The University of Texas at Dallas - Center for Brain Health

Military service is an inherently high-pressure profession. Many warriors returning from war experience symptoms related to depression, anxiety, difficulty in critical thinking, socializing, and behaviors indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The wounds of war also affect the entire family system.  Spouses and children often suffer extreme stress as their warrior heroes transition back to civilian life.

Through its Warrior Training, the Center for BrainHealth's Brain Performance Institute (BPI) helps warriors and their spouses or caregivers more effectively navigate this transition.

Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART), a science-based training, teaches strategies for improving frontal network (executive) function and down-regulating emotional responses, arming military veterans, service members, and their spouses or caregivers with the necessary tools to achieve successful and fulfilling personal and professional lives. By proactively optimizing brain performance, warriors and their families can build brain resilience and mitigate losses in cognitive capacity. The program is provided free to warriors.

SMART is based on 25 years of scientific study and is designed to strengthen regions in the brain that support planning, reasoning, decision-making, judgment, and emotion management. The training has been shown to improve strategic thinking, enhance attention and focus, and help down-regulate emotional responses, leading to improvements in quality of life and reductions in depressive and stress symptoms.

BPI's Warrior Team is staffed by expert clinicians and warrior trainers who are veterans themselves, many with combat experience.

The Warrior Team understands military culture and is uniquely equipped to help respond to the challenges that many veterans and active duty military face upon returning home from war.

SMART for Warriors is offered many times a year at the BPI's main campus and various other locations, thanks to the BPI's strong partnerships with many area VSOs. Training sessions are first-come, first-served and are typically structured in three-hour blocks with opportunities for follow-up or booster sessions. All classes must be completed in succession. Best results are achieved if participants can complete all the training sessions.

Eligibility

Career Phase:
Discharges Allowed:
Military Branch:
Programs for Family Members:
  • Caregivers
Service Counties:
  • Collin
  • Dallas
  • Denton
  • Ellis
  • Johnson
  • Kaufman
  • Parker
  • Rockwall
  • Tarrant
  • Wise
Services Category:
  • Mental Health
  • MH - Counseling
  • MH - Caregiver Support
VA Disability Rating Requirement:
Vet Plus: