July 23, 2007
GIVE AN HOUR
I'm sitting here pretty proud right now. In fact, damned proud. A month or so ago I was surfing the internet and came across this site GIVE AN HOUR I applied as a mental health professional and about an hour ago got notice that I've been accepted. The goal of GAH is to match service members with professionals willing to donate an hour per week for as long as needed. From their website:
COALITION TO SALUTE AMERICA'S HEROES AND GIVE AN HOUR LAUNCH "RETURNING HERO COUNSELING NETWORK" TO HELP TROOPS AND FAMILIES WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF WARSo, if you are a mental health professional, or if you know of one, please have them apply. Our heroes and/or their families are waiting. Posted by gmroper at July 23, 2007 02:33 PM | TrackBackGive an Hour is pleased to announce that the Coalition to Salute America's Heroes (CSAH) is providing a grant to GAH for developing a new mental health services network called the Returning Heroes Counseling Network. CSAH will recruit and qualify service members who need help, while Give an Hour will manage the professional providers and specific counselor training.
The licensed mental health professionals who join the program will give an hour of their time each week to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families for as long as help is needed. Give an Hour continues to recruit volunteer providers and will offer a variety of training opportunities to registered counselors.
Connections among troops, their families, and the providers are already being made through the GAH network, which can be also be reached via www.saluteheroes.org.
i passed this along to a friend who is a counselor. perhaps she'll be by in awhile.
this is a great service.
Posted by nanc at July 23, 2007 05:46 PM
Thanks for telling me about this Nanc.
I can't do it right now, but when I get situated I may just throw my hat into the ring, so to speak.
Good job, Roper!
tmw
Posted by the merry widow at July 23, 2007 06:00 PM
Wow! What a great service! Thank you for taking part.
Posted by Semper Fi Mom at July 25, 2007 10:08 AM
I always think it's weird to call these young people heroes. I don't mean to in any way diminish their service or to suggest that they bear guilt for what they've done in the course of fighting this war, but the title of "hero" is a heavy mantle and may not be mentally helpful to those reconciling their roles in the violent struggles they've seen and participated in. It's tough enough to feel normal after going through such an experience and I can imagine, for many soldiers, being called a hero when you might not feel like one can make it even more difficult. I remember reading a book by Barbara Ehrenreich who pointed out that our country gives tons of psychological preperation to citizens preparing for soldierhood but almost no preparation for soldiers returning to citizenship. Seems like a service we should provide returning soldiers.
Regardless, it sounds like a great program and I'm glad to see it's getting some attention from sites like this one.
Posted by Mavis Beacon at July 26, 2007 01:12 PM
