The short, five-question screen can be answered alone, with a friend, family member or health care provider.

PTSD Screening Day is an opportunity to encourage self-screens and discussion of results with health care providers. Many who suffer from PTSD may be unaware of their symptoms or reluctant to get care due to mental health stigmas. Only a trained provider can diagnose PTSD.

“Taking the self-screen is the first step to recovery; results can help Veterans learn if their feelings and behaviors are related to PTSD,” said Executive Director of the National Center for PTSD Paula Schnurr, Ph.D. “The message we want to share is one of hope. PTSD is treatable and is a normal response to trauma, not a sign of weakness. If you have PTSD, you can get help.”

PTSD is a mental health problem some develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, car accident or sexual assault. Regardless of the trauma or when it was experienced, VA offers PTSD treatments and other services to support Veterans who have experienced trauma or are experiencing symptoms of PTSD.

A Veteran may have PTSD if they answer “yes” to three or more questions on the self-screen. The next step is to schedule an appointment to speak with a health care provider. Everyone, regardless of their answers, can reach out to a health care provider if they feel bothered or negatively affected by their symptoms.

Veterans and others who have experienced trauma or who have PTSD can learn more about the National Center for PTSD and its efforts to enhance care for Veterans.

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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of veterans and active duty military personnel are on lockdown, many suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or substance abuse. With the additional challenge of social isolation, finding ways to combat depression, anxiety and loneliness is critical.

That is why Help Heal Veterans (Heal Vets), a nonprofit founded during the Vietnam War, has gone into overdrive, shipping more than 90,000 free craft kits since the beginning of the pandemic and creating a newly designed kit to help veterans make the masks they need to stay healthy and safe.

Operating on the principle that not all medicine comes in a bottle, Heal Vets distributes kits in craft categories like masks, leatherwork, models, woodwork, jewelry, paint-by-numbers, needlecrafts, poster art, scrapbooks and more. Crafting can provide therapeutic and rehabilitative benefits, including improving fine motor skills, cognitive functioning, memory and dexterity, and can help alleviate feelings of anger and the severity of negative behaviors triggered by PTSD and TBIs.

With demands flooding in due to the COVID-19 pandemic, kits have been distributed to more than 90 Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers around the country and a large number of military bases, state veteran homes and other locations where the need is great.

“The coronavirus is overwhelming, but being alone in a pandemic crisis can be terrifying and deeply debilitating,” says Joe McClain, retired Navy captain and Help Heal Veterans CEO. “Our goal is to give our veterans what they need to heal during this time of enforced isolation.”

In a recent survey of vets, 94 percent of those polled who use Heal Vets craft kits said the kits helped them have a more positive outlook on life, and 98 percent said the kits took their mind off problems.

With many of the nation’s veterans labeled high-risk now in lockdown with little contact from others, (no visitors, no family allowed, no volunteers and limited staff interaction), it is particularly important to address suicide prevention, according to McClain.

“We’re working closely with the VA Suicide Program to start including VA-produced suicide prevention awareness and education material with our kits,” he says. “Our concern is that during this time of increased stress from isolation and financial uncertainty, some veterans may be at higher risk of taking their own life. We are hoping to raise awareness and improve access to craft therapy kits to help mitigate that risk.”

To learn more about Heal Vets and the organization’s COVID-19 efforts, as well as find out how you can help, visit HealVets.org.

Anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges can be exacerbated during this quarantine period. Luckily, there are tangible ways to support isolated and sick veterans in their most significant time of need.

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(California Is Trying To Do More)

Veterans in California will no longer pay adoption fees at local animal shelters; the bill passed by Governor Gavin Newsom (Senate Bill 245) on Friday, Aug, 30th, 2019. The idea behind this bill is that California is home to over 2 million veterans and many of them struggle with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), studies have shown that veterans with animal companions ease back into society easier. This bill was passed in the State Assembly 76-0 and the State Senate 37-0. That means all of the Republicans & Democrats in the office came together and unanimously decided that this was a bill that needed to be passed. 

According to the Bill: This bill would prohibit a public animal shelter from charging an adoption fee for a dog or cat if the person adopting the dog or cat presents to the public animal shelter a current and valid driver’s license or identification card with the word “VETERAN” printed on its face pursuant to the above-described provision. The bill also would authorize a public animal shelter to limit the number of dogs and cats adopted from that particular public animal shelter by an eligible veteran to one dog and cat every six months.

This bill will help ease the financial burden many veterans face when trying to train a service dog or emotional support animal. Training can be expensive, and many Veterans live on fixed incomes, one of the most expensive parts can be the adoption fees. Adoption fees vary from shelter to shelter, but usually cost more than one hundred dollars. Service Dogs help Veterans in many ways, in particular, helping them cope with loss, depression, and anxiety. 

“I think a lot of veterans are struggling and they are looking for treatment options anywhere they can find them,” Maggie O’Haire says. “There is a lot of hope around this practice, and veterans deserve to know if it works.”

Maggie O’Haire is the assistant professor of human-animal interaction in the College of Veterinary Medicine; she firmly believes that animals can be one of the major treatments for Veterans who are struggling with PTSD. Maggie believes that service animals are at the forefront of treatment/medication options for PTSD and have found it more effective than prescribed medications. 

If service animals are leading the way in curing PTSD then maybe they can lead the way in healing other Mental Illnesses. All in all, the passing of this bill was a great example of how both political parties can put agenda aside and agree to help the men and women who sacrificed so much for our freedom. If you served in the military and are dealing with PTSD, seek help. It doesn’t mean you are weak; it makes you wise to talk to someone who understands what you are going through. 

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However, a man with a vision has recently acquired a ten-acre ranch in the far western part of Hemet, just beyond Diamond Valley Lake and is about to make a significant contribution to this Valley when it comes to returning veterans suffering from PTSD. He knows what to do because he’s been there and done that. His name is Robert Martin. Let us tell you all about him.

He is from Northern California, graduated from high school in 1982. From a class of 435, he was the only one to go into the service. He explains.
“I enlisted in the U. S. Army reserves at 17, and after basic training, I tried to transfer to active duty, but the reserves wouldn’t release me. After six years, I finally was assigned to active duty in 1988.”

In 1996s, after suffering the loss of his left arm in Iraqi combat, he received a medical discharge. “I rehabbed myself and after the 9/11 terrorist attack, I re-enlisted and served another 14 years full time with two overseas appointments in Iraq, where I saw things that no human being ought to see or be a part of.”

After his discharge, he tried to find peace and solitude, but his PTSD overcame him. “I was way oversubscribed opioids for ten years. Nothing seemed to help. Memories and flashbacks pursued me. My kids were grown, and I found myself alone in a big house in the winter. Loneliness created a terrible depression. I finally ended in the V. A. Psych ward in Minnesota. I became so complacent and falling apart physically and mentally that I was suicidal.”

To find his way back to a semblance of sanity, he decided to move back to California to play golf with his father.
“I didn’t need to worry about financial security because I had my full retirement with all the amenities that go with it.”
It was not an easy path to tread. After six months back in California, he developed skin cancer. He moved to Banning, California where he could be close to a V. A. Hospital where he was able to get proper treatment.

“I was living all by myself in a half-house, so small we called it a cube rather than a residence.”
As a child, he lived on a farm with horses and remembered how much enjoyment that brought him.
“I was thinking that maybe being around horses again might help me with my PTSD, so I sought out a place where I could take up riding lessons.”

He found that place on a ranch in San Jacinto where he met his girlfriend Chris Vernier and business partner, plus four or five dogs. “I fit in on the ranch because I knew how to fix things.” His stay there was brief because the owner decided to sell the property “Chris and I moved on to another temporary location. For a while, they seemed like vagabonds, but he never lost his dream of getting well and helping others. The horses had changed his perspective about life and soothed his ragged nerves.

“We came into good luck when we leased a ten-acre horse ranch in Hemet. The owner of the ranch, a Marine veteran from the Vietnam War, believed in me and allowed us to buy the place on a contract dead.”
The main house on the ranch is 3200 square feet, consisting of 3 bedrooms, a large yard, and a pool. The property is a fully functioning horse ranch.

Robert says, “We’ll build a yurt on the lower end of the ranch and turn the big house into transitional housing for discharged veterans with PTSD coming off active duty, four to six men to spend up to six months here, depending upon the situation. It is not going to be a rehab facility. We intend it to offer a transitional period from discharge to becoming adjusted back into civilian life. Some will have mental health problems and others with emotional situations as a result of combat.

“Many will need to learn how to live again, budgeting money and nutrition, and reentry into civilian life. They will not leave here without some assistance toward the future, offering therapy as needed.”

He believes that horses have helped him on his way into the future. “I haven’t had a nightmare in six months, and I want to introduce that same peace of mind to others because I know it works.”
He is up every morning at five, gets on his horse for a couple of hours, “just to get my head straight and start the day.”

Some of the services offered are:

1. Equine Therapy with a certified Equine Therapist.

2. Trauma-focused therapy with a; licensed mental health practitioner.

3. Life Skills Training such as money management, coping skills, job interview skills, nutrition/cooking, and managing daily life as a civilian. Many of the life skills will be taught using equines.

“Services for Veterans, Active Duty and First Responders with PTSD,” he says, “not residing at the facility include Equine Therapy and Trauma-Focused Therapy. Additionally, future services are in the planning stages and include adaptive horseback riding for amputees and other physically .disabled persons and overnight camping with horses in conjunction with life skills training as well as rehabilitating injured or traumatized horses. With the assistance of our certified Veterinarian Technician Veterans will learn skills to help rehab the horse they are assigned to and will reap the benefits of helping to heal with another.”

He explained that horses are prey animals and have a very large portion of their brains that operate out of intuition and emotion to detect danger and make the decision to act on ‘fight or flight’ out of instinct. They are highly emotionally intelligent creatures and recognize the slightest gesture, body posture, tone of voice, and facial extensions.

Horses rely on these skills to keep themselves safe. They are so skilled with these abilities that they are often aware of emotions that we may be experiencing out of consciousness. Another reason horses are such skilled therapists is that they don’t use language and many trauma feelings; often because they can’t identify them. Horses use a mirroring technique that can help a person ‘see” how they are acting and feeling. Moreover, many traumatized persons are tired of talking and telling their story when traditional has failed them. Brain injured people may have difficulty with speech all growth.

Science has shown that the mere interaction with horses can alter brain chemistry, reducing, and even eliminating the symptoms of PTSD. Horses are also nonjudgmental and have no preconceived notions or expectations. The goal of Equine Therapy is that with the guidance of an Equine Therapist and/or a Life Skills Coach persons will learn to identify their tendencies to engage in self-defeating or negative thoughts and actions and with the help of a horse learn more positive and fulfilling ways of expressing themselves and dealing with the world.

R.M. Veterans Unity Ranch is a nonprofit organization and will welcome grants and contributions. The ranch is located at 30920 S. Palm Avenue, in Hemet. Operations are conducted by Rob Martin, and he can be reached at (760) 408-2902.

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