Our mission is to provide informational resources to assist the disabled veterans’ community. We work in tandem with private lawyers and doctors to offer superlative training and consulting services for organizations that collaborate with veterans.
We also provide workshops directly to disabled veterans and their families. These half-day events consist of educational lectures on the disability benefits system. We also provide training and resources to veterans’ service officers.
Free Education and Training Resources
Consistent with our charitable purpose, we provide free training and consulting to veterans service organizations. We offer the full spectrum of training to assist VSOs in learning the information needed to obtain accreditation and continuing education. We offer standard training programs that cover the basics of claims and appeals preparation and processing. We also provide customized training programs to meet the unique needs of VSOs nationwide. These programs include everything from case law updates coming out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to programs on BVA lane selection and AMA strategic planning.
We Offer More Than Claims Advocacy Training
Unlike other nonprofits that may focus their training services solely on organizational training for claims and appeals advocacy, the DVRC is also involved in tackling veterans' health problems. One of our Board members, a retired Air Force physician, conducts lectures on health topics to improve veterans' awareness of areas where lifestyle change can produce health improvements. Our charitable mandate has expanded to encompass direct health and wellness training for veterans and healthcare practitioners.
In addition to health and wellness training, we are spearheading financial training. We have seen too many veterans win large retroactive awards of past-due compensation only to squander the money due to a lack of monetary management expertise. One of our current initiatives involves leading talks with Merrill Lynch to put together a program to make professional money management available to disabled veterans who win significant retroactive awards to avoid “lottery winner syndrome” and to ensure that the past due benefits the veterans receive can be invested wisely to grow wealth for the veterans and their families. Too often, people who have never had money before have difficulty managing it properly when suddenly given a sizeable retroactive award. At the DVRC, we seek to change that.
We can manage the complete spectrum of veterans’ benefits law training for any organization. This includes claims and appeals advocacy, health and wellness, and monetary management training.
About Our Instructors
Our instructors include the former associate general counsel for Paralyzed Veterans of America, a law firm founder and best-selling author on veterans issues; former VA Office of General Counsel and Board of Veterans Appeals attorneys; a retired BVA judge with 39 years of experience at the BVA; a retired Air Force medical corps physician; a former Army psychologist during the Vietnam era and practicing clinical psychologist in private practice for 50 years; and a medical doctor who holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology.
What Makes Our Advocacy Training Different
What makes our training programs different is that we not only provide legal training on the VA laws, rules, and regulations, but our medical team provides training on the most common disabilities and medical conditions that afflict veterans. We believe that for VSOs to be the most effective advocates, they must understand the medical science to properly develop winning theories. With a solid understanding of the risk factors for many illnesses, it becomes easier to spot hidden clues in the claims file that support an in-service onset to a later-diagnosed condition. The need for medical insight is even more important when dealing with non-presumptive illnesses due to toxic exposure.
Including medical and scientific components in our programming truly sets our organization apart. Including medical professionals speaks to our holistic philosophy about ameliorating veterans' problems. We believe that VSOs with a basic primer on medical topics will be better prepared to find the deeper issues and develop winning strategies. In addition, we not only want to help veterans win their compensation benefits but also impart to them information that can result in better decisions regarding their health.
Different from the larger, and older organizations serving this sector of the veterans' community, we are small enough and nimble enough to provide customized programs and personal relationships. Our team consists of only experienced attorneys and medical professionals. We do not rely on volunteer lawyers who are just getting their proverbial feet wet in the waters of VA law. We offer a group of seasoned professionals with proven track records in the for-profit sector committed to donating their time in the non-profit arena.