Event Schedule

May 11, 2023

7:30 AM - Breakfast & Registration

8:15 AM - Welcome & Panel Discussion

“A Communal Intervention for Military Moral Injury”

with Chris Antal, Peter Yeomans, Leroy Enck, and Hannibal Collick

10:00 AM - Breakout Sessions

1. The Art of Being a Veteran: How To Find Meaning and Purpose After Service

2. Kent County Veterans Resources

3. The Cumulative Effects of Stress and Burnout on PTSD Among First Responders

4. Impact of Trauma of Trauma in Healthcare: Therapeutic Considerations for Supporting Healers

11:30 AM - Lunch

12:30 PM - Keynote

"When Work Wounds: Addressing Professional Trauma"

with Lea Didion

The majority of individuals living in the United States will experience at least one traumatic incident in their lifetime and specific professions have been increasingly experiencing trauma and stress as a direct result of their work. Given this, why is trauma therapy often thought of as a "specialty" treatment, when trauma experiences are so ubiquitous? In this keynote address, Dr. Didion will not only highlight the need for more trauma-informed training as a standard practice but will also discuss the increasing and mounting pressure faced by those in certain professions – such as journalists, first responders, and healthcare professionals. Dr. Didion will discuss trauma-informed care and its implementation as well as the similarities and differences between trauma and trauma treatment in these populations when compared to working with traumatized veterans. 

2:15 PM - Vet Collaboratory

What issues and opportunities exist for veterans and first responders in West Michigan? 

This year we’re trying something a bit different on the afternoon of the conference: A Veteran Collaboratory. 

What is a Collaboratory?  It’s a participant-driven meeting where the attendees decide on the agenda, discussion topics, and workshops. The format provides an excellent opportunity for attendees from diverse disciplines to work collaboratively on topics of common interest.

Learn more here!

4:00 PM - Community Healing Ceremony

The Community Healing Ceremony is a service of reconciliation for Veterans and non-Veterans led by VA chaplains, community clergy, and Veterans.

6:00 PM - Community Healing Ceremony Reception

Lea Didion

Dr. Didion (she/hers) completed her PsyD at Pepperdine University and internship at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center in 2009. Dr. Didion completed a PTSD postdoctoral fellowship at the Salem, Virginia VAMC where she first learned DBT and was a member of the DBT Consultation Team. She then moved to Germany to work with active-duty services members and their families at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Dr. Didion then spent a year working at the Tampa Veterans Affairs before returning to the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center as a psychologist in the PTSD Clinic from 2014-2021. During those years, Dr. Didion developed and created a full-model DBT team – the first of its kind at the DCVA – and led the team and clinical service as well as co-leading groups and providing supervision and consultation to trainees and colleagues. In 2021 Dr. Didion left to pursue private practice full time. Dr. Didion now co-owns a group private dedicated to providing culturally-affirming evidence-based treatments for trauma as well as trainings, supervision, and consultation. In private practice Dr. Didion has developed specialties in working with journalists, members of the AAPI community, and those who have experienced intergenerational trauma. Dr. Didion identifies as biracial (Asian and White) and strives to bring conversations about identity and intersection into her clinical work and to trainings and consultation.

Chris Antal

Chris J. Antal, D.Min., M.Div., has worked as a clinical chaplain at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia since 2015. Chaplain Antal has written and taught about moral injury and he co-leads a group for moral injury at the VA. He has been a congregational minister and a military chaplain and those experiences inform his clinical work. Rev. Antal is ordained in and endorsed by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Peter Yeomans

Peter Yeomans, Ph.D. M.Ed., has worked as a clinical psychologist at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia since 2009.  He is currently the team leader of the PTSD outpatient clinical team and had previously spent many years addressing co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorders as part of outpatient addiction services. He has written and taught about moral injury and he co-leads a group for moral injury at the VA.

Leroy Enck

Leroy Anthony Enck served three deployments in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantryperson with 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment—the most decorated infantry unit in the United States Marine Corps. LA has lived in Alaska, graduated law school, worked for the US House of Representatives, and coached high school wrestling on two national title teams. Currently, he is a writer and public speaker who resides in South Philadelphia with his seven year-old daughter.  

Hannibal Collick

Sgt. Hannibal Collick is a retired civil affairs specialist who served in the US Army from 2002 to 2017. During his career, he was deployed twice to Iraq and served as a training coordinator in charge of preparing soldiers to go overseas. Since retiring from the military in 2017, Sgt. Collick has been active in his community, particularly with addressing the issue of moral injury among veterans. Sgt. Collick's awards and decorations include the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.