Ties That Bind: Fly Fishing Helping Veterans With PTSD Tom Cramer – VA Office of Communications Gone fishin’ lately? If you’re a Veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress, you may just want to give it a try. Fly fishing is now being used by Veterans Affairs as just one of many new and unique ways to confront the PTSD epidemic currently creating havoc in the lives of so many of the Nation’s returning Veterans. Getting it Done “Cognitive Processing and Prolonged Exposure Therapy form the core, the foundation of our PTSD program,” said Loree Siegfried, PTSD program coordinator at the Hot Springs VA in South Dakota. “They are evidenced-based therapies that work. “But this problem is too big for us not to consider other, less conventional forms of treatment as a supplement to our core program. If fly fishing gets the job done, that’s what we’re going to try. And frankly, the results we’ve been getting here have been phenomenal.” The fly fishing program at VA’s Hot Springs campus is run by Project Healing Waters, a nonprofit based in Maryland. The organization operates fly fishing programs at a number of VA sites across the country. With fly fishing, you have a bunch of Veterans who’ve been isolating for years,” Siegfried observed. “But now they’ve become part of this culture, a fishing culture. They’re reconnecting with other human beings.” Build it and They Will Fish The concept is simple: once a week, for seven weeks, you meet with your class and everyone works on building their fly fishing rod. Volunteer instructors are there to assist you. “To build a fly fishing rod you need patience,” Siegfried said. “You have to problem-solve. You have to think clearly. You have to keep your emotions under control. These are the same skills you need when you’re dealing with PTSD. “And completing a project like this gives you a sense of accomplishment,” she added. “It’s a self-esteem builder.” Expelling the Demons Siegfried said one major reason the program works so well at Hot Springs is that it’s run by Veterans who have experienced combat, or other traumas, and managed to overcome their own personal demons. “Sometimes, as healthcare providers, we just need to step back and let Veterans help Veterans,” she said. “These instructors and our patients can relate to one another because they’ve all been through the same things. They all speak the same language.” Angela Koch can definitely relate. She’s a 20-year Veteran of the Army who spent 15 months in Iraq. Now she’s an employee at the Hot Springs VA who also serves as a volunteer with Project Healing Waters. Something Different “I used to be an in-patient here at Hot Springs,” said Koch, who graduated from the Healing Waters program in 2012. “They were treating me for PTSD. Then Garry Black, who runs Healing Waters here at Hot Springs, showed up one day and asked if any of us wanted to try fly fishing. I said to myself, ‘Why not?’ At least it was something different to do.” She’s glad she did. “Building a fly fishing rod is a way to refocus your energy on something other than what you’re going through,” Koch explained. “During the seven weeks you’re in the program, you actually build your own fishing rod. Then they’ll take you out fishing on some Saturday morning and teach you how to fish with it. Chucking Bait “When I first started out fishing,” she continued, “Garry was watching us cast and said, ‘Angie, you’re just chucking bait.’ That was his way of telling me my casting was bad. That was two years ago. I’m pretty good at it now.” What was the first thing she ever caught with her new rod? “I pulled in a trout,” she said proudly. “He was about 15 inches. So then they taught me how to take the hook out of him and put him back in the water without stressing him too much.” A Sense of Belonging Koch said she enjoys volunteering with Healing Waters because of the camaraderie that develops during the seven-week class. “It’s a way to bond with other Veterans who are going through the same thing I am,” she explained. “I like it. It helps me feel like I’m a part of something.” Apparently, other class members feel the same way. “You can see them getting closer together as they move though the program,” Koch said. “They begin to form a bond. They become a cohort. I remember we had one guy who suddenly needed to be hospitalized because of heart problems. Even though he was in the hospital, he was worried about his fishing rod, because he hadn’t quite finished it. So his group finished it for him and sent it to him.” Koch admitted that the hardest part about Project Healing Waters is simply getting started. After all, fly fishing rods consist of a lot of different pieces, and they don’t just assemble themselves. “You’re learning something new, so it doesn’t always go smoothly,” she said. “When I would get frustrated, I’d just walk away and go get a soda or something. I’d go chill for a few minutes. So now, as a volunteer, that’s what I tell people to do. Just take a break. Sometimes you just have to get away from it for a while.” The Name of the Game: Patience The Army Veteran said building a functioning fly-fishing rod is undoubtedly time-consuming, methodical work. “Not a lot of Veterans in our PTSD program have enough patience for this at first,” she observed. “You can see their frustration building. So I just go over to them and say ‘Hey, how you doin? Can I help you with that?’” Koch said she recently walked over to one Veteran who was struggling with the epoxy he was using on a section of his fishing rod. Things weren’t going well. “He was really upset,” she said. “I could tell he was ready to smash his rod. I told him to walk away and forget about it for a while. So he did. The next day he was fine. “Handling stress is a life skill,” she continued. “If you can learn how to handle the stress that happens while you’re building a fishing rod, then you can learn how to handle stress in other parts of your life. You take a deep breath, or you just walk away. You don’t smash your fishing rod.” Almost every state has a Healing Waters program. If you think it might be for you, or know someone who might benefit from it, give them a call toll free at 866-251-7252 or visit projecthealingwaters.org For more information on PTSD, visit the VA National Center for PTSD Website at ptsd.va.gov
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 14:10:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015