Not Alone - About Us

Not Alone started in 2008 when a group of warriors and professionals discovered a significant gap in the government's capacity to help warriors and their families come home from war. There needed to be a confidential online community where those warriors could congregate to help each other. Our personal experiences with war trauma led us to reach out to those that need help.

Not Alone has formed partnerships with organizations such as Little Planet Learning, Vote Vets, Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association, Actus Lend/Lease, Cracker Barrel, The Warriors' Legacy Fund, The Wounded Warrior Project, Centerstone and the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare to create new ways across the nation to help those returning from war.

Not Alone draws on a unique group of individuals with personal experience in the Iraq and Afghanistan war. We have been in your shoes. We have struggled to regain our lives and to find the new normal at home. The following professionals, warriors and experts have been vital in helping to bring the Not Alone vision into reality. We've been through the experience of war and returning home from war and hope that our persistence, experience and passion can help others in their journey as well. We understand. We get it.

If you are an organization that would like to know more or is interested in working with or helping Not Alone please email us at notalonehq@notalone.com .

Not Alone Advisory Board

John D. Bransford

John D. Bransford joined the University of Washington in Seattle in 2003 where he holds the title of the James W. Mifflin University Professorship and Professor of Education. Prior to this time he was Centennial Professor of Psychology and Education and Co-Director of the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University. Early works by Bransford and his colleagues in the 1970s included research in the areas of human learning, memory and problem solving, and helped shape the “cognitive revolution” in Psychology. Author of seven books and hundreds of articles and presentations, Bransford is an internationally renowned scholar in cognition and technology.

In 1984 Bransford was asked by the Dean of Peabody College at Vanderbilt to help begin a Learning Technology Center that would focus on education. The Center had grown from 7 people in 1984 to approximately 100 by 1999. During that time, Bransford and his colleagues developed and tested a number of innovative computer, videodisc, CD Rom and Internet programs for mathematics, science and literacy. Examples include the Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving Series in Mathematics, The Scientists in Action Series, and the Little Planet Literacy Series. Many of these programs are being used in schools throughout the world.

Bransford's Ph.D. dissertation won honorable mention in the national “Creative Talent Awards” Contest; several of his published articles (co-authored with colleagues) have won “article of the year” awards in the areas of science education, technology, design, and theories of transfer. Bransford received the Sutherland Prize for Research at Vanderbilt, has been elected to the National Academy of Education, and was awarded the Thorndike award for 2001.

Bransford served as Co-Chair of several National Academy of Science committees that wrote How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School (1999) and How People Learn, Bridging Research and Practice (1999). He is currently serving as Co Chair of another National Academy of Science committee as well as a National Academy of Education Committee. He is on the International Board of Advisors for Microsoft's Technology and Learning program, and has worked with the Gates Foundation to develop technology-enhanced workshops that link learning and leadership.

Dr. Ray Scurfield

Dr. Ray Scurfield is Professor of Social Work, Director of the interdisciplinary Katrina Research Center, President of the Gulf Coast Faculty Council, a Faculty Senator and counseling coordinator for the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast. Dr. Scurfield achieved the rank of full professor in the shortest possible time-frame since arriving at Southern Miss in 1998, and students have consistently rated him as outstanding as a teacher. He has twelve teaching and service awards since arriving at Southern Miss in 1998. These include 2001 Mississippi Outstanding Social Work Educator of the Year, Mississippi National Association of Social Work Award for 2006 as the Social Worker of the Year, designation as a “Hero of Katrina” by Southern Miss for his post-Katrina efforts in helping faculty, staff and students, and the inaugural winner of the 2007-08 Butch Oustalet Outstanding Service Award. He has served and continues to serve on many Southern Miss committees, to include the Provost's Search Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee for the Cross Creek Campus, the Provost's Council, the Associate Provost's Executive Committee and Management Team, the Long Beach City/USM Pedestrian and Bikeway Project and faculty representative on the Gulf Coast Space Committee.

His MSW and Doctor of Social Work are from the University of Southern California. Dr. Scurfield was an Army ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate, Dickinson College and served four years on active duty as a social work officer, to include a year in Vietnam on one of the Army's two psychiatric teams. This was followed by a distinguished 25-year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs in which he received numerous awards and recognitions. He directed several regional and national Post-traumatic Stress Disorder programs in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Tacoma, WA and was the initial Director of the VA's National Center for PTSD in Honolulu, HI where he was recognized as the VA Federal Manager/Supervisor of the Year in Hawaii. He has co-led two return trips to peace-time Vietnam with Vietnam veterans, to include an innovative integrated history and mental health Southern Miss Study Abroad course in 2000. Dr. Scurfield's 60+ publications include several peer-reviewed journal articles about Hurricane Katrina and a trilogy of books about war trauma, the most recent War Trauma. Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam to Iraq (2006). He has made over 350 media appearances, conference and training presentations to include 60 Minutes, Nightline, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio and numerous NPR-affiliated stations nationwide. He is recognized nationally and internationally through his writings and presentations as an expert in the field of post-traumatic stress in the area of war-related trauma and more recently concerning Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

Dr. Bridget Cantrell

Dr. Bridget Cantrell was appointed the 2004 Outstanding Female Non-Veteran for her service to veterans by the Governor's Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.

She has her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and is a private practitioner. Dr. Cantrell is one of a small number of specially selected and trained mental health providers for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD Program. She is also a provider under the Mental Health Fee Service Program, Puget Sound Veterans Health Care System (Seattle VA Medical Center).

Specializing in trauma for several years her primary work now encompasses treating war veterans from all eras and their family members. She also works with those veterans who have been sexually abused while serving in the military. In 2003, she received the Highest Productivity award for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) PTSD program.

Her extensive work with PTSD has also afforded her the opportunity to provide services for the Crime Victims Compensation Program for the State of Washington. She is also a consultant and expert witness in forensic cases.

Her dissertation research entitled “Social Support as a Function of PTSD within Washington State Vietnam Veteran Populations”, was presented to the Washington State Senate Select Committee for Veterans as part of the Governor’s Master Plan for the needs of veterans. Her research included a five-site sample of Vietnam veterans' bio-psychosocial needs that was used for planning future programs for the King County Veterans Program.

Dr. Cantrell’s research findings were formally presented at the European Traumatic Stress Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland. She was also invited to present in Brisbane, Australia at the Brisbane International Traumatic Stress Conference, as well as the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana.

In the Spring of 2004, Dr. Cantrell was requested by the U.S. Army to provide mental health services to the paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade stationed in Vicenza, Italy. While there, she focused upon helping these troops reintegrate with their loved ones and readjust to peacetime conditions after their prolonged combat exposure in Northern Iraq. Information and observations from this time of working with the Iraqi Freedom veterans gave birth to a new workbook course entitled “Turning Your Heart Toward Home”. The book and course is co-authored with veteran writer, Chuck Dean.

Dr. Cantrell is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS) and The International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS). She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of Washington, a Nationally Board Certified Mental Health Counselor.

Presently, she provides mental health services to active duty from all branches of the military, reservists, and Washington State National Guard troops and their families. This work focuses on treating military personnel who have experienced combat exposure or trauma, family deployment stress and readjustment issues after coming home. She helps family members better support themselves and their deployed loved ones. Dr. Cantrell is also involved with veteran advocacy at the Federal and State level to uphold the rights and ensure proper treatment of veterans.

She lives in Bellingham, Washington, and has offices in both Bellingham and Everett, Washington.

Len Bickman, Ph.D.

Leonard Bickman, Ph.D., is professor of psychology, psychiatry, and public policy. He is director of the Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement and associate dean for research at Peabody College. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology (social) from the City University of New York, his master’s degree in experimental psychopathology from Columbia University, and his bachelor’s from the City College of New York. Professor Bickman is a nationally recognized leader in program evaluation and mental health services research on children and adolescents. He has published more than 15 books and monographs and 180 articles and chapters and has been principal investigator on over 25 major grants from several agencies. He is co-editor of the Applied Research Methods Series published by Sage Publications since 1980. He is also co-editor of the SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods now in its second edition and collaborated on the new SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods. He is the co-author of the popular book Applied Research Design: A Practical Guide.

He has completed the evaluation of the largest mental health services demonstration project ever conducted on children and adolescents. This evaluation has won several awards, including one from the American Evaluation Association for Outstanding Evaluation. He also collaborated with state and local officials in Ohio on a multi-year randomized experiment that focused on an innovative mental health system for children and adolescents in the public sector. The award of the first training grant in child and adolescent mental health services research acknowledged his expertise in services research training. He was also awarded the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology. Professor Bickman co-edited the first monograph on methodological issues in the evaluation of child and adolescent mental health services.

His standing in this field has been recognized by the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service to the Department of Health and Human Services, by the American Psychological Association’s Award forDistinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy, and Vanderbilt University’s Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research. He is past president of the American Evaluation Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Professor Bickman is editor of the journal Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Health Services Research. He is currently conducting research for the Department of Education on two projects, the evaluation of a character education program, and using systematic feedback to improve principal leadership; a NIMH-funded grant on how to improve mental health services through feedback to clinicians; a NICHD grant on using baby books to promote maternal and child health, and a Department of Defense contract examining the post-deployment related continuum of care for returning soldiers. His other major interests include the development of a web-based measurement system for outcomes, and research on therapeutic alliance.

Missy Bradley , MS, NCC, BCETS, FAAETS

Melissa (Missy) Bradley, M.S., NCC, B.C.E.T.S. F.A.A.E.T.S. is a nationally recognized clinical educator, corporate consultant and author. She received both a Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Counseling Psychology from the University of Tennessee .

Bradley has spent twenty-seven years as an educator and, later, a psychotherapist, providing individual, group and family training and therapy. She is now a private practitioner and consultant in the Nashville , TN area ( Brentwood , TN ). As an EMDR trained (Level I and Level II; specialized protocol trainings) psychotherapist, she has had extensive experience in the field of sexual trauma and often trains personnel at medical and mental health agencies, universities, crisis lines, school systems, corporations and retreat centers in dealing with victims of trauma and other mental health and wellness issues. She has professional experience as a Child Sexual Abuse Investigator and provides expert witness testimony in criminal and civil court.

Most notably, as the developer of “Counseling Those Who Serve: Working with Veterans, First Responders and Their Families” and “Counseling Victims of Sexual Trauma: Three Stages of Healing”, Bradley has taught tens of thousands of professionals, including physicians, psychologists, nurses, Law Enforcement and District Attorneys in hundreds of cities in nearly every state in the United States and also Central America .

Ms. Bradley has developed one hundred and fifty corporate wellness and professional development trainings, such as: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator seminars, Management Development, Corporate Wellness Seminars and Team Building and is a frequent keynote speaker at conventions and conferences.

Ms. Bradley is a Fellow, Diplomate and Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress for the prestigious American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and a National Certified Counselor. She has been a frequent keynote speaker at national and statewide conventions. Among her professional associations, Bradley is a member of the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT).
Ms. Bradley is a frequent guest on regional and national radio and television news shows discussing a wide range of issues. Several of those news series addressing the subject of rape and sexual abuse have won prestigious national and international media awards for those interviews, including the Scripps Howard Award for Broadcasting Excellence, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Tennessee Educators Association and the New York Festival.