BTM80 - Dr. Umar Latif, MD - Help for Heroes Program
Show Summary
On this episode of Behind the Mission, we feature a conversation with Dr. Umar Latif, National Medical Director and co-founder of Help for Heroes, a multi-site speciality program designed to meet the clinical needs of active-duty service members, veterans and first responders who are dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues.
About Today’s Guest
Umar Latif, MD is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology with board certification in General Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. He was selected as a George W. Bush Institute Scholar as part of the 2021 Stand-To Veteran Leadership program in service of improving veteran outcomes.
Dr. Latif currently serves as the National Medical Director of Help for Heroes, a multisite specialty program he helped design as co-founder, to meet the clinical needs of active-duty service members, veterans and first responders who are dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues. He also works as the Medical Director of Carrollton Springs Hospital and has a private practice at The Noesis Clinic: an adult and geriatric outpatient private practice that specializes in early detection of Alzheimer’s dementia and TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation).
For a decade prior to this, Dr. Latif co-founded and served as the Medical Director of Freedom Care at UBH Denton, which he helped develop. Under his leadership, this program grew into a multi-location inpatient psychiatry program specializing in PTSD and dual diagnosis treatment for active duty military members and veterans referred from 120 plus national & international installations.
His other professional roles in the past have included the position of Medical Director of the Telepsychiatry program at Dallas VA Medical Center, and faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dr. Latif completed his residency training at Wayne State University in Michigan and postgraduate fellowship training at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He also earned a certificate in “Executive Healthcare Leadership” from Cornell University.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor course Barriers to Treatment. In this course, you will learn how differences in military culture affect mental health and how to help service members or veterans overcome barriers to seeking treatment. You can find a link to the resource here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/barriers-to-treatment
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
