Hope For The Warriors® Joins Community in Donating a Van to a Marine Family

Thanks to the efforts of an entire community, a Marine Family was presented a new handicap-accessible van on Friday, January 9 at their home aboard the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Hope For The Warriors® joined forces with another nonprofit and local community groups in order to purchase the van and improve mobility for both the Marine and his wife, supporting the needs of the entire family.  

Gunnery Sgt. Josh Thomas, his wife Carrie, and their two young children live aboard Camp Lejeune. Ten years ago, a snowmobile accident left Carrie without the use of her legs. Gunnery Sgt. Thomas supported his wife by lifting her in and out of the family’s vehicle. Gunnery Sgt. Thomas was deployed three times, and the first time he was wounded by an IED and was awarded the Purple Heart.

After he came home from his third deployment, he was scheduled for an operation. The operation did not, however, go as planned and Josh continues to face medical challenges. One challenge is the restriction of weight that he can lift to less than 10 pounds.  He can no longer lift his wife and the couple needed a handicap accessible van. 

Hope For The Warriors® worked with several businesses and organizations, such as Semper Fi Fund, Marine Chevrolet and Cadillac, and Van Products (who drove the van to the Thomas’s to make sure it suited their needs and made necessary adjustments) to make this donation possible.

The entire community worked together to care for the Thomas family. To raise funds and awareness, the Stroller Warriors, a community group, created a fundraising page and held a half marathon. Approximately $9,000 was raised through these community efforts and those funds will remain with the Thomas family to assist with other accessibility needs.

We thank the entire community, including donors and Hope For The Warriors® staff, for making it possible for this hero and his family to enjoy the ease and access of a new van! 

Small Donations Make a Huge Difference

Today’s story is about an unlikely group of donors who demonstrate that every contribution, big or small, can make a difference in the lives of our veterans and families.

It begins last fall when Hope For The Warriors® began receiving letters from veteran inmates at a correctional center in the Midwest. Many of the inmates had been incarcerated as a result of their challenges with post-traumatic stress. They each wanted to donate $5 per month—30% of their income—to Hope For The Warriors®, hoping their collective impact would help other veterans and their families.

Prison is often considered a hopeless place but these inmates chose to make a difference by giving HOPE to their fellow veterans who have sacrificed so much. Hope For The Warriors® has begun working with the center’s staff to identify the needs of these veterans in the future. And their contributions will make all the difference for the future of fellow veterans.

As we begin a new year, we ask that you consider the difference you can make in the lives of our service members and military families through a recurring monthly donation. Even the seemingly small contributions—like $5 a month—can improve the life of a veteran and military family. Join us as we fill 2015 with HOPE!

Art Therapy Provides Expressive Treatment for PTSD

This article was written by one of our social work interns, Jennifer Aleman. It is the first blog in a series dedicated to exploring options for the treatment of PTSD.

Tricia Winklosky is the Senior Director of Clinical Health & Wellness at the veteran nonprofit Hope For The Warriors®. In an earlier blog that she wrote for Hope For The Warriors®, she explained how art therapy has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, not only advancing treatment options, but also for its ability to be fluid, flexible, and expressive. She explained how art therapy has become a viable option at military treatment facilities and has proven to reduce symptoms of combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, anxiety, and depression. Art therapy is a valuable component of services offered by Veteran’s Hospitals (VA).

Drawing and painting for an hour has been shown to have significant changes in neurological activity. Scientists have started to focus their attention on trauma, its impact on the brain, and the brain’s ability to bounce back (neuroplasticity). Creating art may activate the temporal lobes to elicit dormant memories, emotions, and sensations. The temporal lobes are concerned with language, emotion, memory, and sense of time. Engaging in art therapy sparks the usage of certain parts of the brain that that are not available during verbal processing. Activating these parts of the brain could help process trauma and might help veterans cope more effectively. Traumatic memories are held in the non-verbal right brain, which has its own language of symbols and sensations, and can be decoded in order to create a narrative. This side of the brain can be accessed by art therapy in order to improve communication between the brain hemispheres, which assists in the processing of traumatic material.

The Family Reintegration Program, managed by Hope For The Warriors®, incorporated couple’s art therapy groups with the goal of managing PTSD by improving their communication skills. Participants from the former Family Reintegration Program at Holliswood shared their experience with the program:

“My husband loved the art therapy while at Holliswood. Art is his release and passion. He is able to escape from his problems and stress while painting and drawing.” 
--Heather, Spouse

“The general process of doing art or creating anything is quite meditative. I think that creative activities bypass regular cognitive “thinking” and reaches areas that you don’t reach by just thinking. It seems to help reconnect the breaks between the emotions and analytical parts of the heart and brain that often occurs as a result of trauma/survival situations.” 
--Gayle, Spouse

 “We love it!! The bridge exercise was a great communication tool for my husband and I!” 
--Michelle, Participant 

According to these participants, creating art helps service members and their families talk about difficult topics. Incorporating the family into art therapy is an effective way to help rebuild the family unit. 

Veterans who participated in this program were able to connect on an emotional level, overcome avoidance, show an increased tolerance of difficult feelings, which promoted understanding and improved communication both with self and others. Participants were able to share their deep fears and anxieties in a manageable way.

PTSD impacts veterans on many levels because not only does it contribute to painful symptoms, memories and changes in the individual but it separates the service member from their family unit and the larger community. Art therapy has the potential to help service members cope with symptoms, develop self-expression techniques, restore confidence, strengthen families and build community support.  With the growing pool of research that indicates the importance of Art Therapy, it is imperative that Art Therapy shifts from being discussed as an alternative therapy and been seen as a core treatment practice. 

Congrats to Our Spring Spouse/Caregiver Scholarship Recipients!

Hope For The Warriors® is pleased to announce the recipients of the Spring 2015 Spouse/Caregiver Scholarships.



Katie Hubbard

Robin Kelleher “New Beginnings” Honorary Scholarship 
Southern New Hampshire University

Master’s Degree in Psychology

Sarah Dale

Shannon Maxwell Honorary Scholarship  
American University

Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art

Jennifer Sherbanenko

Bonnie Amos Honorary Scholarship

Liberty University

Master’s Degree in Marriage & Family Counseling

Ashley Barnes

Karin Dickerson Honorary Scholarship

Old Dominion University

Master’s Degree in Educational Counseling

Hope For The Warriors® has been giving scholarships to spouses and caregivers twice a year since 2008. Biannual scholarships are awarded to both spouses and caregivers recognizing and supporting the new role shouldered within their families. Learn more about our Spouse/Caregiver Scholarships on our website. 

Blog Series on PTSD Treatment Options Coming Soon

Over the next few weeks, Hope For The Warriors® will feature a blog series dedicated to presenting viable, holistic alternatives to the treatment of PTSD. The goal of this series is to start a conversation highlighting therapy choices that are now considered alternatives and present them as core treatment options for short- and long-term PTSD. We aim to demonstrate how these therapies have gained respect for their effectiveness. With the growing amount of research to support these therapy options, including art therapy, Reiki, yoga, mindfulness practices, and several more, there has been expansion in their popularity and we look forward to sharing more information on them. Look out for some great information on these topics in the coming weeks!


Next Week’s Topic: Art Therapy

Resolution 2015: Find Myself & Enjoy Myself, A Caregivers Journey

2015... Holy Smokes 

It’s been almost eight years since my husband came home from war. Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday we were waiting at my husband’s various doctor appointments with kids in tow. I can close my eyes today and vividly picture the waiting room, the magazines, the nurses and the patients sitting next to us at appointments. I can still see the concerned faces of family members sitting next to their soldiers as we all waited together.  

"SGT Katter" a nurse would call out after opening the door that connected the waiting room to the nurses’ station where my husband would walk in, get weighed and have his blood pressure checked just before seeing the doctor.  

Sometimes, I wonder how eight years could have flown by so quickly. I wonder how my kids grew up so quickly and how I could already be 40 years old! How did I go from thin to chunky or from energetic to lethargic?  

On New Year’s Eve, I looked at myself closely in the mirror. I examined the fine lines around my eyes and my dulling skin. Don’t get me going on the white hairs popping out all around my hairline.  

In the past eight years, life has dished out quite a bit. Not only have I cared for my husband but my mother is also battling cancer. She has three to six months to live. My youngest daughter needs me to take her to doctor’s appointments. She has something called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Our family moved to another state this summer forcing us into new schools, new doctors, a new church, and the list goes on. 

Not JUST a Caregiver 

I have learned, I'm not "JUST" a Caregiver to my husband. I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. I've decided that the year, 2015 will be my RESOLUTION year. Just exactly what is a resolution? I decided to look up the word resolution in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary online.  

res·o·lu·tion 

 noun \ˌre-zə-ˈlü-shən\ 

: the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc. : the act of resolving something 

My Resolutions, What I Can Control 

I don't think I'll ever find an "answer" to why my husband was injured in war, or why good people were hurt and killed. I believe sometimes there just isn't an answer.  

However, I do have the answer to some things. How did I go from thin to chunky, how did I lose energy and how come I just didn't feel as good? I ate those extra calories. I sat on the couch more than I exercised. I started to get depressed; I started to let worries creep up on me. I was not proactive in my own health, yet I was submersing myself in everyone else's health. I forgot about myself, that I am the only one who can control my attitude, my outlook on life and my physical well-being.  

My 2015 resolution is to FIND MYSELF and ENJOY Myself. To find more ME time, do things I enjoy, smile more and laugh more. My resolution is not to lose weight, but to eat more healthy, to walk more, to LIVE more. The solution to solving my internal conflicts and outlook on life is to take life by the reigns and to stop looking back at the negative things that have happened, and focus on the positive things in life.  

Maybe you are a Caregiver reading this blog, or maybe you are a military veteran. Perhaps you are a parent or family member of a veteran, a civilian supporter of Hope For The Warriors. Whatever the case may be, whoever you are... instead of making a crazy New Year’s resolutions that you cannot control, I urge you to make tangible resolutions every day that will help you live a more happy life after war. We won't ever totally forget the effects of war, but we can be productive. You aren't alone in this life. We have each other. Once a military family, always a military family. There IS hope. Let's encourage each other, believe in each other and LIVE. 

Love, 

Patti K.  

PS - As for those little fine lines around my eyes and white hairs popping out from the roots of my head, I count those as little blessings along this journey we call life.  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Hope For The Warriors! We once again rang in the New Year by bringing military families and veterans into Times Square for one of the biggest celebrations in the country.

Why New Year's Eve? 

For many of our families, witnessing the ball dropping in Times Square is something they have always wanted to do. However, if you are wounded, the logistics can be difficult or impossible. This is especially true for those that struggle with PTS and TBI. The crowds and noise alone would keep many at home.

Hope For The Warriors works with NYPD to bring the families safely into the city and into Times Square to enjoy the festivities with more space and security. For many military families, this is the only way they could celebrate the new year together. This is the 7th year we have brought families into New York for New Year's Eve.

Our New Year's trip is just one day of work within the Community & Military Relations pillar. Our Community & Military Relations programs engage both military and civilian communities, uniting corporate and civilian leaders, school districts, military agencies, and more to work together with a shared goal of embracing the military families with their community.

Watching the ball drop in Times Square was not the only way HOPE celebrated the New Year with military families. We also invited families to watch the University of Wisconsin basketball team. And, several families and staff joined the Commandant of the Marine Corps at 8th & I. 

In 2015, Hope For The Warriors will continue to reach out to military families within communities nationwide. 

If you are a service member, veteran, or military family that meets our mission, please register within our system. We need to know where you live and what you are interested in doing.  Register today.

Other great photos from the night!

One of our supporters captured this moment on TV!

Miss America greets our military families