Program Hopes to Provides Support to Veterans Families
 Kathy McCarthy holds up the thank-you cards she had printed, with sayings on the backs, to give to veterans and family members. |
Post-traumatic stress disorder can have a wide range of symptoms, from anxiety, to anger, to substance abuse, to thoughts of suicide. It's a condition that takes a toll not only the servicemen, but on the families who've been waiting for them to return home.
"The veteran no longer feels they fit into society, they're having problems adjusting," said Rebecca "Becky" Litchfield of the city's veterans services office on Wednesday. "The families don't understand what's going on with them."
Litchfield, herself a Navy veteran, said there's a real lack of support for family members dealing with loved ones suffering from PTSD. That's going to change, at least here in the Berkshires, with the establishment of a support group called Berkshire Veteran WINS Program.
The program grew out of conversations between Litchfield, City Councilor Marie Harpin, state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, and Kathy McCarthy of Adams.
"We want these people to be able to feel a safe place to come to be able to express what they're going through," said McCarthy, former wife of retired Veterans Agent Richard McCarthy. "I was married 27 years to a Vietnam veteran ... I've lived that kind of life."
Although named for "Women In Need of Services," Berkshire Veteran WINS is open to any veteran's dependent, loved one or extended family member. That includes husbands of veterans.
"There are many women that are serving in the military and they're coming home to husbands and children," said McCarthy.
Veterans are also welcome to attend but Litchfield said the focus would be on families because veterans had other options for services. She suggested they contact the veteran services office at 413-662-3040.
The toll on relationships can be devastating, as one Army veteran explained. He'd completed two combat tours in Iraq by the age of 23, returning home to his wife in September 2007.
"It lasted four months," he said. By December, he was in the midst of divorce and court proceedings that prevented him from seeing his young son for more than a year.
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"I don't think the Army is prepared for it," said the veteran. "You come from a very, very high-stress, high-intensity situation and you come back to the States and they want you to have a fresh clean uniform, fresh shave, fresh haircut, and that's like the last thing on your mind.
"Six hours previously you were getting blown up and dragging your buddy out of a foxhole."
It was difficult to resume ordinary life: supermarkets had hidden dangers, paved potholes were signs of IEDs. He found relief through the Wounded Warrior Project, which has a variety of programs for returning military.
Now in college and with a girlfriend, he still finds himself pulling away and swinging quickly in and out of anger. Half the time, he said, he's sure she'll be gone when he gets home.
"It's very difficult because there's days that I don't even acknowledge her at all and I don't want to," he said. "When I want to go hunting I go hunting. ... It's nothing personal."
McCarthy listened with tears forming in her eyes, and said she could remember days like that. She got a hug from Litchfield.
"When you live with post-traumatic stress disorder, you yourself pick up some of the symptoms," McCarthy said. That's make it even tougher for children, she said, who end up dealing with two parents with problems.
Cariddi said there's no firm numbers on how many veterans or dependents are in the area but her office has been fielding requests on various veterans issues. Harpin, Litchfield and McCarthy said word of mouth alone has generated about 30 or 40 inquiries. They've taped a show on the new group for Northern Berkshire Community Television that will air on Monday nights.
The group will meet on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in the First Baptist Church's meeting room off Eagle Street. Meetings will feature speakers on issues related to veterans, with the first speaker on Sept. 19 being Mary S. King of Bennington, Vt.
King is the author of "Facing the Wall: The Mission," the story of her life after her husband returns from Vietnam with PTSD.
Cariddi said she commended the women for putting the program together.
"It's obviously a need in the community and my office is here to support their efforts in anyway we can," she said.
Harpin said the program is volunteer but will eventually need some funding. McCarthy, for instance, used her own money to have "thank you" cards printed up for veterans and families.
"It's an effort where everybody is going to be working together to get this group going so that we can help families in this community that need this service," said Harpin. "It's long overdue. Kathy can attest to that, it's long overdue."
Litchfield hopes that the group will fill a hole.
"If we can help at least one person, one family, and maybe make the world a little brighter for them."
Tags: PTSD, support group, veterans, veterans services,
