By Liz McLean
When it comes to transitioning, you have to ask for help. This applies to mental health, fitness, and most importantly, to career transition.
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Traumatic experiences don’t always have to result in long-term negative consequences. Research proves that exponential growth can actually result from traumatic events instead.
Veterans are often reluctant to seek help because of the stigma surrounding mental health issues and are likelier to respond to an approach that emphasizes discussion of here‐and‐now issues of adjustment to civilian life rather than mental disorders.
You can build back your life
Those involuntarily separated with an honorable discharge are also given specific military benefits to make the shift from the military to civilian life a little bit easier.
Thousands of veterans who served in the wars that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks struggle with issues that are often invisible to those around them. Some are suffering from health problems and trauma, and others from feelings of displacement and alienation.
Coming from all over the country, these women, who ranged in age from their mid-30s to mid-50s, all shared one important characteristic: They had all served in the United States military, and now as civilians they were learning to adjust to life out of the uniform.
No matter where you move after the military, even if you’re returning to where you grew up, it takes time and effort to find your sense of belonging. Your civilian job likely won’t provide that as easily as the military did—or at all.
Reading about the challenges of war presented in literature―and having the chance to talk through them with other combat veterans―has made these Monday night meetings feel sacred for many who attend.
The aim of these ecotherapy programs and services is to connect veterans back to nature in a way that will conjure positive emotions and elicit a sense of confidence when reintegrating into the civilian world.
“Being...out in nature, it’s just good for the soul. It’s cleansing...it gets you outside of yourself. It’s my...way to decompress.” —Edye Joyner, U.S. Marine Corps and Desert Storm veteran