Veterans' Healthy Living, Summer 2015
Women Veterans: Thank You for Your Service!
All Veterans share a special bond, and the bond among women Veterans is perhaps even more special. Thanks to many fine organizations and individuals, female Veterans now have more opportunities than ever to get together, become acquainted, have fun, help each other heal, and form lasting friendships.
One such event occurred last August when Manchester VA Peer Support Services arranged for a group of women Veterans to spend a memorable weekend at Wounded Warriors @ 45 North, based in Pittsburg, NH. Last year’s free excursion for women Veterans coincided with the Old Home Day celebration in Pittsburg—complete with a parade, fireworks, food, and other festivities. As well as the August trip for women, this organization provides many other activities and trips that involve rest and FUN, including hunting, fishing, archery, and Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. For more information, go to www.ww45n.com/trips.html.
Project New Hope, headquartered in Worcester, MA, hosts a Women Veterans and Daughters Retreat one weekend each year. Events take place in a relaxed wilderness setting at the Grotonwood Camp and Conference Center (Groton, MA) and include workshops and activities at no cost to participants. In addition to building friendships, there are workshops that target post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); traumatic brain injury; military sexual trauma; addiction; suicide prevention; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. To find out more about this retreat or the many others offered by Project New Hope, please visit www.projectnewhopema.org/retreats.
The Warrior Connection hosts two retreats in Vermont annually for women Veterans. This organization uses a unique process to help heal invisible wounds—loss, moral injury, PTSD, and military sexual trauma—so Veterans can safely return to their families, friends, and communities. The group welcomes Veterans from any theater; among its goals are to mitigate loss; decrease suicides; reduce PTSD, depression, and anxiety; improve intimate relationships; and increase inner resources. More information is available on their website at http://www.warriorconnection.org/womensretreat.html.
Finally, Operation We Are Here offers visitors to the website a comprehensive list of national resources—from sea to shining sea, with a lot of others in between—that include seminars, camps, and retreats for Veterans and their families. You can learn more at www.operationwearehere.com/PTSDandTBIRetreats.html. Retreats are just a small part of the information available to Veterans. Be sure to check the site’s links to other resources for women Veterans at www.operationwearehere.com/FemaleVeterans.html.
