Transcript
My advice to other Vets that are thinking about, "Well, maybe,
I need some help or something," would be to just try it.
Even if you don't think you need the help, just try it.
You're not gonna go into an office and be laying on a couch,
with some person with a pen and paper, just taking notes
and sketching smiley faces while you're just kind
of voicing it out.
They're gonna engage you.
They're gonna find out what your issues are.
They're gonna find out what you like doing.
They're going to try to help you with different techniques.
They'll teach you different things.
They'll give you different tools to try to utilize.
Everybody's got their own coping mechanisms.
Everybody's got their own ways of dealing
and processing it, with it.
And I think the VA counselors understand this
and they don't try to box everybody into the same program.
They don't tell me to go
to a yoga class 'cause that's just gonna trigger me.
But they teach you about different things.
They teach you about group therapies,
about outdoor activities, engaging yourself
within the wilderness, about volunteerism.
There's all these different types of tools
that you can access and utilize, but you can't use them
or you can't utilize them if you don't know what's
out there in your community.
And that's the most important thing for me about going
and seeking help is because they've taught me
different things.
I realize that, for me, sometimes I need to go out
and I need to be around other Vets
who share the same experiences.
Other times, I need to go out and just go for a paddle.
But they recognize that, they acknowledge it,
and they've helped me understand that, too.