Face of Defense: Behavioral Health Tech Helps Keep Sailors Mission-Focused

View Online Face of Defense: Behavioral Health Tech Helps Keep Sailors Mission-Focused April 1, 2025 | By Katie Lange One of the Defense Department's core priorities is restoring the warrior ethos across the military. Ensuring service men and women are in good mental health is one of the fastest ways to ensure warfighters are ready and focused on the important missions that lie ahead.   Getting a trained, active-duty service member back into fighting shape is more efficient than training someone new. That's why behavioral health is a growing field within the military — not just for folks who need help but also for those who want to provide it.   Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Cade Crenshaw, hospital corpsman, is the leading petty officer for the mental health department and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program at Naval Hospital Bremerton, Washington. Five years after taking on the role of behavioral health technician, Crenshaw said he's more determined than ever to help service members remember their shared purpose and keep them in the fight. Behavioral health technician New Orleans Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash. Mental Health Department How did you become a behavioral health technician? I always knew that I wanted to do something medical after high school when I joined the Navy. At Hospital Corps "A" School in San Antonio … I found out that mental health was an option, and I was like, "Hey, that sounds pretty interesting." So, I did some research, and I really got into it.  I'm working toward my bachelor's in psychology right now and eventually commissioning because I really love this field and want to continue to do this job later in life as a psychologist. I love being able to help people. For me, to be able to see the change that I'm able to help people achieve, it means the world.    What was your required training? Training for BHT is done at , where the majority of the corpsman schools are. It's a five-month program that includes Navy, Army and Air Force students. You go through everything. It's like … what you would expect at any type of school. Then, in your last month, you go to clinicals. I went to a civilian inpatient facility. You interact with real patients and mental health professionals and get on-the-job experience. What's your day-to-day role at Naval Hospital Bremerton? I'm one of the four behavioral health technicians here in the clinic who were chosen to have an individual patient load — doing exactly what the psychologists and social workers do, sitting with the patient one-on-one. You are their therapist, which is a little unheard of for BHTs because we're not licensed. We work under the provider's license. You've got to express a great deal of confidence and expertise in your field for the providers to feel comfortable enough for you to see patients individually.  Do you find that the behavioral health field is growing in the Navy? It is growing. A lot of people are really, really passionate about it. … So, we're getting an influx of people wanting to go to to become a behavioral health technician.   Do you see more sailors looking for guidance? What progress has your field made? We're continuing to and get it out there that mental health isn't this taboo subject — that it's OK to say that you're not OK.   Some sailors are still a little concerned. There are still those negative connotations out there about it not being a physical ailment — the "you can't see that something's wrong, so it's not really wrong" type of thing. But we are seeing a lot of influx, especially with the younger generations coming through. They're like, "Hey, something's not right. I need to talk to somebody because I don't know how to fix this myself, and I need some help." So, we're definitely moving in the right direction. Do you find it hard for some folks to open up?  Now and then, we've got people who are like, "You're going to take away my security clearance, and I'm not going to be deployable. I can't talk to you." That's still a big factor for people — opening up and actually telling us what the root problems are. But the Navy is slowly making its way to pushing out more messaging. This isn't going to affect your deployment eligibility. This isn't going to yank your security clearance; you can still do your job. You just need some extra support, and we want to give that to you.    What's one example of how your team has been able to help in a crisis? One service member came in and just really high anxiety. They didn't think that they could go back and do their job — just didn't want to get out of bed in the morning. After 10 or 12 sessions with the service member working through things, getting out, and actually tackling the anxiety, we were able to return that service member to full duty, and they successfully and are now enjoying their next duty station. What makes Bremerton's mental health program unique? We run groups here that are technician led; so, the providers supervise us as the licensed professionals. The tech does all the care. We write and go through the curriculum and give therapy to the patients. We've got five or six different groups that we're currently running.   And it's not like what you see in TV shows and movies where you all sit in one big circle and cry and share your deep, dark secrets. It's a classroom setting, essentially. You'll come in, and what you put into it, you'll get out of it. You can sit there and not talk for the entire hourlong group ; you can just listen if you want to. You don't have to share. But the more you give, the more you're going to get out of it.    Explain how embedding on vessels works. We have a lot of people at a lot of different bases … and each one's got their own set of resources. With the carriers and the submarines, they've got the embedded mental health team, which is the first line of defense for sailors assigned to those units.   On aircraft carriers, there is one psychologist and one social worker. Then you've got your chaplain team and your deployed resiliency counselor — a civilian position that augments Navy mental health. And then there's either one or two behavioral health technicians.   On submarines, we don't go underway with them. We, technicians, stay at the clinic. But they now have two psychologists — that just changed about a year ago. They'll go underway for a short period of time. If something happens and they need some extra support, they'll go for a day or two. But it's not the full deployment that they do because there's only two of them, and they've got several submarines to cover.  Then there's us here at the hospital. If the can't handle it or you need something to augment your care, you'd come see us.  What is one tip that a person could use to try to help someone who might be struggling?   If you start to notice that somebody is not doing so great … ask the tough questions. Just have a simple conversation. Mental health — you don't have to have full, hands-on training to have a conversation. Talk to your friends, be there for them, check up on them, and just be available.

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