Photo By James Black | The National Intrepid Center of Excellence, or NICoE, a directorate of Walter Reed...... read more read more
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The National Intrepid Center of Excellence’s (NICoE) Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) offers service members a comprehensive, team-based approach to healing from traumatic brain injury. The four-week program serves small groups of four to six service members at a time, with the goal of returning them to their units medically ready and mission capable.
The program focuses on treating the whole person – not just the injury. More than 20 specialties work together to build a personalized care plans for patients, including neurology, psychiatry, audiology, neuro-optometry and other medical therapeutic services.
Animal-Assisted Therapy and Creative Arts Therapies, including art therapy, dance/movement therapy and music therapy, help service members heal emotionally, as well as physically. Over the course of the IOP, patients have approximately 90 individual encounters and 50 group encounters.
“We really are a team here at the NICoE,” said the NICoE’s Chief of Clinical Operations, Dr. Douglas Hawk. “Everyone is involved in the process of helping our service members recover. Whether it’s doctors talking to other doctors to go over the best course of treatment or involving family members to get them ready for when the service member leaves the NICoE, we feel that collaboration is key.”
Family member participation is a vital part of the recovery process. Intimate partners receive clinical assessments, referrals and resources, and are invited to participate in educational sessions with their partner. The inclusion of family members in the IOP helps them to better understand what their service members is experiencing and how to support them at home.
When service members come to the NICoE, it is often because other treatments have not worked. By bringing together a team of experts and supportive therapies, the program helps service members heal so they can resume their military service and their lives.
About the National Intrepid Center of Excellence:
The National Intrepid Center of Excellence provides world class medical, neurological, rehabilitative, behavioral health, advanced imaging and diagnostics, education and complementary services to service members to facilitate recovery and return to military service. As a center of excellence, the NICoE leads and innovates in the delivery of patient-centered care, conducts research to establish protocols for TBI treatment and shares staff expertise through professional training and education.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.02.2025 15:06 |
| Story ID: | 498375 |
| Location: | BETHESDA, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NICoE Program Offers Team Based Approach to Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery, by Ben Lasky, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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