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PORTLAND, Maine

Judith Kimball co-presents online conference for occupational therapists in the VA heath care system

Judith Kimball, Ph.D., OTR/L, professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, and Amy Kimball-Carpenter, supervisor of Occupational Therapy at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Florida, presented a two-part online conference for occupational therapists in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system on June 4-5, 2014.

The conference, titled “Identifying and Intervening in the Sensory Processing Aspects of PTSD and MTBI: Help for Our Veterans,” introduced the VA community to the possibility that Sensory Modulation Challenges (SMC) are an undiagnosed part of the diagnoses of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI).

The topic of discussion was how the behaviors seen when military personnel return from deployment can be interpreted not primarily as a psychological issue, but as a sensory processing one, influenced by the physical effect that witnessing traumatic events has on the brain. Interpreting part of the symptoms of PTSD and mTBI from a sensory processing perspective helps veterans to understand and learn to influence their nervous system reactions.

This conference generated a record 109 VA occupational therapists who participated, and was praised by Kimball and Kimball-Carpenter as “timely, thorough, and as well put together as anything we have ever had presented.”

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.