It’s a story of heroism, danger, tragedy and
triumph. It’s about lives given and lost
and lives saved. This is the story of
self sacrifice, and of coming home, of finding peace in the aftermath of war.
As America’s military
service members return from service abroad, we often hear about the struggles,
tragedies and triumphs wounded warriors make overcoming the physical wounds of
war. But many face far more subtle and insidious battles as they readjust to civilian
life and struggle with the hidden scars left by their war experiences and their
personal losses. While courageous on battlefields the world over, of our troops
face their greatest adversaries in dealing with the haunting hidden wounds of
PTSD and other battle stress related mental health issues.
One woman,
Judith Broder, a California psychiatrist, has seen the lethal no man’s land of
these too often silent, but no less deadly battlefields and is leading the
charge to truly bring our troops home. Dr. Broder has learned that coming home
can be as much about the restoration of a service member’s state of mind as it
is a matter of physical proximity to a warrior’s physical home.
In 2004, after
attending a theatre performance of "The Sand Storm: Stories from the
Front," a series of 10 monologues describing the Iraq war from the
perspective of active duty marines, psychiatrist Judith T. Broder, M.D. felt an
obligation to help our troops and their families manage the myriad of
war-related mental health issues.
Dr. Broder founded The Soldiers Project which
offers free psychotherapy to military service members, veterans and their loved
ones.
“We provide free
counseling and support to military service members who have served or who
expect to serve in the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts,” Dr. Broder said on her
Soldiers Project web site. “We provide help to service members and families
struggling with issues related to the overwhelming trauma of war including the
cycle from pre-deployment to deployment to homecoming and re-entry to civilian
life.”
Dr. Broder
started The Soldiers Project in 2004. She paid for a telephone line, started a
website and gathered together a group of volunteer mental health professionals.
They reached out to veterans groups, the VA, military bases, and community
venues to raise awareness of the psychological consequences of war and the
availability of free, confidential, individualized counseling, at private offices
throughout Southern California. Now more than eight years since its inception,
The Soldiers Project in the Southern California area alone has well over 200
volunteer clinicians and over 400 in the entire country. With calls coming in
from all over the United States, affiliated locations have developed in
Sacramento, Washington State, Chicago, New York City, Long Island,
Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
The Soldiers
Project is a private, non-profit, independent group of volunteer licensed
mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychologists, social
workers, psychiatric nurses and marriage and family therapists. Their services
are readily accessible and entirely free of charge. They do not report to any
government agency.
As the brave men
and women who have served in America’s armed services return home, and with
still others deploying to serve abroad each month, your audience can be a vital
part of the healing. Dr. Broder and The Soldiers Project’s panel of speakers is
eager to share with you and your audiences the ways that each American can help
heal the hidden wounds of war.
Contact: (877)
576-5343 OR e-mail agreenwald@thesoldiersproject.org
Contact The Soldiers Project toll-free at
(877) 576-5343 to schedule an interview with Dr. Broder or one of The Soldiers
Project speakers, and help America learn the best ways to say “Welcome Home,”
to its heroes.
