

The man, who neighbors identified to KSLA as father-of-five Nathaniel Richardson, is a civilian employee of the Department of Defense who works at the Red River Army Depot. Sources said he is being treated as a person of interest.

His wife, actress Shannon Glass, told officers that as well as the container in the fridge, she also found internet searches related to ricin production, Obama and Bloomberg on their computer.

The development comes two days after it emerged that Bloomberg and his anti-gun group were sent two ricin-laced letters. On Thursday, it was revealed that another, identical letter was sent to Obama.
read more here