Portsmouth Company Launches Fundraising Effort to Help Veterans

Twenty two American veterans commit suicide every day and the incidence of suicide for veterans is 50 percent higher than for demographically similar civilians. Veterans also suffer from chronic pain and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at higher rates as well. 81 percent of vets deal with some form of chronic pain and 68 percent suffer with PTSD.

Joe McCue, the owner of American Wellness Solutions, LLC, said he found these statistics ”unbelievably sad and so unnecessary,” and decided to try and do something about it.

As a massage and bodywork instructor for the past eight years, McCue knows massage therapy has a proven track record to help both chronic pain and PTSD. As beneficial as it would be however, getting hundreds of thousands of veterans all over the country to see a massage therapist on a regular basis doesn’t seem like a practical solution. Instead McCue came up with different idea: teach the veterans and their stakeholders (spouse, partner, family members, caregivers, etc.) to safely administer a modified, and fully clothed massage session for each other, according to a press statement. He calls this program the Wellness Warrior Training.

“My hope is that through learning and applying these skills, the effects of PTSD, depression and chronic pain some of our brave veterans are facing can be lessened.” McCue also believes that if even one veteran chooses a path different from ending his or her life, he will consider this work a success.

Another benefit McCue hopes to achieve with the Wellness Warrior Training is that by teaching the vets themselves how to administer a massage session for a loved one, the experience will empower them to feel like they have something worthwhile to give back.

Currently the basic outline of how this project gets rolled out is divided into three (and possibly four) phases. In Phase I, the training is created, in Phase II, the facilitator training is created and in Phase III the training is delivered through veteran services organizations all over the country.

McCue is asking people to help bring this training to every veteran who can benefit from it by visiting the crowdfunding page he set up to finance this project (gofundme.com/t43gh8). There people can find out more information, make a donation and share the link on their social networking profiles.

Joe McCue is the owner of American Wellness Solutions, LLC, a worksite wellness consulting company based in Portsmouth, NH committed to helping organizations design, implement and evaluate effective, employee-focused wellness programs.

Learn more at AmericanWellnessSolutions.com