DCoE Centers

DCoE oversees three centers, each of which contributes unique insights, standards, clinical tools and research products to the fields of psychological health and traumatic brain injury.

Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center

The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) is the traumatic brain injury (TBI) operational component of DCoE. The DVBIC mission is to serve active-duty military, their beneficiaries and veterans with TBIs through state-of-the-art clinical care, innovative clinical research initiatives and educational programs, and support for force health protection services. DVBIC fulfills this mission through ongoing collaboration with the Defense Department, military services, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), civilian health partners, local communities, families and individuals with TBI.


The Defense Department has further solidified the center’s role by naming it the office of responsibility for these tasks: 

• Creation and maintenance of a TBI surveillance database
• Service compliance for pre-deployment neurocognitive testing
• Creation and distribution of the Family Caregiver Curriculum
• Design and execution of a 15-year longitudinal study of the effects of TBI in Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom service members and their families
• Design and completion of independent head-to-head study to evaluate the reliability and validity of computerized neurocognitive tests

DVBIC was founded in 1992. It is made up of a network of 17 centers, operating out of 10 military treatment facilities, five VA polytrauma hospitals and two civilian rehabilitation centers. For more information, visit dvbic.org.

Deployment Health Clinical Center

For more than 15 years, Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) has worked to improve deployment-related health care. DHCC seeks to transform military health care delivery systems from a disease management model to a more effective and efficient population-based collaborative model of care through health systems research, program implementation support at military treatment facilities (MTFs) and program evaluation services.

DHCC has been ahead of the curve in promoting patient- and family-centered care by developing and educating about care systems that meet the deployment-related and behavioral health needs of our service members proactively and comprehensively. Integrated and collaborative primary care delivery systems reduce stigma, ensure service member needs are met and assist them to fully reintegrate with home and family after deployment.

DHCC focus areas are: 

• Transforming behavioral health care delivery through integration into primary care. For example, the RESPECT-Mil program, which operates in 95 military clinics, screens more than 75,000 primary care visits each month for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Service members diagnosed with psychological health concerns receive care coordinated in primary care and periodic follow-up, while clinics and MTFs are closely monitored for performance and remission rates through program evaluation measures embedded into the care system.
• Improving specialty PTSD treatment by establishing a centralized resource center (Tri-service Integrator of Outpatient Programming Systems—TrIOPS) to assist and promote intensive outpatient treatment programs throughout the military.
• Studying innovative ways for treating PTSD and depression in the military health care system, such as STEPS UP, a randomized effectiveness trial of strategies including telephone-based care management and therapy.
• Providing deployment-related health education and outreach through the DHCC website (pdhealth.mil) clinician and service member helplines, and participation in military medical conferences.

For more information, visit pdhealth.mil.

National Center for Telehealth and Technology

The National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) is comprised of clinical psychologists, researchers, interactive designers and technical specialists who develop behavioral health assessment, screening, reference and treatment tools for the military community.

Its mission is to lead the development of telehealth and technology solutions for psychological health and TBI to improve the lives of the nation’s warriors, veterans and their families. T2 seeks to identify, treat and minimize or eliminate the short- and long-term adverse effects of TBI and mental health conditions associated with military service. T2 partners with the VA and other organizations throughout the world.

Key Objectives: 

• Serve as the Defense Department resource for use of technologies in psychological health and TBI care
• Deploy technological strategies to provide care in remote or underserved areas
• Leverage innovative technologies to help reduce care-based stigma
• Develop psychological health and TBI telehealth standards, processes and review mechanisms
• Coordinate services with other Defense Department, VA and civilian partners
• Research and validate technological applications for psychological health and TBI care

T2 also works to eradicate the stigma that can deter people in the military from seeking help. The center conducts quality research to evaluate the efficacy of its technology-based products and programs. T2 is also the principal coordinator of Defense Department initiatives involving telehealth, online behavioral health tools, suicide surveillance and prevention, and information technology. For more information, visit t2health.org.