Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center to Treat Post-Traumatic Stress With Virtual Reality Donated by Nonprofit SoldierStrong

STAMFORD, Conn., July 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Captain James A. Lovell Health Care Center in North Chicago, Illinois, is the country’s latest Department of Veterans Affairs facility to partner with national nonprofit SoldierStrong to provide a groundbreaking virtual reality exposure therapy system known as BraveMind to aid in treating post-9/11 veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress (PTS).

SoldierStrong, a Stamford, Conn.-based organization dedicated to helping veterans take their next steps forward in life after service by connecting them with revolutionary medical technologies donated to VA medical centers and other facilities across the country, has donated the BraveMind system to the Lovell Federal Health Care Center to combat the national daily average of 17 veteran suicides.

Since SoldierStrong’s inception following the tragic events of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the organization has donated more than $7.3 million worth of medical devices that directly help injured veterans. Aside from the BraveMind systems, the organization also donates robotic exoskeleton suits to help paralyzed and injured veterans walk again and iBOT® powered mobility wheelchairs. This donation of virtual reality technology to Lovell Federal Health Care Center is the 32nd BraveMind system donated to a VA or partner facility since late 2019.

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 its treatment accessible to Illinois’ veterans for the first time.

“Expanding access to innovative, evidence-based care for our veterans is at the heart of everything we do at SoldierStrong,” said Meek. “By bringing the BraveMind system to the Captain James A. Lovell Health Care Center, the first of its kind in Illinois, we are ensuring that more veterans have access to a powerful tool that can help them confront and process trauma in a safe, controlled environment. Every step we take to increase access to this technology is a step toward reducing veteran suicide and helping our nation’s heroes reclaim their lives.”

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 within 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.

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 Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center
The Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center is the nation’s first fully integrated medical facility between the VA and the Department of War, serving military members, their families and Veterans. Lovell FHCC, located in North Chicago, operates four Naval Station Great Lakes clinics and three community-based outpatient clinics in McHenry and Evanston, Ill. and Kenosha, Wis.

Contact: Christina Stroback (SoldierStrong)
319.936.9300
christina@soldierstrong.org

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