A Vietnam sniper tells his story and reveals the battles he fought even after the war was over... In 1968, Gary Mitchell enlisted in the Army and was sent to Vietnam, where he earned a reputation for keeping his head in extreme situations. This caught the eye of his superiors, who trained him in long-distance shooting, setting him on the path to becoming a sniper. Over a twenty-four-year career, Mitchell had twenty-four confirmed kills, most of these in Vietnam, where intelligence agents “borro...
STRESS RELIEF - How to Identify and Manage Anxiety and Stress
by Jimmy Fellon
The hallmarks of America's War on Terror have been repeated long deployments and a high percentage of troops returning with psychological problems. Family members of combat veterans are at a higher risk of potentially lethal domestic violence than almost any other demographic; it's estimated that one in four children of active-duty service members have symptoms of depression; and nearly one million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan require increased care due to physical or psychological trauma. B...
Unseen is centered around military trauma from the perspective of a mental health technician, Elisa Escalante, that deployed to Afghanistan and continued to dedicate herself to clinical work with veterans post military service. Unseen is an informative, critical, and empathetic look into the mental health side of military and veteran affairs. It highlights how both trauma and military adjustment stressors impact individuals on a social, spiritual, emotional, occupational, and psychological leve...
The story of an African-Nova Scotian soldier and the woman he wasn’t supposed to love, and how his return from Afghanistan led to a tragedy that raises difficult questions about moral responsibility, domestic violence and the overlooked costs of war. What is the legacy of a fallen soldier who takes his family with him? This is the problem posed by the story of Lionel and Shanna Desmond. The young couple grew up in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, one of the province's oldest Black communities...
One of Graham Greene’s characters famously said, “I suffer, therefore I am,” suggesting that pain is an inescapable, and perhaps incurable, part of the human condition. But must this be so? Ellen Macfarland argues otherwise in The Sacred Beyond Trauma. Through the use of mythology, stories from film and fiction, real-life examples, and her personal history, Macfarland shows that healing trauma is indeed possible, using rich resources near at hand, in nature. The book explores major symbols of he...
It's time to heal the invisible wounds of complex trauma and reclaim your mind, body, and spirit. If you are a person of color who has experienced repeated trauma--such as discrimination, race-related verbal assault, racial stigmatization, poverty, sexual trauma, or interpersonal violence--you may struggle with intense feelings of anger, mistrust, or shame. You may feel unsafe or uncomfortable in your own body, or struggle with building and keeping close relationships. Sometimes you may f...
First-hand essays of embodied healing from the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at Justice Resource Institute: challenges, triumphs, and healing strategies for trauma-sensitive therapists and yoga teachers. All editor proceeds from Embodied Healing will fund direct access to Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY). This collection of essays explores the applications of TCTSY--Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga--as a powerful evidence-based modality to help clients heal in the aftermath of...
Why does our past pain have a way of terrorizing us and keeping us in fear, while baiting us with the lie that we will never experience healing, freedom, or love? Though many of us can point to patterns of brokenness in our lives, we don't know why they're there. No matter how hard we work, we can't seem to outrun the very things that break our hearts. That's because our everyday setbacks are rooted in our unaddressed wounds. Guided by seminary-trained licensed trauma therapist Kobe Campbell,...