24-hour International Event to Showcase Benefits of Virtual Environments for PTSD Survivors
why Second Life?
Within Second Life, Fearless Nation offers:
Spirit Lodge (landing point): A library on PTSD subjects, and meeting space.
Ganesh Center: An art gallery and creative space to make music, art, or writing.
Mocean Station: A space for avatar physicality: Yoga, dance, tai chi, meditation, and other bodywork.
Thermal Pools: Avatar physicality and education about detoxification and bodywork for substance abuse, relaxation, stress reduction, mastery over the fear response, reintroduction to touch by others.
Nidra House: Yoga nidra spaces. Yoga Nidra is a listening form of yogic sleep that research has shown reduces anxiety, promotes better physical/mental health, and control over the fear response.
The Borealis Center for community events and classes.
Blackheart Gardens for remembrance and honor.
Ventura Beach: Education and avatar interaction with companion animals and interaction with psychiatric service dogs, horses, dolphins, and other mammals.
Billabong Beach: Surfing, swimming, and hanging out places to relax and interact.
The ‘HEALING WORLDS’ Approach to PTSD Recovery in SL
This model uses the SL VRE (Virtual Reality Environment) to give traumatized individuals experiences in social interaction and avatar activities that promote trust, skill mastery, and health through:
Creation of a flexible “physical” presence (the avatar)
Control over environment (can build, create own space, choose interactions
Education bout PTSD (knowledge is power)
Trying activities that diminish fear and anxiety such as:
Talking openly in a safe space about traumatic experiences
Progressive muscle relaxation (avatar yoga, movement, dance)
Performance (music, singing, speaking, poetry, storytelling, dance, showing art, speech-making, etc.)
Creative expression (music, art, poetry, clothing, etc.)
Social interaction with others (rebuilding social skills)
Supporting other PTSDers
Receiving support from other PTSDers
Advocating for PTSD awareness and treatment
Experimenting with new ways to approach problems, re-conceive the perception of traumatic experiences.
http://www.fearless-nation.org/Fearless-in-Second-Life.html
PTSD Awareness Event Coming to Second Life December 19
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
30,000 more troops, 10,000 more will wait for PTSD help
The time acknowledged rate of PTSD is one out of three. This applies to traumatic events, since it is the only way to be claimed by PTSD. It literally means after trauma. Trauma as many of you know is Greek for wound. If President Obama carries through with sending 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, it is very likely this will result in 10,000 more PTSD wounded, possibly more considering many have been on multiple deployments. The Army study several years ago found redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50%.
While it would take a military genius to know if this is the right thing or not, you'd still have to find a way to get them to agree this is the best plan. As the saying goes, "this is above my pay grade" because there is no way possible I would know what the right thing to do is. Truthfully, you'd have to agree even though you have your own opinion, it would be very difficult to prove you had all the answers. So what do we do about it? We keep asking questions to learn more. That's what thoughtful people do. We need to be wondering if the rest of the country is asking any questions at all.
Top on the list should be where the mental health help will come from? The Obama Administration is trying to play catch up to nine years worth of PTSD claims building up while there was not enough being done. As they try to play catch up, more and more are seeking help. This is a good thing because the message is finally getting thru to them. It is also a bad thing because there have not been enough psychologists or psychiatrists and even less trained on PTSD. What is waiting over the horizon and bearing down on every state in this country is a massive tsunami but the warning system has been unplugged.
National Guards and Reservists have been returning in droves to their oblivious communities and no jobs adding to the stress. Families with little understanding of what PTSD are unprepared for the sledgehammer waiting to break their family apart. As most of us know, none of this has to happen it turns out the military and the VA think they are just doing fine, yet they forget the suicide and attempted suicide rate goes up every year, clearly proving they haven't had a clue what to do.
So as this build up is a means to an end, what is the end to the waiting line of veterans doing the work left to wait in line for help?
There will be many more seeking help among the older veterans and the newer generation once able to get by with what came home with them. Mild PTSD turns ugly when not treated and too many of them will come to terms with what they cannot get over on their own.
While it would take a military genius to know if this is the right thing or not, you'd still have to find a way to get them to agree this is the best plan. As the saying goes, "this is above my pay grade" because there is no way possible I would know what the right thing to do is. Truthfully, you'd have to agree even though you have your own opinion, it would be very difficult to prove you had all the answers. So what do we do about it? We keep asking questions to learn more. That's what thoughtful people do. We need to be wondering if the rest of the country is asking any questions at all.
Top on the list should be where the mental health help will come from? The Obama Administration is trying to play catch up to nine years worth of PTSD claims building up while there was not enough being done. As they try to play catch up, more and more are seeking help. This is a good thing because the message is finally getting thru to them. It is also a bad thing because there have not been enough psychologists or psychiatrists and even less trained on PTSD. What is waiting over the horizon and bearing down on every state in this country is a massive tsunami but the warning system has been unplugged.
National Guards and Reservists have been returning in droves to their oblivious communities and no jobs adding to the stress. Families with little understanding of what PTSD are unprepared for the sledgehammer waiting to break their family apart. As most of us know, none of this has to happen it turns out the military and the VA think they are just doing fine, yet they forget the suicide and attempted suicide rate goes up every year, clearly proving they haven't had a clue what to do.
So as this build up is a means to an end, what is the end to the waiting line of veterans doing the work left to wait in line for help?
12/02/09 NYTimes: Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan
President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011, saying the United States could not afford and should not have to shoulder an open-ended commitment.http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx
There will be many more seeking help among the older veterans and the newer generation once able to get by with what came home with them. Mild PTSD turns ugly when not treated and too many of them will come to terms with what they cannot get over on their own.
WWII Vet and Medal of Honor not enough to fly flag his way
Medal of Honor recipient draws support in fight for flagpole
By Bill Mckelway
Published: December 3, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. -- A flood of help is building for an embattled Medal of Honor winner in Henrico County who was ordered this week to remove a flagpole from his yard by his community's homeowners association.
From the halls of Congress to the 90-year-old colonel's old infantry unit, a local law firm and scores of service members, help is making its way to Col. Van T. Barfoot.
"He said he was outraged and wanted to help," Barfoot's daughter said yesterday, speaking of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who learned of Barfoot's plight on TimesDispatch.com yesterday.
In a five-paragraph letter that he received Tuesday, Barfoot was ordered to remove the flagpole from his yard in the Sussex Square community in far western Henrico County. The decorated veteran of three wars raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk in a three-corner military fashion.
read more here
Medal of Honor recipient draws support in fight for flagpole
Stars and stripes
Col. Van T. Barfoot, the 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient who refuses to remove his flagpole from his property, speaks out on what the flag means to him.
The man had a highway named after him but can't fly a flag his way at this stage of his life. What's it going to hurt? How many other Medal of Honor heroes will they have to deal with after this if they let this one fly his flag anyway he wants?
By Bill Mckelway
Published: December 3, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. -- A flood of help is building for an embattled Medal of Honor winner in Henrico County who was ordered this week to remove a flagpole from his yard by his community's homeowners association.
From the halls of Congress to the 90-year-old colonel's old infantry unit, a local law firm and scores of service members, help is making its way to Col. Van T. Barfoot.
"He said he was outraged and wanted to help," Barfoot's daughter said yesterday, speaking of U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., who learned of Barfoot's plight on TimesDispatch.com yesterday.
In a five-paragraph letter that he received Tuesday, Barfoot was ordered to remove the flagpole from his yard in the Sussex Square community in far western Henrico County. The decorated veteran of three wars raises the American flag every morning on the pole, then lowers and folds the flag at dusk in a three-corner military fashion.
read more here
Medal of Honor recipient draws support in fight for flagpole
Stars and stripes
Col. Van T. Barfoot, the 90-year-old Medal of Honor recipient who refuses to remove his flagpole from his property, speaks out on what the flag means to him.
The man had a highway named after him but can't fly a flag his way at this stage of his life. What's it going to hurt? How many other Medal of Honor heroes will they have to deal with after this if they let this one fly his flag anyway he wants?
Col. Van T. Barfoot Memorial Highway Dedication
Host: Central District Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall
Type: Other - Ceremony
Network: Global
Date: Friday, October 9, 2009
Time: 11:00am - 12:00pm
Location: The Big Horn Restaurant
Street: Highway 16 East
City/Town: Carthage, MS
Please join us for the Col. Van T. Barfoot Medal of Honor Memorial Highway Dedication Ceremony at the Big Horn Restaurant in Carthage, MS.
We will be honoring an American Hero, Col. Van T. Barfoot (Ret.), and dedicating the section of Hwy 16 from MS 35 to the Neshoba County line.
A dutch treat lunch will follow the ceremony.
MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION:
BARFOOT, VAN T. Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 157th Infantry, 45th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Carano, Italy, 23 May 1944. Entered service at: Carthage, Miss. Birth: Edinburg, Miss. G.O. No.: 79, 4 October 1944.
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 May 1944, near Carano, Italy. With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, 2d Lt. Barfoot (then Tech. Sgt.) moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of 1 machine gun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing 2 and wounding 3 Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machine gun emplacement, and with his tommy gun killed 2 and captured 3 soldiers. Members of another enemy machine gun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to 17. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at his platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other 2 changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed 3 of them with his tommy gun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot’s extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers.
go here for more
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=164272616677&index=1
PTSD on Trail:Wife says Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings
Wife: Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings
By MARY ESCH
The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — Relatives say a Fort Drum soldier accused of stabbing his two Army buddies to death told them he saw his best friend "blown to pieces" in Iraq and came back a changed man: violent, sleepless, edgy and plagued by flashbacks.
Spc. Joshua Hunter, a military policeman, was expected to be arraigned on second-degree murder charges Friday morning, three days after the bodies of Waide James, 20, and Diego Valbuena, 23, were found in their apartment just outside Fort Drum, about 140 miles northwest of Albany. Hunter and the two victims served in Iraq at the same time in the same battalion.
They all were based at the wind-swept Army post near the Canadian border, home of the much-deployed 10th Mountain Division, and shared an off-base apartment.
Hunter's wife, Emily Hunter, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that her husband was outgoing before he went to war, but when he returned stateside, he was preoccupied by images of his friend being blown up.
read more here
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/wife-iraq-war-changed-224253.html
By MARY ESCH
The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — Relatives say a Fort Drum soldier accused of stabbing his two Army buddies to death told them he saw his best friend "blown to pieces" in Iraq and came back a changed man: violent, sleepless, edgy and plagued by flashbacks.
Spc. Joshua Hunter, a military policeman, was expected to be arraigned on second-degree murder charges Friday morning, three days after the bodies of Waide James, 20, and Diego Valbuena, 23, were found in their apartment just outside Fort Drum, about 140 miles northwest of Albany. Hunter and the two victims served in Iraq at the same time in the same battalion.
They all were based at the wind-swept Army post near the Canadian border, home of the much-deployed 10th Mountain Division, and shared an off-base apartment.
Hunter's wife, Emily Hunter, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that her husband was outgoing before he went to war, but when he returned stateside, he was preoccupied by images of his friend being blown up.
read more here
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/wife-iraq-war-changed-224253.html
Fort Hood suspect charged with attempted murder
Fort Hood suspect charged with attempted murder
By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 3, 2009 8:09:40 EST
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Army has charged the Fort Hood shooting suspect with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
These charges are added to the 13 premeditated murder charges filed against Maj. Nidal Hasan in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting massacre at Fort Hood.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_hood_suspect_charged/
By Angela K. Brown - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 3, 2009 8:09:40 EST
FORT WORTH, Texas — The Army has charged the Fort Hood shooting suspect with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
These charges are added to the 13 premeditated murder charges filed against Maj. Nidal Hasan in the wake of the Nov. 5 shooting massacre at Fort Hood.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_hood_suspect_charged/
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