The Way of the Human Beings

Before I left for Alaska I was given a book to read by Ed Tick the author of War and the Soul. I was going to work with Native Alaskans who were dealing with the epidemic of alcohol and suicide. The title of the book Ed gave me is The Way of the Human Beings by Harold Napoleon. What a gift this was. Having read the book I was able to understand what the Native Alaskans are dealing with. Harold writes about the “Great death” which was as series of epidemic brought by the white man during the nineteen hundreds. Harold uses the experience of the Vietnam veteran who came home with PTSD as a parallel to what happened to the Native Alaskans. Natives were left on the fringes of society jus tas the Vietnam veterans were. Natives were traumatized by the loss of so many people and are still struggling to recover the profound loss of elders. Just as the Vietnam vets with PTSD have often choose addiction, and suicide, so did the Native Alaskans.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in PTSD, in either population.

Larry

Vet's In Alaska

I am getting ready to leave Noam Alaska after ten days of teaching and learning. The first four days I taught a group of Native Alaskan heath care workers about Directive Group Therapy, a form of group psychotherapy that I have developed working at Four Winds Hospital for the past twenty years. Many of these folks came from surrounding Native villages where they provide the primary care for the residences. There is and epidemic of alcoholism and suicide in all of these villages.

The remainder of the time my wife Helise and I spent visiting Native villages and enjoying the fantastic landscape. Each place I sought out veterans to speak with. I am hoping to put together a vets gathering here in Noam next year with the help of my friend Greg Smith who works for Norton Sound Health Corporation. Greg was an invaluable contact person who set up my coming to Noam.

Yesterday Greg and I flew in a bush plane out to the small village of Golovin. There are a hundred and fifty folks in the village and around ten vets. A man named Duane or “Bear” who was part of my workshop in Noam lives in Golovin and he introduced me to a vet named Tom who was in Vietnam 1967-68. Tom and I spent several hours talking about life on Golovin and our experience in Vietnam. I will be telling you about Tom in the blog after I get home and settled.

Return from Soldiers Heart Retreat at Pumpkin Hollow June 2007

Returning from Soldiers Heart Retreat feels like coming back to base camp from a long trek in the bush. Or maybe like flying so many missions that your bones vibrate at the same frequency as the chopper.

There we plummeted into War depths seldom known. The sweat lodge separated egos from bodies. We planted and watered veteran support trees and watched the roots and branches grow. We allowed each others love to become the salve of our own healing. Ed and Kate as our stewards led us into the underworld and we emerged knowing that the human heart is stronger then any evil made by man.

Larry

Alaskan Veterans

Alaska

I am about to embark on a trip to Alaska to teach social workers how to use a technique called Directive Group Therapy. DGT is an approach I use with groups at Four Winds Hospital where I work. The folks that will be in my class are working with the Eskimo population. I have been told that a high percentage of Eskimo’s men are veterans. I hope to be able to meet with vets on my trip. If anyone has information about Eskimo vets please email me at winters.lawrecne@gmail.com I would love to be more educated before I leave. I am planning on taking The Making and Unmaking of a Marine with me and hope to do some book signings in Noam. If possible I will be doing blog postings from Noam.

Soldiers Heart Workshop June 13-17th 2007

Soldiers Heart

Soldiers Heart is an organization run by Ed Tick and his wife Kate Dahlstedt. They choose the name Soldiers Heart because it was used during the Civil War for identifying men who’d been affected by the trauma of war, in other words Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. PTSD is what Ed Ticks book War and the Soul addresses. Why I mention this now is because there is an up coming Soldiers Heart four day workshop starting June 13, at Pumpkin Hollow NY. Information about the workshop can be gotten at info@mentorthesoul.com. I attended the first Soldiers Heart workshop in Jan 2007 and found it to be a life changing event. The Albany community came together to support there vets in a miraculous way. That alone was deeply healing. Then we went through Ed and Kate’s structured program on healing the wounds of war and I left with many new friends, a first time opportunity to speak my truth about Vietnam, and a committed direction to start working in, which is to help in healing vets and myself. I highly recommend the Soldiers Heart workshop as well as Ed’s book War and the Soul. Check out the website and sign up or tell someone who you car about who would benefit from a deep and profound healing experience. See you there.

Journey's End

I went to NYC today to spend time with my good friend Peter. We had plans to go to the Museum of Modern Art, before getting there Peter spotted the Belasco Theatre and said to me, “My friend Author told me he and his wife saw a very good play called Journey’s End,” its about soldiers in World War I, maybe we could catch a matinée.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” I said, and we bought tickets.

The play started with the sounds of mortars and bombs going off which caused me to hunker down in my seat. The entire play then unfolds in a bunker at the front lines. The play was written by R.C. Sherriff in 1928. For me the core message of the play was about how men use different strategies to cope with the impossible realities of war. Other than the British euphemisms and dated colloquialisms of the time it could have been in Iraq or Afghanistan to day. One difference that became apparent to me is that in our current Wars there is no behind the lines location like there has been in all our proceeding wars. There simply is no safe place to relax from the fear of death.

The play ended with high volume bombs and mortars and I had to put my fingers in my ears and blow my nose before leaving the theater. The language of war spans all generations, and all combat soldiers speak it.

Four your information:

Four Winds Hospital is where I work as a group psychotherapist, I have been there twenty years. I have been in conversation with the administration of the hospital and we are thinking of starting a veteran’s track. Currently we have a very supportive program that welcomes vets. It is out hope in the future that we will have treatment specifically for vets and their families. I will keep you posted to how this is working. Four Winds has a location in Westchester NY as well as Saratoga NY. I work in Westchester and would be directly involved with any vet coming to that facility. If you know of a vet or the family member of a vet who may need help please call the hospital at 1-800-888-5448 Westchester or 1-518-584-3600 Saratoga.