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Funding For PTSD Clinic Cut From Florida Budget

the florida state capitol building
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

Funding for a clinic to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans and Pulse first responders has been cut from Florida’s budget.

Lawmakers must finalize a budget Tuesday to meet a mandated three-day waiting period before the session ends later this week. The UCF Restores Clinic originally had $4 million in funding in both the house and senate budgets, but was cut during negotiations over the weekend.

The UCF Restores Clinic uses virtual reality as part of its treatment of veterans with PTSD. The clinic has treated more than 250 vets since it opened.

UCF Vice President of University Relations Dan Holsenbeck says he was “surprised and disappointed” that the clinic likely won’t be funded.

But, he says, the school has no plans to shut the clinic down, and will instead look for other sources of funding.

Health News Florida reporter Abe Aboraya works for WMFE in Orlando. He started writing for newspapers in high school. After graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2007, he spent a year traveling and working as a freelance reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Weekly, and working for local news websites in the San Francisco Bay area. Most recently Abe worked as a reporter for the Orlando Business Journal. He comes from a family of health care workers.