(COLORADO SPRINGS) -- March is Brian Injury Awareness Month, and Fort Carson is trying to increase awareness of a condition that many service members might not realize they developed during their service. On Friday, March 21, The Fort Carson Intrepid Spirit Center hosted an open house to increase awareness of the center's services and the cause behind the condition. The center is a state-of-the-art treatment facility located on base, dedicated to assess and offering care for concussions and other forms of brain injuries. "They're in a very dangerous job, and it kind of lends itself to an accident and particularly traumatic brain injury," said Kirsten Larson, a psychometrist at the center. Photo by: Carolynn Felling Larson preforms neuropsychological testing for soldiers, and she said the testing gives them a guide on how to treat each patient. "It's a fairly rigorous endeavor for these soldiers, but many of them just want to get better and improve themselves post-injury," she said. The center told FOX21 that many of the symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are difficult to see externally, but heavily impact the ability of service members to function in both their military duties and family roles. Photo by: Carolynn Felling "Our primary goal was to get the word out. Our center will be open for three years in July, and we still feel like we're a little bit of a jewel, a best-kept secret if you are in Fort Carson," said Commander Steve Spoonemore. The center uses a team-based model to help them identify symptoms of TBI. They offer medication management, physical therapy, occupational therapy, neuropsychology, speech and cognitive rehabilitation, art therapy, and music therapy. Photo by: Carolynn Felling "We use the qualities of music and the types of music to address nonmusical clinical goals. So we use songwriting, listening to music, jamming, and creating songs to address some sort of those goals," said Clair Hogan. They said these "invisible injuries" go unrecognized far too frequently and the symptoms are often subtle and misunderstood. "They come in here and recently they have had a lot of success, listening to songs, connecting with the lyrics, connecting with the meaning of that song, then when they leave, they say, 'Oh, I feel so much better than I did before,'" said Hogan. Photo by: Carolynn Felling The center is also implementing a new study to understand how brain injuries can impact families of service members. "We are beginning to implement data that was driven from a 15-year study done at Walter Reed Medical Center looking at the impact of a mild traumatic brain injury on the servicemember and also on the family. We've gathered data that's been published showing that when the family unit is strong, the service members' recovery is better, likewise, when the family unit is suffering, their recovery is not as good," said Spoonemore. The center also sees other TRICARE beneficiary categories to include family members and veterans. ...read more read less