O'Mara extends support to veterans and military families, gets behind effort to expand treatment program for veterans suffering post-traumatic stress (UPDATEDx2)

Albany, N.Y., March 6—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C-Big Flats) joined several of his Senate colleagues this week to call for increased state funding to support the expansion of a groundbreaking treatment program for military servicemen and servicewomen suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) -- a program known as the Research & Recognition Project.

The project’s Executive Director is Dr. Frank J. Bourke of Corning (shown at the far right in the photo above), a clinical psychologist with more than three decades of experience in the field.  O’Mara said that he’s worked with Bourke over the past several years to help advance and promote the Research & Recognition Project in support of veterans and military families.

“It’s a debilitating illness severely impacting the lives of thousands of our brave men and women returning from the battlefield,” said O’Mara, noting studies that have shown that 30 percent of soldiers develop mental health concerns within 3 to 4 months of returning home. “I think we have a duty and a responsibility to do whatever is possible to provide our military men and women with treatments that can help them overcome the harrowing effects of PTSD and regain a healthy and productive life.  The Research and Recognition Project has demonstrated effective advancements in this field.  I’m a believer in this program. Through the additional financial support we’re seeking, it could truly begin turning around the lives of more and more of our veterans and, by extension, the lives of their families and loved ones in New York State and nationally."

[watch Senator O'Mara's comments in support of the Research & Recognition Project]

O’Mara and several of his Senate colleagues are urging the inclusion of $1.6 million in the 2015-2016 New York State budget for what’s known as the NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Research & Recognition Project – an innovative, cutting-edge treatment that has shown exciting and successful advances in the treatment of PTSD among veterans in New York State over the past several years at Fort Drum and other state facilities where it’s being used, particularly in the mid-Hudson Valley.

[UPDATED, March 9th: Read and watch more in the Star-Gazette, Corning Leader, and WLEA News]

UPDATED, March 12th: The Senate Budget Resolution includes funding for the Research & Recognition Project]

[watch more from this week's news conference]

Read more about the project at http://www.researchandrecognition.org.