McLean, VA — Our Military Kids will host its first-ever symposium highlighting children of wounded warriors, June 6, in Washington DC.

“It’s a gathering whose time has come,” said Linda Davidson, Our Military Kids’ executive director. “While it’s wonderful to have seen support go out to wounded warriors and their caregivers since 9/11, it’s just as important to focus on the children who make sacrifices every day. When a military parent is injured, kids experience fear, disrupted routines, secondary PTSD, and depression.”

Attendees will include clinicians, researchers, policy advocates, and family members from across the country – key players in the sphere of wounded warriors, who will discuss challenges of wounded warrior children, lessons learned, and approaches for moving forward in a unified way.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Stephen Cozza, professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University. Dr. Cozza, a psychiatrist in the U.S. Army for 25 years, has focused on the clinical and community response to trauma and the impact of deployment and combat injury, illness, and death on military service members and their families.

The keynote address will be followed by panel discussions with wounded warriors and their family members, as well as participants from Harvard University, Military Child and Education Coalition, Rand Corporation and more.

“What we’re after is a unity of vision,” said Davidson. “Those of us working in the wounded warrior world can use a more integrated focus, more cohesive treatments – call it what you will. Tuesday marks a first step toward that end.”

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