Because fewer than 7% of Americans have served in uniform, most Americans are unfamiliar with military service and culture. As a result, members of the military and Veteran community are at greater risk for disconnection and lack of belonging with the civilian community. PsychArmor’s mission is to bridge the military-civilian divide by educating and training a Nation. Each week, Duane France, a combat Veteran and Clinical Mental Health Counselor, will dig deep into the stories “Behind The Mission” - and create a conversation with organizations and leaders on how they are utilizing their expertise and networks to support the military-connected community.
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BTM199 - Behind the Mission Year Two Retrospective
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 • Duration 35:01
Show Summary
On today’s episode, we’re featuring a retrospective review of year two of the Behind the Mission Podcast, with the shows grouped by categories and snippets of sample shows representing the different categories.
Provide Feedback
As a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health.
For this week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the Behind the Mission Podcast. It’s available on all of the podcast distribution platforms, but you can also find this and every episode on the PsychArmor website. If you’re curious about a topic related to service members, veterans, and their families, chances are we have a guest talking about it over the past two hundred episodes…and if you don’t find what you’re looking for, let us know, and we will find a guest to meet the need.
Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
BTM198 - Deborah Grassman - Opus Peace
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 • Duration 32:51
BTM189 - KaLea Lehman - the Military Special Operations Family Collaborative
Tuesday, October 8, 2024 • Duration 33:33
Show Summary
On today’s episode, we’re featuring a conversation with Special Operations Spouse KaLea Lehman. She is the Executive Director of The Military Special Operations Family Collaborative, a nonprofit public health initiative to enable the success of America’s special operations warriors and families through collaborative health and well-being research and programs.
Provide Feedback
As a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health.
About Today’s Guests
KaLea Lehman is the Executive Director of The Military Special Operations Family Collaborative, a nonprofit public health initiative to enable the success of America’s special operations warriors and families through collaborative health and well-being research and programs.
She has a broad range of experience working in healthcare advocacy, communications, and education. KaLea completed her undergraduate education at The George Washington University in 2007 and earned her Master of Education in 2018 from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.
Her work and interests are policy research, analysis, and development. Her research interests include organizational behavior in matrix and high reliability organizations and their intersection with well-being. KaLea and her husband have been part of the Special Operations community for over 10 years and have four beautiful children. In their free time, they enjoy running adventures and traveling to new places.
BTM101 - Andrew Morton - Storytelling and Adaptability in Post-Military Life
Tuesday, January 10, 2023 • Duration 29:54
About Today’s Guest
Andrew Morton currently serves as part of PsychArmor’s Strategic Communications team in the role of External Relations. Andrew is retired Army Infantry Officer with a combined 30 years of service and experience within the military community and veteran employment and transition space. Since his transition from active-duty Andrew has spent much of the last decade focused on veterans’ employment and transition initiatives across various strategic roles at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). He has served on various boards and advisory commissions across the Department of Labor, Veterans Services Organizations, and the private sector focused on military community employment, retention, and inclusive work-place practices.
Andrew served in multiple leadership and communications roles during his twenty-one year Infantry and Public Affairs officer career to include Chief of Marketing and Advertising for the Army Reserve, and Chief of Pan-Arabic Media Outreach and Engagement as part of Multi-National Force-Iraq. He continued to serve in multiple communications roles during his time at SHRM building programs focused on breaking down barriers and building connections between the military and employer community. As contributing author to the late Justin Constantine’s book From We Will to At Will- A Handbook for Veteran Hiring, Transitioning, and Thriving in the Workplace, Andrew and Constantine addressed the challenge of that cultural shift from the military community as well as the mutually-shared responsibility to close that gap in understanding through individual and organizational-level awareness.
Andrew’s first-person journey as soldier and military spouse has also instilled a passion for behavior and mental health initiatives. As part of this journey he is completing the final clinical portion of his Masters in Mental Health Counseling from the College of William and Mary serving as a therapist-intern within the Veterans Administration which he will complete in May of 2023.
Andrew lives in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Emily, as well as his three children- and a myriad of animals.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
BTM100 - Assistant Secretary of Labor James Rodriguez - VETS
Tuesday, January 3, 2023 • Duration 34:41
About Today’s Guest
The Honorable James D. Rodriguez, MA is the U.S. Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS). He is responsible for preparing America's veterans, service members and their spouses for meaningful careers. In this capacity and in Fiscal Year 2021, over 2,800 DOL Veterans’ Employment and Training Service staff, contractors, and grantees served more than 331,000 veterans and military spouses across all Agency programs.
Mr. Rodriguez is an executive leader and proud veteran with more than 30 years of experience in the U.S. government, corporate sector, and 21 years in the United States Marine Corps. He possesses a comprehensive background in program management, interagency collaboration, and policy development. He also has extensive senior-level experience building and managing multi-million-dollar budgets and large diverse teams while meeting the expectations of the President of the United States and large corporate enterprises. Additionally, he has demonstrated experience with developing and leading large scale international and national programs with a commitment to operational excellence, risk management and quality assurance.
Mr. Rodriguez’s recent executive experience includes leadership roles within Deloitte LLP’s Government and Public Sector practice and BAE Systems, Inc. Government Relations department. He also previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Office of Warrior Care Policy, Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2014 through 2017.
Mr. Rodriguez earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Maryland, University College and a Master of Arts in International Commerce and Policy from the George Mason University, School of Public Policy. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Government and Political Science in the University of Maryland, Global Campus.
BTM99 - Crystal Ellington - DEI and Sexual Assault Prevention for Veterans
Tuesday, December 20, 2022 • Duration 32:46
About Today’s Guest
Crystal is a dynamic, agile storyteller, who is passionate about speaking up for those who have historically been disenfranchised, systemically excluded and institutionally oppressed. She leverages her service to her country to ensure that those that have served, and those still serving, have a voice and a safe space. She is a fellow in the George W. Bush Presidential Center Stand-To Veterans Leadership Program, the Veterans Program for Politics and Civic Engagement at Syracuse University, New Politics Leadership Academy, is a Co-Founder for Veterans at the Intersection (VATI), and Founder/CEO at GenOnyx Consulting, LLC. She also currently serves as an executive board member for her local American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). In her military career, she served four years in the United States Army as a helicopter mechanic in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and is now a combat veteran. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, brunch, volunteering, and spending time with her family.
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is three previous Behind the Mission Podcast Episodes:
In Episode 56, we featured a conversation with Navy Veteran Jerome Tennille as he talked about the convergence between community-based volunteerism and DEI principles https://psycharmor.org/podcast/jerome-tennille
In Episode 20, we had a conversation with Jennifer Dane from the Modern Military Association of America and the need to advocate for LGBTQ+ Service members and veterans
BTM98 - Kelcey Liverpool - Supporting Military Affiliated Children with Kids Rank
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 • Duration 27:31
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations. About Today’s Guest
Kelcey Liverpool, Founder & Executive Director of Kids Rank, likes to take ideas and bring solutions that help build communities. She has a passion for designing programs and initiatives that create change. Her background includes work within the arts, banking and nonprofit sectors with the common thread of relationship building and design.
Most notably, Kelcey Liverpool is the Founder and Executive Director of Kids Rank, founded in 2012 as a nonprofit organization designed specifically to support the social and emotional well-being of military-connected children. As a Navy spouse for 17 years, moving with her family a total of 9 times and volunteering in several roles at various military installation agencies, she understands first-hand the challenges that are faced by children and families of service members. Inspired by her own children’s resilience through many moves, separations and constant transitions Ms. Liverpool felt it was important to focus on the whole child recognizing both their strengths and challenges.
Celebrating 10 years, Kids Rank is growing as a trusted organization in the military and veteran community with plans for national expansion as part of a 3-year strategic plan. Over the last decade, Kelcey has successfully built strong relationships and partnered with several organizations, such as the USO of Illinois, the Red Cross, the Military Child Education Coalition and others in an effort to further the Kids Rank mission and awareness of supporting the needs of military connected children.
Kelcey was recently chosen to participate in a 2-year program as a Summit Fellow a program that seeks to connect impact-driven leaders within the Summit community to affect positive change in the world and broaden their reach. Kelcey was also named as a 2019 Aspen Fellow.
BTM97 - Joy Ashcraft - Maryland's Governor's Challenge to Prevent SMVF Suicide
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 • Duration 30:07
About Today’s Guest
Joy Ashcraft is the Director of Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans, a program under the Maryland Department of Health’s Behavioral Health Administration. Under her leadership, her team has revamped their data collection system, launched new program initiatives, reinvigorated their social media presence, and developed new education and training collaborations and initiatives. Joy is also the co-lead of the Maryland Governor's Challenge Team, a multi-agency collaboration whose goal is to prevent suicide among service members, veterans, and their families; a steering committee member of the Maryland Military-Civilian Coordinated Community Response Team; and a Maryland Veterans Trust Fund Board member. In her prior role as the Maryland Army National Guard Alcohol and Drug Control Officer, she received recognition for major improvements to the substance abuse and suicide prevention programs and for bringing innovative programs to reduce the stigma around and increase education about substance abuse and suicide.
Joy holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California where she specialized in Community Organization, Planning and Administration and minored in Military Social Work. Joy also holds a Master of Education degree in Guidance and Counseling from Bowie State University. She currently serves as a S3 Operations Officer and Behavioral Health Practitioner in the 10th Medical Regiment of the Maryland Defense Force.
BTM96 - Mary Reding - Supporting Military Spouses in the Legal Profession
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 • Duration 23:01
About Today’s Guest
Mary Reding is a government affairs exec with diverse private sector, non-profit, and public sector experience. Government experience includes leading the Office of Executive Councils and managing the development, implementation, and setting performance standards for management initiatives across the center of government through the ten C-Suite Executive boards including the President’s Management Council, Chief Financial Officers Council, Chief Information Officers Council, and the Performance Improvement Council. Mary now continues the #goodgov work at Grant Thornton Public Sector focusing on improving efficiencies for our Veteran’s community at the VA and across the Defense portfolio.
In addition to government service, Mary has a foundation in corporate law and non-profits serving as in-house counsel for Pebble Beach Company (www.pebblebeach.com) and leading international IT transformation team for Aviva Corporate (www.aviva.com).
Mary started advocating for licensing accommodations in 2010 and created the Military Spouse JD Network in 2011 and served as the founding President. Lobbying efforts were recognized by the DC Women’s Bar (awarded the DC “Star of the Bar”) and by the American Bar Association (honored w/ Grassroots Advocacy award for MSJDN).
The development of the workforce matters to Mary and she has mentored rising stars in business, in the military community, and in government through the creation of the CXO Fellows program and Homefront Rising. In 2018, Mary was selected as a Presidential Leadership Scholar building a bi-partisan community to solve our nation’s most important problems. And… she has the best volunteer job ever – Girl Scout troop leader.
BTM95 – Abby Malchow – Small Business Empowerment and Mental Health Advocacy at Amazon
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 • Duration 25:58
About Today’s Guest
Abby Malchow is the Sr. Business Development Manager of Small Business Partnerships for Small Business Empowerment at Amazon helps drive the success of small businesses and underserved business populations (including minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses). Additionally, Abby serves on the Global Board of Directors at Amazon for Mental Health & Well-Being (MHW) as the Director of Corporate Strategy. Abby helped launch MHW in April 2020 as Amazon’s 13th Affinity Group and in nine months MHW grew by a rate of 600% and currently has over 18K members from 27 countries across the globe. Prior to joining Amazon, Abby worked at Intel Corporation and is a retired U.S. Navy Chief and combat veteran, serving more than 20 years in the military.
Abby has been a passionate advocate for veteran suicide prevention since 2014 when she was one of the 22 veterans selected by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) to advocate to Congress for support of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for America’s Veterans Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on February 12th, 2015. Additionally, she is a 2018 alum of the inaugural cohort of President George W. Bush’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program where she worked in collaboration with Intel’s “AI for Good” team on developing Machine Learning (ML) models on social media platforms to provide targeted suicide prevention to veterans. More recently in 2020, she led a project at Amazon in collaboration with the AWS ML Solutions Lab which built a ML model for RallyPoint that will allow them to quickly identify posts that indicate a high risk of self-harm to enable potentially life-saving intervention.
Abby is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business, where she earned a Master of Business Administration degree. She also holds a B.B.A. (cum laude) in Business Administration from the University of San Diego.
This week’s Resource of the Week is a podcast episode that was previously recorded with Dr. Maguen on the Head Space and Timing Podcast. In this hour-long discussion, Dr. Maguen shares more thoughts on the development, assessment, and treatment of Moral Injury
Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week, is the PsychArmor course, Telling Your Story. A service member’s experience in the military is one that only they can tell and it's up to them how much they choose to share with others. In this course, four veterans share their personal stories and offer insight.
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week, is the PsychArmor course, Using the National Labor Exchange to Find Veterans to Hire. In this course, employers will learn how to utilize the national labor exchange to amplify their online recruiting strategy, gain access to special talent pipelines, and how to utilize other trusted partners to reach the maximum number of job seekers. You can find the link to this resource here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/Using-the-National-Labor-Exchange-to-Find-Veterans-to-Hire
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
In Episode 12, we had a conversation with retired Army Officer Dr. Samuel Odom and currently serving Army Officer First Lieutenant Marlon Dortch about their work as military social workers and the importance of diversity from a military social worker perspective. https://psycharmor.org/podcast/dr-samuel-odom-and-1lt-marlon-dortch
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course, Veteran 201: Military Families. The life of a military family can be chaotic and stressful. This course provides some insight into the unique challenges faced by military families.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course, VA S.A.V.E., Preventing Caregiver Suicide After taking this course, you will develop an understanding of the increased risk for suicide seen in military and Veteran caregivers, will be able to identify the signs of an at-risk Veteran caregiver, and know steps you can take to help a Veteran caregiver.
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course, Legal Issues and Documents Caregivers Need. This course provides ideas for the kinds of legal issues a caregiver will want to be aware of, what conversations to have with your service member or Veteran, and what documents caregivers might need to have handy for long-term care.
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course, Supporting Veteran-Owned Businesses: Supplier Diversity, In this course, you will learn strategies and best practices to implement Veteran supplier diversity in your business or organization.
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
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