Attention Virginia Post 9/11 Military Caregivers!

On Tuesday, January 27, 2015; Hope for the Warriors will be hosting a Post 9/11 Military Caregiver Wellness Workshop at the Fort Belvoir USO Warrior and Family Center. During the workshop, we will be focusing on Self-Care and Mindful Practices for Military Caregivers. Activities include: Art Therapy, Applied Theater Experientials and Therapeutic Yoga.   

I'm very excited about this great opportunity for Military Caregivers. I am also very happy to say I will be participating in and speaking at this fantastic event. Please check out the flyer below for more information on how you as a Military Caregiver can participate in the Wellness Workshop.  

Team Hope For The Warriors® Newsletter: January

Year In Review:

2014 was a great year for Team Hope For The Warriors®! More than 100,000 miles were run and cycled, enough miles to circle the earth over 4 times, and more than $350,000 was raised for Hope For The Warriors®. That’s around $3.50/mile! Each of you make a huge impact in the lives of our service members. This year many Team members met their goals, completed personal bests, and helped spread hope across the nation to our service members and their families.

We are looking forward to 2015 and making it an even better year focusing in on our mission of providing athletes of all abilities the opportunity to engage their competitive spirit at endurance events. We will continue to be the Team that is defined by our achievements rather than our injuries or obstacles as we are united in the goal of improving the rehabilitation of combat wounded service members and military families.

Team Races 2015:

Below are the confirmed dates and races for 2015, there will be more dates to come soon:

March 15, 2015 – United Airlines NYC Half Marathon  

Sold out

March 21, 2015 – MCCS Cherry Point Half Marathon*

Register

March 28, 2015 – Marine Corps 17.75K

May 17, 2015 – Marine Corps Historic Half

August 22, 2015 – Quantico Tri*

October 11, 2015 – Army Ten Miler*

October 25, 2015 – Marine Corps Marathon 10K

October 25, 2015 – Marine Corps Marathon*

*Hand cycle friendly race

Fundraising Tip:

Use Twitter/Facebook to Say Thank You

Be sure to tweet and post personal thank you notes to those that donate to your fundraising page. Your family and friends will appreciate this recognition and will draw attention to your cause.  Be sure to tag our Facebook page and use our Twitter Handle, @Hope4Warriors and #TeamH4W.

Training Tips:

Winter is here! Here are some cold weather training tips:

• Avoid over or underdressing for the weather by wearing layers. Dress as if it is actually about 10-15 degrees warmer.
• Good clothing items to consider wearing, depending on the weather: gloves, hat or headband, insulated socks, pants, tights, long-sleeve moisture wicking shirt, a top-layer of clothing that blocks the wind, and a fleece layer on a very cold day.
• Remember to hydrate before and after running.
• Be sure to wear reflective, bright colors, or some type of light when running early or late in the day.
• Remember that safety is more important than training outdoors. Try to find indoor alternatives if the weather is hazards such as a gym or treadmill.

Team Member Corner: Steve Bellone

Check Presentation at the 7^th Annual Long Island Run For The Warriors® (Steve is 4^th from the left).

Steve Bellone ran the 2014 New York City Half Marathon with Team Hope For The Warriors® with the goal to raise $10,000 for Hope For The Warriors®. On Sunday, November 9, 2014 at the 7^th Annual Long Island Run For The Warriors® Steve presented Hope For The Warriors® with a check for $10,500, exceeding his goal. Steve is an Army veteran and also serves as the Suffolk County Executive in Long Island, NY. He is a great example of generosity and altruism to the community he serves.

Program information:

Here is the tentative 2015 Run For The Warriors® schedule. We hope you can join us at some of these races. Visit Run For The Warriors® to check for registration pages:

Saturday, May 16, 2015

10th Annual Run For The Warriors®, Jacksonville, NC*

Monday, May 25, 2016

Inaugural Tampa Run For The Warriors®, Oldsmar, FL*

Sunday, June 7, 2015

6th Annual Big Apple Run For The Warriors®, New York, NY*

Saturday, July 4, 2015

4th Annual New Bern Run For The Warriors®, New Bern, NC*

Sunday, August 16, 2015

6th Annual Sunset Run For The Warriors®, Shelton, CT*

Saturday, October 17, 2015

2nd Annual DMV Run For The Warriors®, Washington, DC*

Sunday, October 25, 2015

San Diego Run For The Warriors® Sponsored by the ASA, San Diego, CA*

Saturday, November 7, 2015

8th Annual Long Island Run For The Warriors®, Lindenhurst, NY*

*Hand cycle friendly race

Representing the Team:

Be sure to shoot us an email with your race schedule and where you will be wearing your Team jersey. Each time you wear your jersey, you help our mission to restore self, family, and hope. Feel free to share photos and special stories too!

mholton@hopeforthewarriors.org
sbarto@hopeforthewarriors.org

Important Links For Social Media:

Hope For The Warriors®Facebook

Twitter When you tweet be sure to use #TeamH4W

NYCHalf Marathon Team Facebook Group

NYC Full MarathonTeam Facebook Group

MarineCorps Marathon Team Facebook Group

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