Tool: Create Space
Telling personal stories about the experiences one has had during service or deployment is an important part of the wellness journey. Through exploration of these questions, you can navigate ways in which a safe space can be created for story sharing.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is out power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.” – Viktor Frankl.
Ways in which you can do this:
- Invite through face-to-face interaction
- Create mutually agreed upon guidelines for engagement
- Participate in online interaction
- Provide a safe physical space
- Invite supportive persons to participate
- Design a mentorship program (veteran to veteran)
- Provide opportunity for peer support from other veterans
- Create networks: with other veterans, with congregations, with the pastor, with families, with the community
- Provide means for story sharing: in person, in writing, in artwork, through playback theatre, through social media site.
Articles
- Moral Injury Shows the Limits of Forgiveness – an article by Max Lindenman posted on Patheos
- Richmond Times Dispatch – In rural Loudoun, a refuge for combat vets and their families
- FOX News Health: US veterans find combat-related stress relief in holistic-medicine retreat
- The Atlantic – Healing a Wounded Sense of Morality
- The Huffington Post – Moral Injury
- 7 Practical Things the Church Can Do for Veterans
- Formed by War
- Art Therapy, Gets to the Soul of the Matter
- United Methodist Endorsing Agency: War and the Soul – Book Review
- General Board of Higher Education and Ministry: From Warrior to Citizen
Organizations
- Make the Connection
- REZVETS
- Military Outreach USA
- Boulder Crest Retreat
- Military and Veteran Caregiver Network
- Wesley Theological Seminary – Health Ministry
- Caregiver Community Program
- Soldier’s Heart
- Combat Trauma Support Group
- Minnesota National Guard: Beyond the Yellow Ribbon
Curriculums
- “Caregiver, a Personal Story,” by Sharon Cooney
- Soul Care: Day of Learning, by Pat Litzinger
- Soul Care Conversation (Caregiver)
- Make the Connection
- Soul Care Conversation (Spiritual Model for Healing from Moral Injury; Sixth Step – Accountability)
- Soul Care Conversation (Spiritual Model for Healing from Moral Injury; Fifth Step – Making Amends)
- Soul Care Conversation (Spiritual Model for Healing from Moral Injury; Fourth Step – Renewal of the Mind)
- Soul Care Conversation (Spiritual Model for Healing from Moral Injury; Third Step – Self-Acceptance)
- Refresh Your Soul – Reflections by Molly Shivers
- Moral Injury Shows the Limits of Forgiveness – an article by Max Lindenman posted on Patheos
Congregational Resources
- Soul Repair Center: Moral Injury Worship Guide
- Memorial Day Sunday Worship Celebration
- Veteran Spiritual Mentoring
- UMEA: Empowering Ministerial Reintegration and Resilience
- Vet to Vet Peer Support
- Veterans Day Sunday Worship Celebration
- Service of Healing, Experiential with Non-traditional Liturgy
- Service of Healing for Combat Veterans, Experiential with Liturgy
- Service of Healing (Experiential) – Preparation and Process
- Service of Remorse, Resolution and Restoration – Experiential, non-traditional liturgy
