Confidential Care to Provide BraveMind Virtual Reality Treatment to Veterans
STAMFORD, Conn., April 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Confidential Care in Wasilla, Alaska, is the country’s latest medical facility to partner with the national nonprofit SoldierStrong to provide a groundbreaking virtual reality system known as BraveMind to aid in treating veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress (PTS).
SoldierStrong, a Stamford, Conn.-based organization, is dedicated to helping veterans take their next steps forward in life after service by connecting them with revolutionary medical technologies donated to Veterans Affairs and other medical facilities. The organization has donated the BraveMind system to Confidential Care, a private psychiatric and mental health agency where clinicians specialize in working with veterans, in an effort to combat the national average of 17 veteran suicides per day.
Since SoldierStrong’s inception following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the organization has donated more than $7.3 million in medical devices to help injured veterans. This donation marks the 31st BraveMind system donated to a VA or partner facility since late 2019.
“Confidential Care is deeply honored to partner with SoldierStrong and become the first provider of the BraveMind virtual reality system in Alaska,” said Kristina Kruchowski, owner of Confidential Care. “This generous donation represents a major step forward in our commitment to delivering innovative, evidence-based care to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for our nation.”
Co-founder and chairman Dr. Chris Meek said SoldierStrong’s goal to make medical devices, including the BraveMind system, available in as many states as possible was a significant factor in the donation. This is the first BraveMind virtual reality system in the state, making the treatment accessible to Alaska’s veterans for the first time.
“We know that veterans experiencing PTS often find it both difficult and especially painful to summon specific memories from their time in service. BraveMind is designed to make the process of recalling those memories significantly easier for them,” Meek said. “The BraveMind system delivers prolonged exposure therapy, which is the practice of recalling a traumatic memory while working through that memory with a trained clinician. It’s an effective, evidence-based method for treating PTS.”
He continued, “With virtual reality’s rising popularity in non-medical settings, such as video games, entertainment and even the workplace, there’s convincing evidence that younger veterans will seek PTS treatment using VR techniques who otherwise may not be inclined to participate in traditional therapy practices.”
The virtual reality technology behind BraveMind was developed by Dr. Albert “Skip” Rizzo and his team at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies.
The technology creates 14 “worlds” of combat scenarios, from a desert roadway to a crowded Iraqi marketplace or a slum in an Afghan city. Therapists select a world based on a veteran’s traumatic experience and customize it in the virtual reality headset, thus placing veterans back in the midst of that memory at a pace they can handle.
“Utilizing the virtual reality technology in BraveMind gets veterans to talk about things they’ve never talked to anyone about before,” Rizzo said. “Those memories don’t have the same emotional power that they did before because repeatedly experiencing those troubling memories in a safe environment reduces the brain’s response to them. Patients start to feel empowered, to feel that they got it out and that they can talk about it.”
The program’s efficacy stems from clinicians’ ability to customize and control the content presented in the headset so precisely from sights, sounds, smells, vibrations ‒ even the weight and tactile sensation of holding a weapon ‒ that can create a patient experience mirroring the traumatic memory.
“I’m very pleased that Confidential Care is committed to our nation’s tradition of excellence when it comes to providing our heroes with world-class healthcare. I’m especially grateful that they are leading the way in offering the innovative technology for the very first time to veterans in Alaska,” Meek said. “Not only will BraveMind help to reach more younger patients, but it will provide expanded access and greater choice in PTS treatment to all of Alaska’s veterans.”
About SoldierStrong
Since 2009, SoldierStrong has assisted America’s military veterans in taking their next steps forward in life after service. Our mission is fully realized through the donation of revolutionary medical technology to Veterans Affairs medical facilities and individual veterans across the country. These revolutionary medical technologies include the SoldierSuit, a wearable robotic exoskeleton used to help paralyzed and injured veterans walk again, and the BraveMind virtual reality system used to treat post-9/11 veterans living with the devastating impacts of post-traumatic stress (PTS). To date, SoldierStrong has donated more than $7.3 million in advanced medical technology, including 32 SoldierSuits and 31 BraveMind systems. For more information, visit soldierstrong.org.
About Confidential Care
Confidential Care is a private psychiatric and mental health agency, based in Wasilla, Alaska, dedicated to providing the highest quality therapeutic mental health services to aid individuals, groups and families through their most difficult and challenging times. For more information, visit confidentialcare.org.
Contact: Christina Stroback (SoldierStrong)
319.936.9300
christina@soldierstrong.org
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