STEP-Home

For groups starting in May. Do you know a Veteran who has gotten out of the service in the last 3 years and needs support in transitioning home? STEP-Home offers Veterans an opportunity to join other Veterans in a specially designed workshop focused on military to civilian reintegration difficulties with work and school, memory and concentration, anger and irritability, mental health support, and relationships. Weekly meetings are VIRTUAL and open to Veterans throughout the United States. Earn up to $100 for participating. Call or text 617.390.6516 or click here for more information https://varedcap.rcp.vaec.va.gov/redcap/surveys/?s=MAA8JYR3EW9WD9PC

Check out the recent work that has come from our STEP-Home reintegration workshop, a program built to support Veterans in their transition from military to civilian life.

: VA Boston and Houston researchers developed a tool to help Veterans adjust to civilian life after military service and better cope with mental health stressors. In a pilot group of 184 Veterans, those participating in the STEP-Home program showed improved daily function and integration, as well as better impulse and anger control, when compared with Veterans receiving the standard present-centered group therapy. The STEP-Home workshop was delivered in 12 voluntary, 90-minute group sessions. The sessions were designed to provide a concrete framework for understanding emotions, thoughts, and behaviors resulting from stressors. Workshop leaders provided strategies to solve problems with the goal of self-awareness, a sense of agency, impulse control, and control over one’s own behavior. The results suggest STEP-Home could offer an efficient method of helping Veterans struggling with reintegration into civilian life. (Behavior Therapy, Dec. 17, 2025)


https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/news_brief.cfm?RecordID=258349

This study, just published in Behavior Therapy, shows that the STEP-Home intervention developed at TRACTS at VA Boston is an effective treatment to improve anger, impulse control, and adjustment to civilian life after military service for US Veterans. STEP-Home addresses an important gap in transdiagnostic interventions to improve daily function in Veterans that suffer from multiple co-occurring health conditions common after serving in the U.S. military. Transdiagnostic interventions can alleviate symptoms and shorten treatment wait times, offering a cost-effective, efficient, often more acceptable alternative to single modality treatment approaches.

To download the manuscript: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005789425001248?dgcid=author

This Veterans Day, we honor the generations of Veterans whose service has strengthened and protected our nation.

Happy Veterans Day!

Next group starting in January 2026 - Do you know a Veteran who has gotten out of the service in the last 3 years and needs support in transitioning home? STEP-Home offers Veterans an opportunity to join other Veterans in a specially designed workshop focused on military to civilian reintegration difficulties with work and school, memory and concentration, anger and irritability, mental health support, and relationships. Weekly meetings are VIRTUAL and open to Veterans throughout the United States. Earn up to $100 for participating. Call or text 617.390.6516 or click here for more information https://varedcap.rcp.vaec.va.gov/redcap/surveys/?s=MAA8JYR3EW9WD9PC

Next group starting in September 2025 - Do you know a Veteran who has gotten out of the service in the last 3 years and needs support in transitioning home? STEP-Home offers Veterans an opportunity to join other Veterans in a specially designed workshop focused on military to civilian reintegration difficulties with work and school, memory and concentration, anger and irritability, mental health support, and relationships. Weekly meetings are VIRTUAL and open to Veterans throughout the United States. Earn up to $100 for participating. Call or text 617.390.6516 or click here for more information

STEP-Home Interest Form

Visit TRACTS at the Veteran's Music Festival, Benefits and Career Fair, For Veterans, first responders and their families, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 19, 2025, Pageant Field, 1 Merrymount Pkwy, Quincy, Mass. Find out more about our program and enjoy:

• Live music
• Free food
• Job fair
• Housing info
• TRACTS information
• Parkinson's resource pavilion
• Veterans benefits and health care info

Veterans deployed in the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn) face a multitude of challenges reintegrating into civilian life after military service. There is a need for evidence-based support programs to address the wide-reaching cognitive, psychological, and physical symptoms that can impede civilian reintegration. This study indicated that online, group-based, reintegration-focused interventions facilitate beneficial social connections among veterans. Veterans enrolled in STEP-Home reported learning more practical problem-solving and emotional regulation skills and were more open to accessing other Veterans Health Administration care after treatment completion than veterans in the control group. Results emphasize the opportunity for group and skills-based interventions focused on reintegration to increase social support, enhance practical emotional regulation skills, and promote Veterans Health Administration care among veterans. For the complete article, please visit: https://heartbrain.hms.harvard.edu/publication/veterans-perspectives-two-transdiagnostic-group-workshops-improve-military-civilian

Next group starting in April 2025 - Do you know a Veteran who has gotten out of the service in the last 3 years and needs support in transitioning home? STEP-Home offers Veterans an opportunity to join other Veterans in a specially designed workshop focused on military to civilian reintegration difficulties with work and school, memory and concentration, anger and irritability, mental health support, and relationships. Weekly meetings are VIRTUAL and open to Veterans throughout the United States. Earn up to $100 for participating. Call or text 617.390.6516 or click here for more information

STEP-Home Interest Form

Local Boston NBC 10 showcased our TRACTS and STEP-Home programs and how they have helped to understand and treat trauma.

In studying veterans' brains, Boston doctors hope to solve puzzle of treating trauma A breakthrough program developed at the Boston VA medical center is helping heal the psychological and physical wounds of war. It tailors treatments to veterans struggling to adjust to civilian life by treating all the health issues at the same time instead of individually. Like so many of America.....

Check out this excellent program, Guitars 4 Vets. Helping Veterans cope with PTSD through music.

Guitars 4 Vets Helping Veterans Cope With PTSD Through Music