CHAPEL HILL — A program under scrutiny at UNC designed to help National Guard and Army reservists deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and their families has new leadership.
Bob Goodale, a retired grocery executive and state commerce official, was named director of the Citizen-Soldier Support Program, based in the university’s Howard Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. He has directed the Citizen-Soldier program’s behavioral health initiative since 2007.
Created in 2005 with the help of a federal grant, the program was intended to strengthen services for military personnel and their families before, during and after they are deployed, especially for those families not living near large military bases where services are readily available.
But the program faced stiff criticism from Congresswoman Sue Myrick of Charlotte last year after reports surfaced that it had spent $7.3 million of the $9.8 million in federal money, but had little proof that it delivered the intended services.
“Behavioral health is Citizen-Soldier’s most successful component, so we’ll focus on that strength in providing assistance to soldiers coming back from active duty along with their families,” said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development. “Taking this step, under Bob Goodale’s leadership, is consistent with the recommendations emerging from an internal review and guidance from the program’s National Advisory Council.”
Goodale succeeds Peter Leousis, who will continue as deputy director of the Odum institute.
Waldrop said the Citizen-Solider program is expanding the behavioral health initiative to further develop a network of civilian behavioral health providers.
So far, the program has trained more than 2,000 providers to work with returning combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury and their families.
Next year, nearly 4,500 National Guard soldiers from North Carolina’s 30th Heavy Combat Brigade will return from deployment in Iraq. The Citizen-Soldier program’s goal is to put in place a statewide behavioral health “safety net” before they return home, Waldrop said. A Web-based, searchable database of civilian behavioral health providers is scheduled to launch in January.
As part of the restructuring, Waldrop said the Citizen-Soldier program also would:
- Phase out its own “Building Community Partnership” efforts and redirect that funding to expanding the behavioral health initiative.
- Move a training program for the Army OneSource initiative, “Building Community Partnerships,” to the Jordan Institute for Families in the UNC School of Social Work.
- Reduce several staff positions and re-engage its National Advisory Council in support of the program’s work.
The changes follow a report by Chancellor Holden Thorp to the university’s Board of Trustees in September, as well as recommendations and ongoing deliberations of an internal review committee.
