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Paper Presentation

Military Personnel, Veterans, First-Responders, and their Families and Communities

Session: Bridging Barriers to Care: Disability Justice Frameworks for Veterans and First Responders

The Veteran Community Navigator Program and Disability Justice: Filling Gaps for Veterans

Built on the foundation of the collective impact model, this paper explores an innovative response to issues of veterans with disabilities: a veteran community navigator (VCN) program. Topics include collaborative community strategies, developing program processes, and service delivery innovations to meet the needs of hard-to-reach populations.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
  1. Situate the collective impact model within a larger systems framework and discuss its applicability to address access to community-based programs.
  2. Explain VCN service delivery processes and innovations and how these innovative practices provide access for hard-to-reach populations with disabilities such as veterans.
  3. Identify culturally sensitive methods for addressing veteran mental health and reintegration needs within the broader framework of disability justice.