Combat Stress - Service members encounter two types of stress: deployment stress and combat stress. Deployment stress is created by the new surroundings - often hostile, loss of privacy, tight living quarters, environmental changes (like extreme temperature shifts), and distance from family. Combat stress is related to the direct experience of war - roadside bomb explosions, suicide vehicle bomber attacks, combat operations, as well as the constant threat of IEDs, lethal mortar and rocket attacks day and night.

We've learned a lot since WWII and Vietnam. We know that we overcorrected after WWII to try to mitigate the increased mental and emotional difficulties seen by those combatants with the most combat exposure. In Vietnam, we began rotating combatants in hopes of decreasing combat stress. What resulted instead was a loss in unit ESPIRIT DE CORPS, making the war very personal, with no 'boat ride home' together, to help process the shared battle experience. In Vietnam, each combatant was individually rotated in and out of battle. Each adjustment to civilian life had to be done individually.

We know that a cornerstone of human resilience is positive attachments to others. While war is a terrible thing, it is a reality in the face of aggressors, dictators, and others that would deny liberty and freedom to the masses. As those who defend the liberties and freedoms of the masses face the terrible stress of war, we can help them most in their readjustment to civilian life by fostering healing attachments.

Individual Services - I offer individual counseling related to combat stress. I teach relaxation skills and coping skills for desensitization of painful war trauma. For complex traumatic stress, I refer out to Mr. Jordan Shafer, LPC & EMDR Therapist at CompassionWorks for EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). These services are ideally offered conjointly with group therapy with other same era veterans.

Group Services - I offer group counseling related to combat stress. While I do not have direct boot time, I have experience with war trauma related to dependents - Holocaust and Vietnam eras.