Virginia Health Care Company Working With IIIT On Iraqi Programs

Comprehensive Health Services has announced that it is working with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, to train counselors and interpreters in connection with providing death notifications as part of a program in Iraq. According to the announcement:

Comprehensive Health Services (CHS), a leading national workforce health management company, is expanding its behavioral health initiative beyond services specifically for first responder communities, to include a spectrum of services and training delivered internationally for government and commercial clients requiring health expertise across various cultural backgrounds. The new services include cultural diversity, conflict resolution, stress management, workplace violence, anger identification and management, leadership growth, supervisory substance abuse education and identification trainings, and vicarious traumatization……In addition to expanding its services, CHS has also forged a partnership with the American Counseling Association (ACA). This alliance gives CHS the unique ability to access the ACA’s 40,000 licensed professional counselors to quickly provide large-scale and specialized behavioral health support to its government clients. Having designed and managed full-service behavioral health programs for organizations like the Pentagon, CHS’latest contract win requires the company to provide a comprehensive program in Iraq, including international and national death notifications. As a part of this contract, CHS is working with the International Institute of Islamic Thought, training teams of licensed professional counselors and local and national Arab American interpreters to perform death notifications within the Middle Eastern culture. This specialty behavioral health service brings the clinical expertise of the counselors together with the cultural experience of the linguists to help bridge cultural gaps and deliver the most professional death notifications possible.

IIIT was founded in the U.S. in 1980 by important members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood, several from Iraq, who wished to promote the “Islamization of Knowledge.” IIIT was associated with the now defunct SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in 2003 and is still under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with the financing of terrorism. The organization appeared to withdrawn from public view following the 2003 raids, but seems to be enjoying a renaissance of late. IIIT has a network of affiliates located in Europe, Africa, the MIddle East, and Asia. Although little is known about the activities of these IIIT affiliates, recent posts have discussed plans by IIIT to construct colleges in Bosnia and Lebanon. Another post discussed a $1.5 million grant from IIIT to George Mason University for an endowed chair in Islamic studies.

Comprehensive Health Services is a Reston, Virginia based health services company whose headquarters are not far from the IIIT offices. The company describes itself as “the industry’s largest trusted and independent provider of onsite health centers and national examination programs.” It is not clear if the subcontract awarded to IIIT is based on Pentagon funds.