VMSI is a longtime supporter of Boulder Crest Retreat (BCR), the nation’s first-ever post traumatic growth-based organization for combat veterans struggling with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or combat stress. In March of this year, BCR Founder, Ken Falke, published the book “Struggle Well: Thriving in the Aftermath of Trauma,” and was featured on Megyn Kelly TODAY on July 4, 2018 with former Army Sgt. Bryan Hood and Captain Kathryn Buckland, to discuss their experiences with PTSD and the programs offered by BCR.
While on the Megyn Kelly TODAY show, Ken discussed how BCR’s programs are focused on “Post Traumatic Growth”, instead of “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” with a goal to help veterans [and their families] who return home in the aftermath of combat. The most common programs available in the US aim to show struggling veterans how to function after their trauma. The programs offered by BCR are forward-thinking and innovative, training veterans to grow from their experience, teaching them how to use their trauma to become better people and to lead more meaningful lives. The Progressive and Alternative Training for Healing Heroes (PATHH) programs are gaining national recognition as one of the most effective treatments of PTSD. As discussed in the forward of Ken’s newly-published book, PATHH programs foster the same principles used by Rich Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun, UNC-Charlotte professors who conducted a 30-year study of families who lost children to cancer. The families came out stronger than before, a condition the study termed “posttraumatic growth.”
Additionally, recent assessments of Boulder Crest Retreat’s veteran-led program found that it was two or three times more effective than any other PTSD protocols, with experts saying, “BCR accomplished more in two days than the medical model could in 12 to 14 months.” To learn more about the incredible progress and expansion of Boulder Crest Retreat, visit www.bouldercrestretreat.org and check out the videos below!
Video 1: Fighting PTSD: Veterans and active duty members address military mental health crisis
Video 2: ‘It’s post-traumatic growth’: Inside a facility changing the lives of U.S. heroes