Coming up next on this special Veteran's Day edition of Arizona Horizon, we'll hear about a new trauma and addiction program designed to help veterans and first responders.

Also tonight, the development o AI tools to help veterans fight social isolation.

And we'll learn about a creativ writing workshop specifically designed for veterans.

Those stories and more.

Next on this special edition of Arizona Horizon.

Arizona Horizon is made possible by contributions from the Friends of Arizona PBS, members of your public television station.

Good evening, and welcome to this special Veteran's Day edition of Arizona Horizon.

I'm Ted Simons.

A new program called unbroken is designed to help active military and veterans, along with first responders and others on the front lines, who are facing PTSD and substance abuse challenges.

To learn more, we welcome the programs leader and 30 yea US Navy veteran Bill Reynolds.

It's good to have you here.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you so much for the invite.

Give me a better definition of unbroken.

Unbroken is the name that we that we came up for, for this new program that we have at the Meadows.

It just it demonstrates resilience.

People that have been through a lot of adverse experiences, but they're still standing.

And we're talking, as I mentioned, active military veterans also first responders and public safety personnel.

Correct?

Yes, sir.

And how does that work?

Well, you know, we know that the veterans and the first responders in general, it's an underserved population, not necessarily because they don't have access to care, but because of the stigma.

So this is a this is a population that wants to do it on their own.

They have a certain amount of shame for asking for help.

So we're doing everything we can to break that stigma.

So with that, very interesting that you say that because these are people that don't want to ask for help, because they don't think asking for help is what the right thin to do?

The strong thing to do?

There's a strong thing, definitely.

But for example, with law enforcement you know, there's a big stigma that they might lose their jobs for asking for help.

Oh, interesting.

And that's the, you know, the greatest fear of any law enforcement officer to lose their gun or their badge So how does your treatment diffe from other methods in dealing, let's say, with with a more focus group, with dealing with veterans.

So what we do with The Meadows is it's a holistic program.

It's not a cookie cutter treatment program.

There's a lot of one size fits all programs out there.

So what we do is every single treatment, every plan is individualized.

We do a head to toe physical examination on people.

We do lab work, and everybody gets a complete psychiatric evaluation.

And based upon their needs, we we tailor their programing to what they nee Its described as a therapeutic environment.

What does that mean?

So it's a it's not a inpatient program.

It's not a hospital.

It's a residential program located in Wickenburg.

Beautiful surroundings.

People typically come to the campus for 30 to 45 days.

And it's just a real serene, healing environment with supportive staff and peers for them as well.

You mentioned The Meadows.

It's there at the Meadows, very well known place for these sorts of fully integrated with the Meadows.

Yes, sir.

So you're basically you are the Meadows then.

But but a different brand.

Correct.

How important is that?

Well, what we do is, you know, with veterans and first responders, they seem to respond best when they're amongst like minded people.

Right.

So we have me as a 30 year Navy veteran, and a lot of my staff members are veterans and we have former first responders on staff.

So just having that additional connection for them really makes a world of difference.

I see that it also includes the Meadows Brain Center.

Yes.

What is that and why is that important?

So the Meadows Brain Center is it's neurofeedback.

It's a form of it's a form of therapy where people we have neurofeedback technicians and it's basically learning to sort of re-regulate your nervous system through through different devices that we have.

Is that like biofeedback you same thing, same kind of thing, but just more advanced.

Correct.

Okay.

How did you get into your 30 year US Navy?

You should be in San Diego.

Somewhere or in Florida or somewhere.

Yeah.

Yeah, but you're here in Arizona and you're doing this.

How did you get here?

I wanted to get back because, you know during my 30 years in the Navy, probably one of the turning point I had was a deployment to Iraq with the surgical company with the Marines back in 2004.

And I was witness to a lot of things.

And I had my own struggle for a little bit when I got back when I did get back to San Diego And I just know the importance I know that treatment works and there's still a big need for it.

When you were experiencing the treatment in whatever way that you did.

Could you say that this is working?

This is not working.

Could you figure out what was best?

Yes, sir.

How?

I mean, well, but at the time it was happening, you could figure it out.

Well, it was it was difficult.

I had a lot of guidance.

I had a lot of good Navy medicine people working with me to help guide my path.

And experience with working with first responders.

How does that differ or does it differ?

It doesn't really differ that much.

I mean, you know, I always say in the military, when we deploy overseas for 6 or 7 months or in the Army sometimes for a year, at least we get to come back to the State for a while and take a break with first responders.

They're on the streets every day So over time, you know we call that cumulative trauma.

So they don't really get much of a break from that.

And we kind of refer to this ear But again the importance of the culture, the military, first responders, public safety profe that has to play into this.

Yes.

And is that why it is focused toward these people and not necessarily those of us on the outside?

Correct.

There's a big there's a wonderful book called tribe that was writte by a guy named Sebastian Junger.

And everybody that comes into treatment gets a copy of that book, but it talks about the importance of human connection.

And there's an extra sort of additional importance of that with, with this population, there's just sort of an automatic built in brotherhood and sisterhood with, with veterans and first responders.

When you started this program, did you envision what it is right now?

I'm not.

We still have a lot of things that I want to do, but we certainly are off to a good start.

And yes, sir, we have.

And you're seeing results.

We are getting great feedback.

It's just wonderful.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so the program has been around for how long?

We just started i two months ago.

Two months ago.

Oh goodness gracious.

Yes you do got a long way to go then.

We do, but we're off to a good start.

Where do you find out more?

And again, where do you find out more about this particular program as opposed to the Meadows in general, or do you have to go through the Meadows, go to the Meadows website.

And something that's important to realize is, you know, The Meadows has been treating first responders and veterans for many many years.

I mean the Meadows have been around for 50 years.

We do trauma treatment very well so we're just adding some additional services for this population.

But if you go to the Meadows Behavioral Health, you can find out about unbroken.

Very good Bill Reynolds.

Again the program is unbroken.

Thank you sir.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Catherine Anaya, host of Horizonte the groundbreaking program that has served as a platform for Arizona's Latino community for more than two decades.

Latinos care about issues across the board just like everyone else.

There's a lot of diversity and thought and opinion.

We just need to make sure parents understand the value.

And having multilingual student we like to hear our voices heard Stream episodes online, at AZPBS.org, Youtube or on the PBS app.

Many aging Americans are at risk of loneliness and isolation and veterans can be especially vulnerable.

Tonight, we take a look at research into AI tools that could help fight social isolation, especially among veterans.

We spoke to Ming Zhao from ASU School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and Nicole Roberts from ASU School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Good to have you both here.

Thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

Nicole, we'll start with you.

So Edge Care is an acronym.

What does it stand for and what does it mean.

Well it stands for technology devices on the edge that doctor Zhao can talk about.

And it is bringing technology to veterans and older adults to help with social health.

And these are this is new technology.

And it's a new way to look at social isolation.

Correct.

That's right.

We now know that social health is central to brain health.

They're not separate.

And it's very important to find ways that older adults and veterans especially, can really connect with their communities and connect by way of edge devices.

What would qualify as an edge device?

So anything Alexa devices would be a good example.

And serial devices.

Those are the devices that the users they interact with.

And they also devices actually interact with the physical things such as cameras, your security cameras, your doorbells.

Those are all considered devices Yes.

So the ring devices, cell phones smartwatches, all of that business.

Yes.

And it's all it all goes into like like a digital assistant.

Is that is that how that works?

Right.

So our goal is to take all the data that are connected by the edge devices.

And we use the data to help.

And then AI, the power of AI to help us understand the social health of users an to provide recommendations and interventions.

So the AI takes all this information as AI tends to do it needs information, it feeds on information, but you give it information.

If I'm wearing thi and going around the house and everything.

It just it continues to build.

What what if someone needs help?

If someone doesn't need help, these sorts of things.

Exactly.

Yes.

So one thing that we are currently developing is a social health coach.

So AI driven coach the based on the data that we can the coach th AI can collect from from users.

It can understand the social health status of the users and the provider recommendations It functions like a human coach, but it's completely genetic drift.

Yeah.

And assistant and a coach and all of those things.

Nicole, this was this was a grant, right?

This is how this development is going.

Talk to us about that.

Yeah.

So we had a grant from the National Science Foundation with is the Pi and also collaborators David Coon in the School of Nursing, the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, doctor Aron Chu, who's also in Fulton as a human systems engineer.

And so our interdisciplinary team was given a grant through the Smart and Connected Communities program because, again, we're an interdisciplinary tea and we work very closely with community partners at the Phoenix VA through the Alzheimer's Association.

And we've had a follow on grant from the National Institutes of Health from their Aim Ahead program in order to conduct this work and the presentation to receive the grant, what was emphasized?

How was this presented?

So I study emotion.

I'm a clinical psychologist by training.

And as humans were very evolved to recognize others emotions, other signals stress.

But as humans were also good at hiding those signals.

And so it can be difficult to know if someone is struggling.

And so we talked about the importance of knowing when someone is struggling, and perhaps using technology to help detect that and intervene.

And so the grant was poised as developmen of technology from the ground up with our community partners, we conducted focus groups with veterans, with care partners, with health care providers to understand what their needs are.

And as we mentioned before, the idea is that if you know, if x, y, and z happened when this particular person is suffering from A, B and C, you put it all together and the digital assistant says does what does it warn the person?

Does it?

How does that work?

Can you talk about it?

So our focus is on social health So first we need to understand what is the health status of the users, how lonely they feel.

How do they experience depression.

And based on that understanding AI can can can work with the can explore the options with the users, provides suggested suggestions and activities, resources they can, they can, they can use and also maybe suggest contacting the Calgary and the health providers.

And the coach can also proactively involve their caregivers, and the health providers and caregivers would have access to this information.

I would imagine if the person chooses for them to have access it is set up to be a flexible system and to really benefit users privacy and trust, and titrate to the leve with which they feel comfortable And what was there an emphasis on follo as we were talking about here?

I mean, it's one thing to sa this person is feeling isolated.

It's another to say, let's let's get them to the next spot.

Absolutely.

The goal is to connect them with other humans.

And there's all sorts of horror stories these days of people becoming overreliant on technology and on AI coaches, and we definitely want to safeguard that by ensuring that they're even more connected with their family members, community providers, and also to identify resources in the community.

And so one advantage of veterans is they really want to help.

They want to contribute.

We found in our focus groups, again and again, they're willing to help others even more than themselves.

So that can be leverage to create a stronger community.

Indeed, indeed.

Okay.

How is this?

Is this the finished product?

Is it still in development?

What have we got?

It's doing the above.

Yeah.

We actually at the beginning stage of the, of the new project that Nicol just mentioned from the, from AI So we're developing if that we can deploy user trusted devices to collect data and help us fine tune the AI and data will be able to use that fine tune the AI to provide recommendation that I mentioned earlier.

Time frame on that.

What do you think?

Within the next couple of years, we're going to actually we're looking for participants.

We're soon going to be deploying the test, the beta testing of the technology this summer and then continue to build it out over the next couple of years.

Very good.

And continued succes and thanks so much for sharing.

We appreciate it Good to have you here.

Thank you New England.

In many cases.

Delaware.

Delawar The Veterans Writing Circle is a group made up of veterans that meet twice a month to develop writing skills and express themselves creatively and engage with each other.

It's a writing group created for veteran by veterans and their supporters The group is led by U.S Army veteran Michelle Loposky.

She's also the director of development and strategic partnership at ASU's Pat Tillman Veterans Center.

Good to have you here.

Thank you Ted for having me.

So this is a group of veterans.

Is it all veterans, mostly veterans.

How does that work?

Yes, it's it's a mixture of veterans.

Some dependents even once had an active duty member who is who joined us in between deployments.

Wow.

So it's for any veteran military connected who has a passion for writing or is even published or just thinking about it.

What kind of writing?

We talking fiction, nonfiction, poetry, screen, all of it.

All of it?

Yes.

All of it.

So we provide a space, as you mentioned, twice a month, all online, giving prompt and having discussions, allowing them time to also share any work that they woul love the group to, to talk about And what we do is collectively tal about what that work look like, what they can improv on, giving each other's kudos.

And so it's a great time.

The subjects for all these things doesn't have to be military service, correct?

No, not at all.

In fact, we do themes, various things that happens in life.

And that's really what's beautiful about it.

It's a it's a time for us who have missed that camaraderie in the military.

Yes.

And coming togethe and just sharing life stories.

Yeah, we hear about tha a lot from folks transitioning.

They have some Folks have kind of a rough time And this obviously helps sharing those kinds of experiences I would think would help.

Yeah for sure.

But at the same time just talking about life.

Yeah.

And what that looks like how much of an impact service did for them and the impact that they're making now in their community.

What are they looking for?

What does if an aspiring veteran comes and says, I don't know I think I like poetry, but I'm not sure.

Yeah.

What kind of stories are you hearing?

I know it seems a little intimidating because we do have some published writers and poets.

We even have one who's in Houston.

He's a spoken word amazing poet and that can seem intimidating.

But we invite anyone even if you're thinking about it And so really encouraging them to tap into their artistr and then just sharing it with all of us.

And what kind of writing have you seen?

Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, you name it across the board.

But when you see this writing, is it surprise you?

Sometimes?

Yes, sometimes, yeah.

Can get a little emotiona and inspiring at the same time.

Yeah.

What do you do when it gets too emotional?

How do you how do you turn the temperature a little bit, or do you know it depends.

It's very organic, the conversations organic.

And it's really how the group is responding to it.

Myself as a teaching artist, I just facilitate the conversation to flow easy.

So.

So if a veteran comes in did not sure they take they, you know, scribble some things.

They're not sure.

How would you approach that.

What would you say to that particular veteran.

Well for one it's very flexible.

We don't force them to speak.

If they don't want to share, they can keep their camera off and just listen in.

In.

Some people even just write their piece on the chat.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So and you mentioned camera and you mentioned chat.

Are these all zoom meetings.

Is this entirely zoom?

Yeah, it's all zoom.

It's been around for over ten years I think really the the zoom world happened because of Covid, right.

And so it's just been so much easier.

We've had people right now our group, we have folks from Maryland, from Texas, from Wisconsin.

We even had someone from Australia once.

Its all over.

Makes it so much easier if you're doing zoom.

I thought people were walking in that you talk about intimidating.

That would be pretty intimidating.

Yeah, no.

And again, we do sometime have these veterans who come in who are too shy to share.

And so they'll keep that camera And sometimes they'll even just talk without their camera on.

What got you involved in all this?

So I was asked to be the facilitato for the Veterans Writing Circle.

This is now my third year.

Someone caught wind that I myself love to do poems myself.

I'm just for passion.

For pleasure.

Not I'm not published.

Right.

And so it's just they I have a love for that and just enjoying that with other veterans.

And you serve four years as a combat medic?

Yes I did.

Do you find that you go back to those years for inspiration?

Yes.

It made such an impact.

It's the best decision I ever made.

Second best decision is working for the passive and veteran center.

I've been there for almost 11 years.

Oh my goodness.

And sharing this, you know, experienc with other veterans, especially our younger ones, making them sure they feel they still have a community.

For the people that have been in the writing program, the writing Circle.

Has anyone been published?

Has anyone?

They have.

Yes.

Yes, we have quite a few, actually.

We have one who served in the Vietnam War.

He lives in New Mexico and he's been published few times.

In fact, he encourages veterans community to do writing circles in person.

So yeah, yeah.

As far as reaction, though, even from those who haven't been published, just just general reaction.

What do you hear?

Well, one, having a community, an outlet for veterans that's just not about service.

And it's about a passion that we all share.

Writing.

Yes.

And so I also I also challenged them.

I have some who don't want to do poetry.

I have some who don't want to do prose.

And we I force them to do it because it only answers their writing ability.

And they have a new appreciation for that type of job.

So indeed, and the arts and healing, we've done a lot of stories on those over the it really makes a difference.

It really does I mean, I'm living proof of it.

I have found poetry to be my therapy, my outlet, especially in the chaos of everything.

It's where I feel more centered.

So.

Well, congratulations on this, Michelle Loposky.

Again, veteran Writing Circle over there at at ASU.

That beautiful building that Virginia Piper workshop to come visit.

Oh, it's such a beautiful little bill.

I'd love to go insid and just sit there for a while, rocking chairs and all my good.

Congratulations and continued success.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And that is it for now.

I'm Ted Simons thank you so much for joining us on this special Veteran's Day edition of Arizona Horizon.

You have a great evening.