About
Who are we?
VALoR Institute and Alliance is a learning community dedicated to improving quality of life for the entire military community. It is an organization created by the military community for the military community. The VALoR Institute and Alliance together constitute a social enterprise designed specifically to break away from a problem-focused approach and to create a system that is positively oriented toward quality of life. VALoR is designed to build a new paradigm of integrative, systemic well-being and sustainable quality of life for the unified military and veteran community across the complete span of direct service delivery, professional and community education, training, and experiential learning, program and policy development and implementation, research and evaluation and strategic communication. Innovation, Inspiration, Hope…these are VALoR’s intended gifts to the military community.
VALoR Institute and Alliance is a learning community dedicated to improving quality of life for the entire military community. It is an organization created by the military community for the military community. The VALoR Institute and Alliance together constitute a social enterprise designed specifically to break away from a problem-focused approach and to create a system that is positively oriented toward quality of life. VALoR is designed to build a new paradigm of integrative, systemic well-being and sustainable quality of life for the unified military and veteran community across the complete span of direct service delivery, professional and community education, training, and experiential learning, program and policy development and implementation, research and evaluation and strategic communication. Innovation, Inspiration, Hope…these are VALoR’s intended gifts to the military community.
Who do we serve?
We are specifically established to unify the military and veteran community and to serve all those affiliated with the military without exception. VALoR stands for those we serve:
Veterans
Active Duty
Loved
Ones – immediate and extended family and close friends who are like family
Reserve Component personnel and Retirees
Our total military community, comprised of military personnel, veterans, and their families, is often overlooked as a consolidated and unified yet underserved community. Although not bounded by a specific geographic location as a typical community, we are still united through common values and a common mission. As public servants, we are used to giving, not receiving. We give so much in terms of our creative problem-solving, talents, leadership and spirit. The VALoR Institute and Alliance is designed to replenish that spirit, revitalize and strengthen the sense of community and social network, and to restore a bright economic future to the VALoR Community.
We are specifically established to unify the military and veteran community and to serve all those affiliated with the military without exception. VALoR stands for those we serve:
Veterans
Active Duty
Loved
Ones – immediate and extended family and close friends who are like family
Reserve Component personnel and Retirees
Our total military community, comprised of military personnel, veterans, and their families, is often overlooked as a consolidated and unified yet underserved community. Although not bounded by a specific geographic location as a typical community, we are still united through common values and a common mission. As public servants, we are used to giving, not receiving. We give so much in terms of our creative problem-solving, talents, leadership and spirit. The VALoR Institute and Alliance is designed to replenish that spirit, revitalize and strengthen the sense of community and social network, and to restore a bright economic future to the VALoR Community.
What is the VALoR Mission?
Vision: We envision a learning environment focused on the art and science of a reimagined, paradigm of systemic well-being that replenishes the spirit, revitalizes the sense of community, and restores a bright economic future for the unified military and veteran community.
Mission: To foster a collaborative learning community dedicated to building vitality throughout the unified military, veteran and family community by advancing the art, science and practice of integrative health, well-being, and quality of life.
Vision: We envision a learning environment focused on the art and science of a reimagined, paradigm of systemic well-being that replenishes the spirit, revitalizes the sense of community, and restores a bright economic future for the unified military and veteran community.
Mission: To foster a collaborative learning community dedicated to building vitality throughout the unified military, veteran and family community by advancing the art, science and practice of integrative health, well-being, and quality of life.
What are the guiding principles?
VALoR is based on a transformational paradigm. It is value-driven and theory-based on a set of guiding principles. The Valor Guiding Principles include:
VALoR is based on a transformational paradigm. It is value-driven and theory-based on a set of guiding principles. The Valor Guiding Principles include:
- Interdependent Quality of Life – Integrated, holistic, interdependent quality of life focused on the whole person in the environment orientation – not a fragmented, symptom-based model
- Positivity, proactively applied – Positive focus, not a reaction to disease or disability
- Inclusive, consolidated framework – Bringing all components of the system into a common framework
- Distributed network – sharing and cooperation as a stated purpose and planning with intention to avoid redundancy or duplication of existing programs and services
- Science-informed process – ongoing, real-time application, translation and communication into practice
What do you mean by a learning community?
A learning community is a group of like-minded people who share a common purpose. We learn from each other and from the community around us. Because the military community is global and mobile, many of the lessons we learn collectively get lost or dissipated. In addition, the information from the civilian community in which we live and operate often is not focused or integrated into our own military community. VALoR brings all the lessons learned from the military and civilian community into a common framework so that we can all benefit from this continuum of knowledge and learning.
The military community is one of the most well educated and well trained groups in the world. Because of that level of expertise, the education and training programs offered by the VALoR Institute focus on professional and advanced technical training. Although well-intentioned, many training programs developed for transitioning military or veterans are often too basic or lacking in detail. VALoR seeks to create training programs that are practical and meaningful for the military community and for those who seek to serve the military community in the area of integrative well-being and sustainable quality of life.
A learning community is a group of like-minded people who share a common purpose. We learn from each other and from the community around us. Because the military community is global and mobile, many of the lessons we learn collectively get lost or dissipated. In addition, the information from the civilian community in which we live and operate often is not focused or integrated into our own military community. VALoR brings all the lessons learned from the military and civilian community into a common framework so that we can all benefit from this continuum of knowledge and learning.
The military community is one of the most well educated and well trained groups in the world. Because of that level of expertise, the education and training programs offered by the VALoR Institute focus on professional and advanced technical training. Although well-intentioned, many training programs developed for transitioning military or veterans are often too basic or lacking in detail. VALoR seeks to create training programs that are practical and meaningful for the military community and for those who seek to serve the military community in the area of integrative well-being and sustainable quality of life.
What do you actually do?
The VALoR Objectives are simple. They include:
The VALoR Objectives are simple. They include:
- Learn
Provide avenues for professional and advanced technical training and experiential learning through partnerships and development of training, apprenticeship, internship, fellowship and life-long learning opportunities. - Do
Promote integrative well-being and systems-based, sustainable quality of life practices, policies and programs that address the full and complete spectrum of quality of life. - Share
Research, review, evaluate and translate science, resources, and practices that promote vitality and sustainable quality of life. - Connect
Build a collaborative learning community to create a like-minded global village. Increase awareness of and build bridges and connections to integrate, consolidate, navigate and make sense of programs and practices. Connect the many underused programs and practices available to advance health, well-being and quality of life for the unified MVF community and the members of the community they serve. - Lead
Unify the military, veteran and family community. Provide a framework to organize and glue to hold together the numerous programs and practices associated with the broad quality of life continuum. - Innovate
Initiate, pioneer, develop and incubate programs and services to advance the sustainable quality of life mission. - Value
Design and establish a value-based civil society, social enterprise to develop and sustain a complete trans-disciplinary continuum of health, well-being and quality of life services for the whole person in the environment despite funding streams and artificial stove-pipes.
What value does VALoR add to the existing programs?
There certainly are a number of programs sponsored by the DoD and VA as well as non-profit and commercial programs focused on different areas of quality of life for the military. Unfortunately, they are often fragmented and hard to find when you need them. Many of them also serve only a limited segment, like active duty and not reserve component personnel. Many of the government developed programs do not recognize or form a continuum with non-profit or commercial programs. Many commercial programs do not understand the military community. VALoR creates a framework that holds all these programs and brings them into awareness of the entire community. It serves not to create yet another program – unless there is a recognized gap. But, rather VALoR is the glue that holds the programs together for the benefit of those they are intended to serve.
The VALoR Institute and Alliance is dedicated to providing a civil society solution that designs and delivers programs, services, and support to the military, veteran, and family community that is free from fragmented and stove-piped funding streams and interagency competition. By using a hybrid model that includes public-private partnerships, a non-governmental, non-profit organizational structure that is bolstered by income from business enterprises, a seamless system of services can be sustained across time, across agency boundaries, and traditional funding cycles. Those services can be designed and implemented in a manner that readily flexes to the needs of the community without previous institutional constraints.
There certainly are a number of programs sponsored by the DoD and VA as well as non-profit and commercial programs focused on different areas of quality of life for the military. Unfortunately, they are often fragmented and hard to find when you need them. Many of them also serve only a limited segment, like active duty and not reserve component personnel. Many of the government developed programs do not recognize or form a continuum with non-profit or commercial programs. Many commercial programs do not understand the military community. VALoR creates a framework that holds all these programs and brings them into awareness of the entire community. It serves not to create yet another program – unless there is a recognized gap. But, rather VALoR is the glue that holds the programs together for the benefit of those they are intended to serve.
The VALoR Institute and Alliance is dedicated to providing a civil society solution that designs and delivers programs, services, and support to the military, veteran, and family community that is free from fragmented and stove-piped funding streams and interagency competition. By using a hybrid model that includes public-private partnerships, a non-governmental, non-profit organizational structure that is bolstered by income from business enterprises, a seamless system of services can be sustained across time, across agency boundaries, and traditional funding cycles. Those services can be designed and implemented in a manner that readily flexes to the needs of the community without previous institutional constraints.
What is quality of life?
We use the comprehensive Adbrook Vitality Model for integrative well-being and sustainable quality of life to create a complete continuum of health and well-being. It provides for the complete person in the environment to include the internal environment of mind, body, spirit and purpose. The model also includes the social and physical environment around that person to include community well-being, organizational health and the eco-environment or the natural and built environment.
We use the comprehensive Adbrook Vitality Model for integrative well-being and sustainable quality of life to create a complete continuum of health and well-being. It provides for the complete person in the environment to include the internal environment of mind, body, spirit and purpose. The model also includes the social and physical environment around that person to include community well-being, organizational health and the eco-environment or the natural and built environment.
What areas are included in the quality of life model?
All components of the Valor Institute and Alliance are designed to advance the theory and practice of systemic well-being and a vibrant quality of life. Systemic well-being considers all aspects of health and well-being to be interdependent and integral to a comprehensive model of well-being. The interdependent and necessarily overlapping factors associated with a systemic well-being paradigm include:
All components of the Valor Institute and Alliance are designed to advance the theory and practice of systemic well-being and a vibrant quality of life. Systemic well-being considers all aspects of health and well-being to be interdependent and integral to a comprehensive model of well-being. The interdependent and necessarily overlapping factors associated with a systemic well-being paradigm include:
- Individual vitality. Individual well-being is called vitality and includes those aspects that are typically associated with factors that lie within the human being. Those include physiological, psychological, spiritual and purpose factors – or mind, body, spirit and purpose. Vitality adds the concept of life purpose or life mission to the core components of well-being which normally includes only mind, body and spirit. A sense of purpose is integral to well-being and is interwoven into the other factors. This sense of life mission is even more pronounced in military personnel. A lack of attention to explicit exploration of this component creates a failing in traditional transition programs.
- Community well-being. Community well-being brings a social environment component to the systemic well-being paradigm. Social connections and social networks have proven in multiple studies to be a highly predictive factor associated with health and well-being and with remediation of symptoms associated with chronic illness and disease. Community well-being in the systemic well-being paradigm includes all social networks, including family, friends, neighbors and individuals who share a common culture and experience, even though not geographically bounded.
- Organizational health. This factor is most often associated with vocation and work, but it can also include non-paid work or volunteerism, and avocational activities. Time that is structured to provide meaning and to serve a purpose or to achieve a value-based goal or objective is considered purposeful living. Organizational health, or the effective functioning through structure and process of organizational activity or work of an organization or company, is considered in this critical factor of well-being. A toxic work environment produces individual, organizational and societal illness.
- Eco-Environmental well-being. This factor includes aspects of the ecological health of the environment in which we live, but extends beyond the natural environment. A growing body of research indicates that the built environment has a significant influence on health and well-being, but is often overlooked as important. The built environment includes the interior and exterior of the man-made structures in which we spend our time. Art, music, attire and other human-creations contribute to the environmental effects of well-being.
What is the difference between the VALoR Institute and the VALoR Alliance?
The VALoR Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Institute provides for professional and advanced technical training; program and policy development, consultation, implementation and evaluation; applied and translational research; information clearinghouse and resource directory; along with strategic communication and outreach.
The VALoR Alliance is a social enterprise or community of practice. It is a group of businesses that support the quality of life mission of the VALoR Institute. These businesses support the VALoR mission by developing supporting products and services, by providing internship and apprenticeship positions or jobs to the VAloR community, and by committing a portion of their proceeds to support the VALoR quality of life mission. The Alliance provides industry and storefront enterprises that include organic entities associated with the VALoR organization as well as partners and affiliates that provide services consistent with the VALoR mission. These business entities provide practice settings and experiential learning opportunities for VALoR service delivery while also providing various levels of contribution to the VALoR Institute.
The VALoR Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Institute provides for professional and advanced technical training; program and policy development, consultation, implementation and evaluation; applied and translational research; information clearinghouse and resource directory; along with strategic communication and outreach.
The VALoR Alliance is a social enterprise or community of practice. It is a group of businesses that support the quality of life mission of the VALoR Institute. These businesses support the VALoR mission by developing supporting products and services, by providing internship and apprenticeship positions or jobs to the VAloR community, and by committing a portion of their proceeds to support the VALoR quality of life mission. The Alliance provides industry and storefront enterprises that include organic entities associated with the VALoR organization as well as partners and affiliates that provide services consistent with the VALoR mission. These business entities provide practice settings and experiential learning opportunities for VALoR service delivery while also providing various levels of contribution to the VALoR Institute.
Who provides oversight?
Dr. Joyce Adkins is the Founder, President and CEO of the VALoR Institute She is an occupational health psychologist and served in the United States Air Force for over 28 years where she worked in clinical and organizational psychology, occupational stress, human factors, health promotion, integrative health, and public policy along with quality of life, health services and translational research. She has held numerous leadership positions ranging from Director of Operations for a large medical center to founder of global health and wellness programs. She received her doctorate in psychology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University and an MPH in health policy and management from Harvard School of Public Health. She lives in Virginia where she maintains a clinical and consulting practice and takes her yoga therapy dog for long walks on the beach. She has an award-winning history of social entrepreneurship which culminated in founding the VALoR Institute and Alliance to advance an integrative health and sustainable well-being model for the unified military, veteran and family community.
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Risa Greendlinger currently serves as Vice President of the VALoR Institute. Risa is a seasoned business developer in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the management team at RetroFitMe, Risa founded Athena Consulting, was the Executive Director of the Work First Foundation, and Director of Veterans Programs at the National Center on Family Homelessness. As an avid supporter of the military community, she also served as National Manager of Government Business Development for Ceridian Corporation where she was the sales manager for Military One Source, a global Employee Assistance and Work/Life benefit provided to all active duty and activated service members and their families. She co-authored and edited guides and toolkits for practitioners serving veterans, provided testimony for federal agencies, and presented promising practices at government and foundation sponsored conferences. Risa’s leadership roles in professional associations, public-private partnerships, and non-profit Boards range from Co-President of the Washington DC Work/Life Coalition, advisor to Purdue University’s Military Family Research Institute, and Director on the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism Board. A graduate of Wellesley College, Risa holds a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
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Dr. Carl O. Helvie currently serves on the Board of Directors of the VALoR Institute. He is a registered nurse with two masters degrees (University of California, Johns Hopkins University), a doctorate in public health and wellness (Johns Hopkins) and 60 years of experience as a nurse practitioner, educator, author, and researcher. Dr. Helvie is a professor emeritus at Old Dominion University and served on the faculty at Duke University and University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Helvie has received national recognition including the Distinguished Career in Public Health Award from the American Public Health Association in 1999 and listings in most major national references including Who’s Who, Who’s Who in Virginia, Who’s Who in American Nursing, Outstanding Educator in America, Men of Achievement, American Men and Women of Science, and others. He has published 8 books and 4 chapters. He has also published or presented internationally over 100 papers and articles and has been interviewed on over 150 radio and television shows. Two of his noted accomplishments are the development and publication of a nursing theory that is used internationally and the establishment of a nursing center that provided primary care for homeless and low-income individuals and families. He has been producer/host of the Holistic Health Show on BBS Radio (www.HolisticHealthShow.com) since 2007 and is the Founder and President of the Carl O Helvie Holistic Cancer Foundation (www.HolisticCancerFoundation.com)
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