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1. Contact homeless shelters, soup kitchens, etc., and ask for help identifying veterans who need help and/or volunteer to sponsor support groups for them at their location or yours.
2. Conduct Mindfulness, yoga, writing, and/or art classes for active service members and/or veterans. All are excellent for PTSD treatment.
3. Begin a community gardening project and invite veterans to join you.
4. Invite other faith communities to work with you in supporting service members and veterans.
5. Invite mental health professionals that you know to join “Give an Hour,” a nonprofit organization offering free mental health services to US military personnel and their families affected by Iraq and Afghanistan.
6. Many soldiers love getting the mail, and they feel good knowing someone at home cares enough to drop them a line. There are several organizations that will connect you with soldiers around the world. For instance, A Million Thanks was actually started by a teenager, Shauna Fleming, to send letters, CDs, and DVDs to the troops. Other organizations that conduct letter writing campaigns are Operation Military Support and Letters From Home Program.
7. Sending a care package is a great way to show support. Simple things like sunscreen, cards, and more can make a soldier’s day. You can send your own care package or offer a donation to send packages to troops. One organization that sends care packages to troops is the USO Cares Program. You can also send care packages through the Any Soldier Program, Treats for Troops, or the Soldiers Angels.
8. Volunteering your time to an organization can be very rewarding. There are plenty of organizations that need your help in supporting troops at home and overseas. The Veterans’ Administration has a list of ways you can offer your time. Also, you can check with [http://usafreedomcorps.gov/]USA Freedom Corps for more ways to volunteer.
9. You can foster a service member’s pet while they are away. The Net Pets Military Pets Foster Program helps find temporary homes for all kinds of pets while their owners are away.
10. While we tend to associate the deployment of troops for war purposes, there are military service members stationed all over the world for humanitarian efforts. You can support the troops’ efforts by supporting the schools and communities they are trying to assist. a The Adopt a Platoon Program can connect you with a platoon’s humanitarian efforts.
11. If you and your friends have extra cell phones sitting around, you can donate those phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers.
12. It is very hard for soldiers to get special occasion cards to send home. The Cards for Soldiers Program sends homemade greeting cards to the troops so they can send them to those they love.

Crisis Resources

Toll-free, confidential hotlines:

• The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline* is a 24-hour hotline for anyone in emotional distress: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). There is also an online Lifeline Chat* available from 5 pm to 1 am EST, weekdays.
• The Veterans Crisis Line connects Veterans in crisis and their families and friends with VA responders through a 24/7 hotline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255), PRESS 1. There is also a 24/7 online Confidential Veterans Chat or text message support at 838255.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline* offers 24/7 anonymous access to shelters and domestic violence programs as well as legal advocacy, public education, and training: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY).
• The National Sexual Assault Hotline* operated by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is a 24/7 resource to link victims to counseling and legal advice: 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). There is also a National Sexual Assault Online Hotline* for messaging.
• The National Child Abuse Hotline* is a 24/7 resource you can contact if you suspect a child is being abused, if you fear you might hurt your child, or if you have been abused: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (422-4453).

General Resources for Family and Loved ones

Family members and close friends sometimes neglect their own needs when they commit themselves to caring for someone with PTSD.

Most US States have a National 211* referral line that connects people with important community services (employment, food pantries, housing, support groups, etc.). Dial 2-1-1.

• The SIDRAN Institute* is a nonprofit organization that helps people understand, recover from, and treat traumatic stress and offers a referral list of therapists for PTSD. You can contact the Help Desk via email or by leaving a confidential voicemail: 1-410-825-8888.
• The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)* offers a Family-to-Family Education Program for caregivers of people with severe mental illness. You can also email or call the Information Helpline: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264).
• You can find more resources on our Web Links: Families page.

Resources for Loved Ones of Veterans and Service Members

Some of the resources listed above are specific to Veterans and Service Members. Additional resources are listed below:

• The National Council for Aging Care program provides services to support family members who are taking care of a Veteran: 877-664-6140
• VA’s Coaching Into Care program helps family and friends of returning Veterans find the right words to help their loved one get into care. For free, confidential coaching email or call: 1-888-823-7458
• The Vet Center Combat Call Center is a 24/7 call center for combat Veterans and their families to talk about their military experience or issues about readjustment to civilian life: 1-877-WAR-VETS
• The Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) 24/7 Outreach Center offers information and consultation in mental health and traumatic brain injury: 1-866-966-1020. DCoE also offers email and online chat support.
• The National Resource Directory links to over 10,000 services and resources that support recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration for wounded, ill, and injured Service Members, Veterans, their families, and those who support them.
• Give an Hour* is a nonprofit organization offering free mental health services to US military personnel and their families affected by Iraq and Afghanistan.
• You can find more resources in our Web Links: Section page for Families, Military Resources, and Veterans Service Organizations.
• Courage Beyond, couragebeyond.org, provides confidential, no-cost or low-cost programs and services to warriors and their families facing PTSD and other invisible wounds of military service.
• The Red Cross provides support groups and workshops.

Resources for Children with a Parent Who has PTSD

Children respond to their parents’ PTSD symptoms. A child may behave like the parent to try to connect with him or her. Some children take on an adult role to fill in for the parent with PTSD. If children do not get help with their feelings, it can lead to problems at school, in relationships, or with emotions (like worry, fear, or sadness).

• MilitaryKidsConnect* (MKC) is an online community for military children (age 6-17) with resources for children to give support before, during, and after a parent’s or caregiver’s deployment.
• Sesame Street offers a Talk, Listen, Connect* parent toolkit to help military families coping with deployment.
• It is important children know that a parent’s PTSD symptoms are not their fault. An interactive workbook for teens may help: “Finding My Way: A Teen’s Guide to Living with a Parent Who has Experienced Trauma”*

Vet Centers:

 In addition to the medical centers and clinics, VA has 209 Veterans Readjustment Centers known as “Vet Centers.” They have a considerable degree of autonomy and thus can tailor services and staffing to meet the specific cultural and psychological needs of the veterans they serve. Although the centers get some support from VA health centers, they are separate entities and guarantee that anything said at the Vet Center stays at the Vet Center. VA is implementing plans to expand the number of Vet Centers to 232 within the next two years. Every Vet Center has at least one VA qualified professional on staff. In FY 2006, the Vet Center program had 1,066 assigned staff positions of which 159 were outreach specialists and 876 were authorized counseling staff (58 percent of whom were licensed mental health professionals). Vet Centers are generally small, storefront buildings with four or five staff members, two-thirds of whom are veterans (Batres 2007). One of the

distinguishing features of the Vet Center program is its authority to provide services to veterans’ immediate family members. As noted earlier, family participation can be critical to the success of treatment. Therefore, family members are included.

You can find more resources on our Web Links: Children and Teens page.