Ongoing support from the Foundation is critical to women Veterans, active-duty couples.
(Boston)—The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) has given a one-year grant to Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine for the continued expansion of the Women Veterans Network (WoVeN), a national, peer support network led by women veterans, for women veterans. Additionally, BWF has provided funding for one year for Strength at Home Couples (SAH-C), a program to enhance intimate relationships and prevent conflict and aggression, including intimate partner violence (IPV), as well as preventing self-harm thoughts and behaviors. Since 2016, the foundation has provided a total of $1.8m to support both programs.
In addition to increasing access to WoVeN, this most recent grant will allow for the development of tools to standardize and enhance training and support materials to ensure quality control for members; further development of the infrastructure necessary for retention of current WoVeN members and continuing the mission to engage and provide women Veterans with peer support.
“The support from the Bob Woodruff Foundation is critical in our efforts to provide additional WoVeN peer leader trainings and expansion of services to women Veterans,” said Tara Galovski, PhD, director of WoVeN and professor of psychiatry at the school. “We are incredibly grateful to the Foundation for their continued support and are proud of our partnership to provide ongoing support for the millions of women who have sacrificed so much to serve us,” adds Galovski, who also is director of the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
The Strength at Home Couples program to prevent intimate partner violence in military families has demonstrated reductions and cessation of physical, psychological and sexual IPV in military couples in two separate randomized controlled trials funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Casey Taft, PhD, professor psychiatry at the school, said his grant will support outreach and services to active-duty couples in military installations for participating in the SAH-C program. “We will provide culturally responsive care to all couples virtually, and at no cost to them, because financial and childcare issues can be important barriers for participation in this population. The program will be implemented confidentially and outside of the service members’ chain of command, so that couples can participate more openly without fear of military implications for engaging in a relationship enhancement program,” explains Taft who also is a psychologist at the National Center for PTSD in the VA Boston Healthcare System.
About the Bob Woodruff Foundation
The Bob Woodruff Foundation was founded by ABC News reporter Bob Woodruff and his family after Bob was injured by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq. The Foundation funds proven organizations delivering services to veterans, service members and their families in all 50 states. Bob Woodruff Foundation’s Got Your 6 Network of 400 boots-on-the-ground partner organizations provides physical and mental health care, housing and legal assistance, disaster relief, and job placement services to the military community. The Foundation has funded $228 million in proven veteran programs and services since it opened its doors in 2006. More than two million Americans in the military community receive care or support from a Got Your 6 Network partner each year, building on the Foundation’s commitment to always have the backs of those who have served.