National PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Awareness Month

National PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) Awareness Monthwas created by the Senate in 2014. According to research, 6.8% of adults in the United States will experience PTSD in their lifetime. As a group, veterans are more likely than their civilian counterparts to experience PTSD during their lives, with Vietnam War veterans at 30%, Gulf War veterans at 10%, and Iraq veterans at 14%

PTSD is front and center to the Help Heal Veterans (Heal Vets) Therapeutic Craft mission-To reach more veteran patients and to introduce them to the healing power of the arts for the very first time.Founded in 1971, Heal Vets has provided free therapeutic craft kits to hospitalized and homebound veterans for generations. Over that time, they have helped traumatized veterans improve their motor skills, while also developing a stronger sense of self-esteem and self-worth among their participants. The therapeutic craft kits help veterans take their minds off the past and off their pain, opening the way for them to live more in the present.

Many PTSD sufferers never even recognize the impact of PTSD in their lives until years after the traumatic events. Family members are often the first to identify the outward manifestations of PTSD. These symptoms present in such ways as isolation from loved ones, substance abuse, self-harm, and binge eating. PTSD patients also report that high-stress situations, referred to as trigger situations, often elicit angry outbursts that are outside the bounds of “ordinary anger” and frequently result in physical violence. For these reasons, seeking professional medical attention for PTSD is strongly encouraged. PTSD therapists can greatly assist their patients in developing healthy coping mechanisms to prevent symptoms from worsening. However, there are also therapeutic programs such as Heal Vets that can make learning coping mechanisms easier and do so in a non-threatening, less formal environment. They accomplish this by providing an environment of comradery with other vets that understand the difficulties of transitioning to civilian life as well as what it is like to deal with service connected health problems.

Many Physicians, Occupational Therapists, Recreational Therapists and Social Workers prescribe arts and crafts as an essential component of a patient's treatment plan. Such an approach provides tremendous therapeutic and rehabilitative benefits, including improving fine motor skills, cognitive functioning, memory, and dexterity. Working on Arts and Crafts can also help alleviate anger issues, and the severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) triggers such as anxiety, intrusive thoughts, sadness, and frustration.

Heal Vets, with the assistance of board remember Dr. Keith Stuessi, conducted an informal survey on the benefits of therapeutic craft kits, and the initial results are staggering! Under the heading of Overall Quality of Life and Family, 94% of over 1000 respondents said that the crafts help them have a more positive outlook on life, and 80% said that it helped with relationships with their family. Also in the survey, self-reports of pain both physical and emotional, an astonishing 98% of respondents said that crafts reduced their pain significantly. 94% of respondents reported that it helped improved their manual dexterity and 97% with a history of TBI (traumatic brain injury) reported that it helped.

Thanks to Heal Vets donors, our nation's veterans and their clinicians never have to worry about the costs for Heal Vets craft kits. This is because Heal Vets has donated over 29 million therapeutic arts and craft kits to our nation's veterans and active duty military personnel in support of their healing and recovery efforts.

Testimonials from the thousands of Heal Vets participants prove the benefit of therapeutic crafts and include:

"Thank you for allowing me to discover my talent in painting. Crafts help me relax and fight my PTSD."- SPC Simpson, Army Veteran

"I appreciate the arts and craft kits so much. They help me take my mind off my problems. When I am working on a craft kit, something that might trigger a PTSD attack doesn't bother me as much," Klugh told Heal Vets "I'm so focused on working on the craft kit that I can overcome the triggers. I first discovered the craft kits during a lengthy hospitalization, and it has just been the best thing for me. Without the craft kits, I don't know what I would do. I am so grateful to the donors who make these kits possible."- Paul Klugh, Bronze Star recipient, Vietnam Veteran