Boulder Crest Retreat for Wounded Warriors (Bluemont, VA)
Currently under development
Boulder Crest Retreat intends to offer the following facilities and services to wounded warriors and their families who come to rest and heal:
- ADA handicap accessible “greentech” cabins, available for 2-7 days for approx. 250-500 families per annum.
- An ADA handicap accessible “greentech” barn/meeting house with organic farm-to-table meals.
- A walled organic Victorian garden, plus a field of organic produce.
- A bird sanctuary and fishing pond.
- Nature walks, foraging, photography, bird and wildlife watching, as well as therapeutic dogs, archery and other onsite adaptive sporting activities.
- Off-site activities including swimming, canoeing, kayaking, tubing and fishing in the Shenandoah River; hiking the Appalachian Trail; trail rides; biking; antiquing; winery tours; golf; tennis; a therapeutic horse farm; and a country farm and petting farm.
Camp C.O.P.E. - Children
Our mission is to:
- help the children of service members cope with the transitions and/or trauma they are facing in response to the deployment or injuries sustained by their soldiers.
- provide children age-appropriate therapeutic interventions in small groups of their peers, who have had similar experiences.
- provide fun, therapeutic interventions for the children as well as information for parents about how to help their children at home.
- allow the child to tell their story and help put a voice to their feelings and concerns, while providing new ways to handle their experiences.
Coming Home Project - California
The Coming Home Project offers free, confidential group support and stress management retreats for OIF and OEF veterans, service members and their families and professional service providers.
A multidisciplinary team of veterans, family members, psychotherapists and interfaith leaders, we are devoted to providing innovative, compassionate care to address the mental, emotional, spiritual and relationship problems veterans and service members face.
Hound Summit Team
The Hound Summit Team started as a group of soldiers who wanted to climb mountains. It has since expanded into a team of mountaineers who combine their love for the mountains with an attempt to promote some sort of social good. In addition to supporting BCM, the Hound Summit Team our primary mission is to develop a program that aids Veterans battling with PTSD and combat related injuries that enables them to overcome these challenges through building confidence, physical ability, and leadership on big mountain expeditions. We've been successful in leading men in combat, and after seeing what climbing could do for us, we wanted to lead men in healing their wounds after the fight is over.
In August of 2011, we will lead our first wounded warrior climb on Mount Rainier. Please check houndsummitteam.org in May for details. If you are interested in assisting or participating in the Veteran climb, please contact us at hound.summit.team@gmail.com.
Operation Alpha (Livingstone, Alabama) - TBI
Operation ALPHA will be held August 4-7, 2011. Operation ALPHA offers multiple sports and recreation opportunities to servicemen and women who have suffered traumatic brain injury. Activities will include competitive sports, rock climbing, water skiing, kayaking, scuba diving, wakeboarding, mountain biking and cycling.
This camp is open to men and women who have served in the global war on terror and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Operation ALPHA will be held at the Lakeshore Foundation facility and at locations around the greater Birmingham community. There is no cost to military personnel with severe service-related injuries and one guest. The weekend includes all meals, lodging, air and ground transportation, and all sports and recreation activities.
Project New Hope (Massachusetts)
The mission of Project New Hope is to provide all veterans and their families education, training and skills in a relaxed rural setting that elevates their ability to manage their lives after wartime service. The goal is to offer restful retreat opportunities for military families from all eras needing to restore family life after a tour of duty.
Retreat objectives:
- To recognize the needs of the Veteran’s and individual family members in awareness of military related occupational stress injuries.
- To offer tools for recognizing symptoms and triggers.
- To assist in developing coping mechanisms within the family structure and assisting all members of the family with living a fulfilled life while learning to manage the injury/injuries.
Rivers of Recovery (Jackson, Wyoming)
Rivers of Recovery (ROR) delivers direct support to physically and psychologically injured combat veterans through innovative, outdoor-based therapies and pioneering research. We strive to provide our participants with therapeutic programs which result in measurable and sustainable improvement. These programs are designed to re-enable and re-energize participants and provide the support and self-confidence necessary to maximize long-term recovery.
Veterans and families from all armed forces and military eras are eligible.
The Sanctuary
The two main purposes of the Sanctuary, are also our two core values: Refuge and Redemption. The Sanctuary first and foremost is a Refuge of Sacred Trust for those who have suffered trauma on our own behalf. The Sanctuary is a place where the traumatized can get alone for reflection as well as share their trauma without fear of reprisal or violation of trust. We have our own full time facility, a 5500 square foot log lodge, available 55 miles W of Washington, DC. We also have a few other properties available to us, owned by others, located in Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Montana.
Several of our staff hold high level security clearances, TS/SCI/Poly, and we also have available state licensed counselors and ministers to provide for other clinical and spiritual follow up care as needed. Furthermore, there will never be any paperwork or verbal passage of a particular visitor's name attached to a traumatic experience, without the expressed intent of that visitor. The law provides for and enforces counselors and ministers protecting information shared. Furthermore, National Security reporting guidelines do not require reporting for those with security clearances who seek counseling, even if a mental health professional, “if” the assistance relates to “grief, family, or spiritual issues”.
The second main purpose is Redemption of trauma and of those who have been traumatized. The Sanctuary exists to serve those who have been physically, mentally, and emotionally traumatized while defending the United States ' and its citizens' way of life. We are establishing a community of the traumatized as we help them to process through their own tragedy in a way that turns their trauma into triumph for others.
The Welcome Home Initiative Retreat
A free 3-5 Day Retreat for Members of the Armed Forces and Their Families
- Talks by Veterans and Trauma Specialists
- Discussion Groups
- Opportunities for Reflection and Healing Prayer
- 600 Beautiful Acres for Recreation and Relaxation
- Handicapped-Accessible Facilities
- Optional Marriage & Family Counseling
Our goal is to minister practically and prayerfully to members of the Armed Forces and their families, providing support and resources to help them heal and thrive.
Our mission: To show our appreciation for the men, women, and families serving in the Armed Forces. To help those who have suffered trauma in combat, be it physical, psychological, or spiritual, by providing ministry and resources for health and healing.
To preserve the confidentiality of every person. To connect combat veterans with appropriate specialist agencies and resources including:
- Combat stress and trauma experts
- Critical incident debrief specialists
- Marriage and family life counselors
- Suicide prevention counselors
- Prayer teams
Timeshares for Vets
The TFT Foundation (Charitable arm of Callahan Techniques, Ltd.) and organizations like the Columbia Basin Veterans Resource Coalition and The National Veterans Foundation provide a free, much needed trauma stress relief retreat to our returning Veterans.
Selected veterans and their families will have the opportunity to relax and enjoy at a donated time share resort for one week. In addition to the time share, the veterans and their families will receive self-help materials for trauma, grief, anger and stress, along with access and support from a professional coach or mentor and trauma specialist who clearly understand the unique needs of Veterans.
When War Comes Home [Don't] Retreat
Hope for the Home Front is teaming up with Operation Homefront to host the following SIX retreats for wives of wounded warriors in the next six months!
We are pleased to join with Operation Homefront and their generous sponsors to present a modified version of our weekend retreat program. JOIN US!
Together we are working to ENCOURAGE, EDUCATE and EMPOWER the home front!
DATES AND LOCATIONS:
- March 2-4, 2012 – Ft. Lewis, WA
- March 16-18, 2012 – Ft Stewart, GA
- April 20-22, 2012 – Ft. Carson, CO
- May 4-6, 2012 – Ft. Drum, NY
Please visit the Wounded Warrior Wives website to register and to learn more.
Our Weekend Retreats offer the following benefits to the women attending...
- Provide opportunities for you to make new friends with other women who love and live with a combat veteran.
- Equip you with the latest updates on medical, psychological and spiritual insights about PTSD and TBI.
- Help you gain a better understanding of your own issues including Secondary Traumatic Stress and Compassion Fatigue.
- Provide a safe, confidential environment where you can be transparent.
- Introduce you to local and national resources that are available and ready to help you and your loved ones.
- Help you build your own customized support networks.
- Guide you in constructing your own plan for personal wholeness.
- Offer you a Care Team Member who will pray for you, offer guidance, support and encouragement to you throughout the weekend and for a full year following the retreat.
- Help you rekindle your hope and renew your strength.
- Inspire and motivate you to re-engage in compassionate service in your community as a part of your own healing.
- Honor you for your service and sacrifice.
- Help you to laugh.
Our retreats are intended for the purpose of offering information and encouragement to attendees and are not designed or intended to provide professional counseling or any type of mental health treatment. Persons who feel they need such therapy should immediately contact a licensed therapist.
Women Veteran Retreats (The Women's Wilderness Institute)
The Women's Wilderness Institute is honored, and excited, to be working with female veterans, and women spouses/domestic partners of veterans, to offer retreats in 2011 and 2012. We are proud to be offering these courses in a way that is aligned with our mission and that addresses the specific needs and issues of our women veterans and women spouses/domestic partners of veterans.
Between 2011 and 2012, TWWI is offering six 6-day retreats for women who need support in re-integrating to civilian life after their military service. These retreats are funded by the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act of 2009, and are provided entirely free of charge to participants, including airfare. 144 women will be served over the two year period.
The Women Veterans Retreats offer an intensive immersion experience of supportive and challenging activities, in a peaceful natural environment. The retreats allow women to connect with other women veterans and learn tools for dealing with post traumatic stress and other issues that commonly affect women veterans. In addition to outdoor activities and a high and low ropes course, the retreat provides a format for sharing experiences, and education about stress, resilience, and life skills.
Dates and Locations for 2012:
- March 17-22 Abiquiu, New Mexico
- August 18-23 Buena Vista, Colorado
- September 14-19 Connecticut
To be eligible, women must have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in OEF or OIF and must be currently in counseling at a Vet Center, or have been in counseling at a Vet Center for at least six sessions at the time of application.
Wounded Warrior Project Alumni Caregiver Retreats
At WWP, we’re committed to supporting not only our wounded warriors, but also the individuals who sustain them on their path to recovery. In the spring of 2008, we launched our Caregiver Retreats to support this unique, devoted group of wives, mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, and other family members who are helping their wounded loved ones face a range of physical and mental challenges.
These weekend-long, all-expense-paid retreats are usually hosted in Florida. The retreats provide caregivers an opportunity to get some much-needed physical and mental rest and rejuvenation and connect with others on a parallel journey. A comprehensive survey administered by WWP before the retreats ensures participants are placed into an appropriate group. The intimate retreat size, usually 15-25 participants, allows caregivers to connect with others experiencing a similar range of emotions in a safe, warm, and comfortable setting.
Copyright Benita Koeman 2008 - 2012
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