{"id":82660,"date":"2018-05-09T10:25:54","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T14:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=82660"},"modified":"2025-06-17T14:40:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T18:40:59","slug":"helping-the-helpers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping the Helpers"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you build it, they will come.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the saying that comes to mind when thinking of treatment facilities dedicated to anxiety, trauma and PTSD. But it certainly has been the case for a one-of-a-kind clinical research center at UCF dedicated to treating those areas for combat veterans and military personnel.<\/p>\n

Deborah Beidel joined UCF faculty in 2007. Four years later, the Pegasus professor of psychology and medical education founded UCF RESTORES, which has changed hundreds of lives since its inception. Through virtual reality, patients are confronted with triggers. They see bombs detonate and smell smoke or gunfire. It\u2019s like being on the front lines in Iraq or Afghanistan, but instead patients are on UCF\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.<\/p>\n

Since it opened, the clinic has provided no-cost therapy to more than 300 veterans and active duty military and more recently, worked with first responders and victims of mass shootings. Their work has earned national praise and support, including receiving part of the largest alumni gift and being named the winner of the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award<\/a> for \u201ccreating community impacts through partnerships.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the clinic, patients are exposed to realistic, individualized, virtual-reality therapy five days a week for three consecutive weeks \u2014 a format avoided in the past for its intensity. It\u2019s a stark contrast from what\u2019s the norm in PTSD therapy. Combined with daily group-therapy sessions on anger management, depression, and socialization, the results show speak for themselves. Sixty-six percent of the first 100 patients treated at UCF RESTORES no longer had symptoms of PTSD after the three-week treatment, and six months later, only one patient had relapsed. Only 2 percent of patients dropped out of therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have military personnel seeking us out from not only all-around Florida, but all over the U.S.,\u201d says Beidel. \u201cOne veteran literally used his last dollar to buy a plane ticket to come to Florida. He walked to our clinic from the airport. If that doesn\u2019t show we\u2019re providing a needed service, I don\u2019t know what would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aware of the need for expanding and improving services, Beidel partnered with Clint Bowers, a fellow Pegasus professor and national expert in the area of training science, to expand offerings for first responders, including educational workshops on peer support training.<\/p>\n

On June 12, 2016, UCF RESTORES received a phone call from the Orlando Fire Department: \u201cWe need you down here right now.\u201d\u00a0It was just a few hours after a gunman walked into the Pulse nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring another 53.\u00a0Throughout the next week, UCF RESTORES conducted debriefings for the general community and for first responders, and it established a treatment program for first responders and mass shooting victims. And since that time, it has helped 100 first responders and dozens of victims of traumatic events, including survivors of Pulse, Las Vegas and Parkland, FL.<\/p>\n

Although started as a research and treatment program for veterans, UCF RESTORES is committed to continuing their efforts to provide services not only to veterans, active duty personnel and first responders, but also to all Florida citizens affected by traumatic events.<\/p>\n

Beidel says she is proud to be supplying the workforce with individuals who have this unique skill set. That\u2019s why she makes it a point to recruit veterans to the doctoral program, as they are committed to working in the VA after they graduate and giving back to their fellow veterans. And other doctoral students witness the impact of this work firsthand and often seek positions where they can serve veterans and first responders after graduation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to give people their lives back,\u201d says Beidel. \u201cThe trauma memory won\u2019t go away, but it shouldn\u2019t dictate every aspect of their life. And we will be here until no one else needs us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nominations for the <\/em>Fall 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award<\/em><\/a> are due September 21. This award goes to an individual or small team each fall and spring semester through 2019 for their innovative initiatives, programs or projects tied to the <\/em>Collective Impact Strategic Plan<\/em><\/a> that can be implemented across the university. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since opening, Biedel’s clinic UCF RESTORES has provided no-cost therapy to more than 300 veterans and active duty military and more recently, worked with first responders and victims of mass shootings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":82661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14924,1646,15501,10908,5055],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-82660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-deborah-beidel","tag-faculty","tag-pulse","tag-ucf-restores","tag-veterans"],"yoast_head":"\nHelping the Helpers | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping the Helpers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3008\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Katie Wyche\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Wyche\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Katie Wyche\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf\"},\"headline\":\"Helping the Helpers\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\"},\"wordCount\":720,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Deborah Beidel\",\"faculty\",\"Pulse\",\"UCF RESTORES\",\"Veterans\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\",\"name\":\"Helping the Helpers | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf\"},\"description\":\"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg\",\"width\":3008,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"DSC_0837\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Helping the Helpers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf\",\"name\":\"Katie Wyche\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71608900badf4a434e9e4650542edc03d60abd407bf627bc109453ce9ec76684?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71608900badf4a434e9e4650542edc03d60abd407bf627bc109453ce9ec76684?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Wyche\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/ka510121\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Helping the Helpers | University of Central Florida News","description":"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Helping the Helpers","og_description":"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3008,"height":2000,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Katie Wyche","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Katie Wyche","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/"},"author":{"name":"Katie Wyche","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf"},"headline":"Helping the Helpers","datePublished":"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/"},"wordCount":720,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg","keywords":["Deborah Beidel","faculty","Pulse","UCF RESTORES","Veterans"],"articleSection":["Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/","name":"Helping the Helpers | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-09T14:25:54+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T18:40:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf"},"description":"UCF Professor Deborah Beidel received the Spring 2018 Marchioli Collective Impact Innovation Award. \u201cHow do you get over a fear of driving? You have to drive,\u201d says Beidel, who is also the director of UCF RESTORES. That\u2019s the mentality applied in the intensive outpatient format she and her staff use at the clinic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837.jpg","width":3008,"height":2000,"caption":"DSC_0837"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Helping the Helpers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/034826f729400c19e96816c8335cb3bf","name":"Katie Wyche","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71608900badf4a434e9e4650542edc03d60abd407bf627bc109453ce9ec76684?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/71608900badf4a434e9e4650542edc03d60abd407bf627bc109453ce9ec76684?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Katie Wyche"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/ka510121\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/helping-the-helpers\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2018\/05\/DSC_0837-300x199.jpg","primary_category":6,"primary_tag":14924,"author_byline":"Katie Wyche","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82660"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147519,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82660\/revisions\/147519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82660"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=82660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}