War PTSD

[vajara]

I did receive a couple of private posts regarding my comments related to integrative health and PTS. We are the only program at Ft Bliss that offers an integrative approach with PTS and this is becasue our founder, Dr. John Fortunato submitted a grant request to the Army to give these intensive and extensive methods to the Wounded Warriors wishing to return to the Force, fit for duty. Now after 3 years offering these practices, 35 hrs. a week for 6 months with followup services, our results have been well worth the expenditure of funds and resources. Most of our injured are highly trrained NCO's and the Army needs them. These warriors also have many years of service and love the culture of the Army.
don
Anyway, the behavioral/mental health system is overwhelmed because of the impact of this injury, but also because they have primarily been treating our injured service members with conventional therapies and meds. They don't work effectively for an injury that affect the whole being physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and socially. This injury, I believe, affects every cell and organ in the body-mind, so it requires comprehensive, extensive and intensive methods to promote and sustain healing--eg. all the body therapies, therapeutic outings, therapeutic arts, meditation, deep body relaxation exercises, neuro-psychology treatments, and more. The soldiers will also tell you that our 4 group therapies a week are also key to freeing up the trauma issues and offering support for learning and reframing to transcend and transform war trauma.

Ft Hood das some of the practices, but I am not aware of other Posts providiing these practices. I don't know of any VA's providing these programs either, but would like to know. Ft. Hood has a 4 week R & R type program with some extensive followup. We also have a family program as well

Do a search for our Ft Bliss Restoration & Resilience Program as I have several logs and there are news articles. I am currently taking leave from the center to introduce our practices in the community. This week I am at White Sands Missile Range introducing our 15 Minute StressOut Program for their Suicide Prevention Awareness. BTW, don't let the soldiers give up Hope for full recovery of PTS. We have several soldiers in Afghan. & Iraq following our treatment.

Thanks for your private posts. I want to keep this issue in the open. I will respond to individuals when I can.

Much love to you and to your service members who secure our safety and security as a Nation and World.

Jerry

[vajara]

This past week I was invited to present our safe,skillful and nourishing touch program for soldiers, families and health care professionals at White Sands Missile Range as part of their Suicide Prevention Awareness Program. As we know, physical interaction or touch is one of our basic human need requirements for learning, relating and for experiencing health and wellbeing. Our soldiers were very brave to partner up and give each other one of our "StressOuts" as described in our website-- http://jerryvest.pages.qpg.com

I also introduced some mindful and meditations to support their daily health. There is a lot of evidence that these long and multiple tours produce an injury in the body, mind, emotions, spirit and social relations that is commonly referred to as PTSD. Unfortunately, most mental/behavioral health systems don't include integrative health practices, especially massage, that helps to reduce the agitation, anger, isolation, fear and lonliness, while promoting circulation, healing, and interaction with all of the organs, nervious, muscular-skeleton, digestive and cardia-vascular systems. The brain and other systems are also energized and support the healing processes.

Anyway, everyone in this forum knows the benefits of massage and integrative health practices, but our conventional mental health and therapeutic academic programs are still mostly skeptical and fearful of touch. I introduce many research programs and guidelines for the safe and skillful use of touch on our forum as well.

Anyway, it is good that our program is being used in many military programs and we will continue to advance our safe, skillful, ethical and nourishing touch program in all human and social service programs.

Best wishes,

Jerry

Note: I am committed to reversing the ideas that War PTS is a "Disorder" and a lifelong injury. Let's support the notion that these injuries can be healed and the trauma transformed into learning and transcended with the use of mindfulness and integrative methods.

[vajara]

Michael Wick, LMT is featured in my latest log describing Integrative Health with our Wounded Warriors and their families. Also, I experienced weekly massages with Mike while working in a US Army Trauma Center. I couldn't have maintained high levels of wellness or consciousness had it not been for these great massages.....thank you, Mike and thank all of you massage therapists for the great work you do to support our injured warriors. http://www.newciv.org/mem/persnewslog.p ... 1287453352

[vajara]

I have recently introduced our StressOut Program with soldiers, staff and community to examine the power of touch with the vitality of the breath as a means for interacting and exchanging love, compassion and respect....something our wounded warriors, vets and families can use to help feel at home in their body, mind and spirit.

Do visit this log on the NewCiv. Org. I have also posted several others related to our profession.

http://www.newciv.org/news2/index.htm/_ ... 000074.htm

Best wishes,

Jerry

[vajara]

Hello Body Workers...I hope you know how valuable and important you are for helping and empowering our Injured Warriors. I think that we are beginning to have skillful and trained professionals available now to Engage our Wounded & Injured Warriors. I wrote this log and a training program to assist others in the use of integrative and holistic health practices with this population and their family. While serving as a stress management trainer and therapist in the Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center these past 3 yrs., I can now share with you my observations, recommendations and best practices with warriors identified with PTS(d)--stress, anxiety and depression. Do let me know if I can assist you with developing community organizatations as it will take our Whole Community to address the painful and serious injuries that I Warriors have encountered these past 10 years and more.

http://www.jerryvest.pages.qpg.com/id18.html

Best wishes--
Thanks for Staying in Touch,

jerry

[vajara]

11/19/10 by GVest

Our Injured Warrior Community Project to wrap-around integrative health practices is going well. We are reaching out and opening our network to others who share their visions and opportunities and resources for our injured warriors and their families. As we move into 2011 we will have a team of interested community veterans, Elders, friends of our vets, and health practitioners to engage and welcome our injured warriors with the knowledge, skills and practices known to improve the quality of lives, health and relationships deserving our great warriors and their families.

Do interact with us if you wish to be added to our community of caring health practitioners and volunteers. We will be introducing our "StressOut"- partner meditation-massage with acupressure and mindfulness with the Elder Community of the City of Las Cruces in late December or early January. Learning to engage our warriors by introducing and administering training programs we will expand and extend our healthy touch program into every senior program in southern NM and beyond. Our cadre and volunteers will be able to introduce and give our stressout to every vet and their family in our community and in every elder program to establish a foundation of basic trust, empathy, respect and caring.

This program does not require licensing; however, we have established "guidelines for the use of safe, skillful and nourishing touch." You will love this experience of exhanging energies at high levels of awareness--uniting your skillful touch with the vitality of breath--producing the empathic and welcome home connection and relationship.

Come Join With US!!!

[vajara]

[PDF] integrative Care for Acute Combat-induced PTSdFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
by JC Chang - Related articles
The initiatives at the Ft. Bliss & Ft. Hood. Restoration & Resilience Center ... Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, incorporating massage therapy ...
http://www.aaaomonline.info/ameracu/V46 ... Combat.pdf

This is an article written by one of our colleagues in our Ft Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center. Dr. Joe Chang is a terrific professional, researcher and human being.

We had lunch together for about a year and discussed our methods and approaches with integrative and holistic health. We are fortunate to have colleagues like Joe who love research and is especially interested in advancing knowledge and skills with our injured and wounded warriors.

Jerry

[vajara]

http://www.newciv.org/mem/persnewslog.p ... 1293579157

[vajara]

It has been awhile since I posted here, but am adding a brief note about PTSd and the importance of massage and other integrative methods to support the treatment and healing. Far too many drugs given to our injured warriors that only create greater problems for their lives, health and relationships.
********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Gerald W. Vest, ACSW/LISW/LMT wrote:
As a US Army Clinical/Holistic Social Worker for the past 3 years in the premier Ft Bliss Restoration and Resilience Center, I am convinced that the stress, anxiety and depression is induced by a natural response to War Trauma and is not a disorder or disease.

While engaged 24/7, hunting down the invisible enemy, killing or be killed, along with the extensive and multiple deployments, provides a horrendous experience and unnatural, harsh and inhumane environment for the human being to endure without injury.

While our Self Preservation Instinct and Relations System need to know, every moment, "am I safe and secure," and having to respond to the question, "who am I with? Friend or Foe?" Every system is overwhelmed and this deep whole body, mind, emotion, spirit(compassion & empathy)and social (society-family & friends) system has totally been affected and injured to the core.

Furthermore, it is essential for the injured warrior, health practitioners and therapists to reach deeply into the whole being to restore health, wellbeing and their resilience.

Conventional therapy and pills only provide temporary relief. It is for this reason that all integrative and holistic health methods, with evidence based research, must be intensively provided and extensively offered.

War Trauma is not a Disorder or Illness, it is a deep injury of great proportion and should be treated with whole health methods, wide community and family support, extensive services and resources, and preferably in treatment centers like our Ft Bliss R & R Center. Do visit our website to visit our Community Alliance to support our injured warriors and their families. http://jerryvest.pages.qpg.com

[vajara]

I was inspired today to write a post about Karma as it is often misunderstood and may create many symptoms of unresolved grief and War Trauma. See my log that gives my appreciation and understanding of how to transcend and transform these serious injuries into healing and restoration. I also encourage massage therapists to get involved with their community organizations who are interested in using integrative health practices to reach deeply into these injuries that affect the whole being physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually. http://blogs.delphiforums.com/n/blogs/b ... tag=vajara

Do contact us if you wish to join our Southern NM Alliance of Integrative Health with Injured Warriors, Vets and Families. See our organization brochure and plans: http://jerryvest.pages.qpg.com

[vajara]

I would like to recommend that Massage Therapists offer a Welcome Home Massage for our Injured Warriors and their Families. It is a great gesture while recognizing the power of touch for empowering our Injured Warriors to heal and transform their Post Traumatic Stress, Anxiety and Depression in health and wellbeing. If you can't contribute a massage for their wellbeing, do offer them reduced rates. Some insurance plans will also offer you some assistance. Or, invite some community organizations to Sponsor massage therapy, Reiki, Acupuncture and other integrative health practices for our Warriors.

Thank you for considering this request. Perhaps many of you are already providing this service and if you are, let's establish a national Roll Call or listing of Massage Therapists Who Love our Courageous Warriors and Families.

Best wishes,

Jerry

[vajara]

We have been very active this past year designing and organizing our Community programs for returning Warriors, Vets and their Families. We are just 45 miles from Ft. Bliss, TX so we have many vets and warriors requiring health services. The Behavioral Health and VA of the military primarily treat their patient's symptoms with labels, drugs, conventional counseling, and classify & categorize them with a life long Disorder. Is it any wonder that every 48 min. a soldier kills themselves today. We know that Integrative Health Practices are the best approach for engaging our Warriors and for providing them with health restoration and resilience resources. See our Program Design, Call for Community Service Advocates and for the development of Professional Self-Care Plans for all participants.

Body Work and Integrative methods given to-with injured warriors and their families offer hope and healing beyond the sick care system for soldiers identified with PTSd and TBI. http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com

Let us know if you wish to join our alliance and carry out our Veteran's Health Care Mission to improve the quality of lives, health and relationship with holistic and integrative practices.

Best wishes,

[Rozax]

A friend of mine has PTSD and has a service dog that detects his moods. If he starts feeling aggressive or agitated, she sits on his feet and doesn't let him move until he calms down. She's a Bernese Mountain Dog mix, weighing around 100 pounds, so you're not going anywhere if she decides that you're not moving. He and his wife have tried training their other dog to do the same thing, and though the training has improved the pooch's behavior, he hasn't fully succeeded as a service dog.

[pueppi]

A friend of mine has PTSD and has a service dog that detects his moods. If he starts feeling aggressive or agitated, she sits on his feet and doesn't let him move until he calms down. She's a Bernese Mountain Dog mix, weighing around 100 pounds, so you're not going anywhere if she decides that you're not moving. He and his wife have tried training their other dog to do the same thing, and though the training has improved the pooch's behavior, he hasn't fully succeeded as a service dog.

Rozax, is the Service Dog, servicing for anger management, or something else? Do you happen to have any information as to where a dog can receive training for this "mood detection"? It seems like it would be useful for many issues.

[vajara]

Yes, therapy dogs are wonderful for supporting and helping our injured warriors and others restore their health through touch and interaction. Debbie Kandoll lives in our area and supports our warriors and their families with adoption services for dogs returning from combat in Afghan & Iraq. Thanks for visiting my post our our Integrative Health Practices.

jerry
http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com

[pueppi]

vajara,

Do you by chance have more information you can impoart about these "mood detecting" service dogs and any links that would be useful? Since you mention a friend of yours, in the above post, I wonder if she works with the "mood detecting" dogs.

Thanks in advance.

[vajara]

Yes, do visit Debbie Kandoll's FB and you will be able to discuss your interests with her. She is a remarkable human being and has rescued many dog's that would have been put down by the military before she developed a Foster Care Network to protect them.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/debbie.kandoll

[pueppi]

Yes, do visit Debbie Kandoll's FB and you will be able to discuss your interests with her. She is a remarkable human being and has rescued many dog's that would have been put down by the military before she developed a Foster Care Network to protect them.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/debbie.kandoll

Thank you. I have contacted her.

[Rozax]

Rozax, is the Service Dog, servicing for anger management, or something else? Do you happen to have any information as to where a dog can receive training for this "mood detection"? It seems like it would be useful for many issues.

The latter questions have been answered, but yes, my friend is being serviced for anger management. Unlike us, who should be able to sense when we're getting angry, my friend doesn't actually realize it until he's close to doing something he'll regret (typically "just" screaming at someone, but that's bad enough, wouldn't ya say?), so the service dog tips him off. I don't know, but I'm guessing that his condition has to do with having his sympathetic system perpetually stimulated. You know - how do you know if you're stressed if that's how you feel all the time? The SD is sensitive to his mood, and who can be angry when she sits at your feet and looks up at you with those big puppy eyes?

[pueppi]

Rozax, is the Service Dog, servicing for anger management, or something else? Do you happen to have any information as to where a dog can receive training for this "mood detection"? It seems like it would be useful for many issues.

The latter questions have been answered, but yes, my friend is being serviced for anger management. Unlike us, who should be able to sense when we're getting angry, my friend doesn't actually realize it until he's close to doing something he'll regret (typically "just" screaming at someone, but that's bad enough, wouldn't ya say?), so the service dog tips him off. I don't know, but I'm guessing that his condition has to do with having his sympathetic system perpetually stimulated. You know - how do you know if you're stressed if that's how you feel all the time? The SD is sensitive to his mood, and who can be angry when she sits at your feet and looks up at you with those big puppy eyes?

What I am amazed at, is that in being "tipped-off" the person actually decreases their anger habit. Growing up around anger, I find it very interesting that a service dog could have this effect on the person, and that the person wouldn't just ignore the dog.

Unfortunately my "latter question" (Do you happen to have any information as to where a dog can receive training for this "mood detection"?) wasn't really answered in a useful way up to now (I have only contacted the one lady who also doesn't actuall have any links to information on this). So, if you have any other inf on this, I would still be interested. A link perhaps?

[vajara]

Sorry, if Debbie Kandoll can't answer your question, I don't know who can.

[vajara]

See our Call for Community Service Advocates, Programs and Professional Self Care Plans designed for our Injured Warriors and their Famiies (NIWA). http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com

We are hoping to set an example for supporting our returning Warriors and their Families with Integrative and Holistic Health Practices. Come and join our efforts to improve the quality of lives health and relationships with health care--sick care treatment has never worked well and even encourages hopelessness, despair and disillusionment. It is much better to offer massage, Reiki, StressOuts, Acupuncture, Meditation, Expressive Arts, Aquine and dog therapies, etc.

[vajara]

Am encouraging body workers to form community collaboratives and offer our Returning Warriors and their Families a host of integrative and holistic health practices to help them restore their health and recover from injuries and wounds. Do visit my website to see how our National Injured Warrior Alliance (NIWA) is greeting and supporting our vets and their families here in NM. http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com

2nd Saturday,Healers & Heroes, every month, 1200-1600, , Tesoro *Free Body Work*--massage, Reiki, acupressure, 15 Minute Stressout, with Injured Warriors, Vets, First Responders, Families and Care Givers -- Thank You Tesoro!!!

Saturday, March 10, 12pm-4pm
Healers and Heroes Free Relaxation Clinic.
Free community outreach program offering 30 minute relaxation sessions to active/retired military, law enforcement, firefighters/paramedics/emergency personnel, health care providers and their family members. But anyone who comes in for a session, is always welcome!!
Services vary each month and may include Reiki, massage, Pranic healing, reflexology, cranial sacral therapy, acupressure, biofeedback, 15 Minute StressOuts, and Native American healing sessions. If you are interested in a particular type of session, please call or email to see if it's offered this month.












*Free*

[vajara]

Please sign my Petition to Change the DSM Diagnosis from Disorder to Injury for reasons identified here: http://www.change.org/petitions/post-tr ... iter_modal

Also, see the discussion and news reports supporting this change: http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.a ... 2Fmessages

This is the right thing to do for our Returning Warriors so that they can receive Integrative Health Services like Massage, Reiki, Meditation, Therapeutic Outings, Expressive Arts, Movement Therapies, equine & Service Dogs, etc. Every Massage Therapist Should Join US so Pass this ON. Thank you

[vajara]

It is time for Integrative and Holistic Health Services be available and accessible for our Injured Warriors and their Families. Come on Body Workers and Integrative Health Practitioners, join with us in serving our Vets and others injured in War. Conventional MH, drugs and labels, only make life, health and relationships more conflicted and harmful for this catastrophic injury. Visit my website and sign this Petition to help: http://jerryvestinjuredwarrior.com