UNCW’s School of Social Work will host guest speakers Richard Tedeschi and Maj. Thomas A. Jarrett March 11 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Burney Center. It is a part of the department’s annually held session discussing post-traumatic growth for returning soldiers.

The event is being orchestrated by Dr. Robert Blundo, a professor in the School of Social Work and an integral member of the “Strength Collaborative.”

“The Strength Collaborative is a program done with Chris Hall [another professor in the School of Social Work] where we focus on developing programs for people’s strength and resiliency. It basically studies people’s ability to survive traumatic events, which directly relates to PTSD and the upcoming lecture series,” Blundo said.

Blundo has recruited Tedeschi who he said is, “One of the most prominent psychologists in his field.”

Tedeschi teaches at UNC Charlotte. His lecture—discussing methods for facilitation in Post Tratmatic Stress Disorder patients and their families—will be followed by Jarret who will speak about his own experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“This is a topic of discussion that we will hopefully be able to develop courses on for the social work major,” Blundo said. “Because of UNCW’s close proximity to Camp Lejeune, it seems appropriate for us to hold the lecture. Many practitioners in the field are expected to come, as well as veterans coping with PTSD from Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.”

UNCW is well known as being a military friendly school and was recognized as being one of the top universities in the country to embrace veterans by G.I. Jobs. The upcoming lecture series serves to encourage students, faculty and all veterans to attend the series, learn more about the debilitating syndrome and learn coping methods to prevent the effects of PTSD.