The Healing Touch for Military Personnel

8/11/2019 The Healing Touch for Military Personnel

1/420March/April 2013 |Energy Magazine

Ana Palles Yelen B.A., M.S., HCP, C.S.P., CHP, HWP, Co-Executive Director Healing Warriors Program

Te Healing ouch

for Military PersonnelHealing Warriors Program to Launch in Spring of 201

Reprint from the March/April 2013 issue of Energy Magazine.


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Founded in 2012, Healing Warriors Program is a new

nonprofit organization dedicated to providing comple-

mentary care services and education to the veteran

community and their families.

Here, one of the founders of Healing Warriors Program,

Ana Yelen, describes the vision of the Healing Warriors

Program, and how the programs new model will ad-

dress PTSD and pain management in our soldiers.

he headlines say it all: 2012 Military Sui-cides Hit A Record High Of 349(Te As-sociated Press1, January 14, 2013).

What makes this number even more astoundingis that it represents 54 more deaths than the 295Americans who lost their lives fighting in Afghanistanduring the same period of time. How can it be thatwe are losing so many to suicide? Certainly, there area host of factors to consider, but we believe one of

them is pain-- and pain is difficult to manage.Why would we have such a problem with pain? ech-nological advancements have helped increase survivalrates, but often the quality of life of that survival ispoor. Wounded service members often remain onpain killers for long stretches, sometimes permanent-ly. While pain killers are an important tool (giving thebody much needed relief and rest so that healing canoccur) they pose some big challenges. Te effective-ness of medication wanes over time, and it impactskey organs like the liver. Addiction to painkillersbecomes an issue in and of itself, affecting individuals

and their families with everything that accompaniesthe disease.

Te problem, according to what Secretary of theArmy, John McHugh, told the United States Houseof Representatives Committee on AppropriationsDefense Subcommittee, is that many soldiers have anongoing need for pain relievers because they are suf-

fering from wounds that likely would have caused lossof life 15 years ago.2

However, pain is not the only problem here. Te ef-fects of trauma, such as increased anxiety in groupsituations, anger and depression, wreak havoc withthe service members ability to re-enter civilian lifein a healthy way because every aspect of life (home,family, work, relationships) is affected.

Te Department of Defense knows there is a problemthat needs to be fixed and to the departments credit,the Army Surgeon General and his team are recom-mending complementary care therapies and areworking with the Bravewell Collaborative3tobring more integrative care into military healthcare.Due to the recommendations by the Pain Manage-ment ask Force back in 2009 to incorporate yoga,acupuncture and other mind body practices intostandard care practices, we are seeing initiatives

springing up across the country in military health andwellness facilities.

However, the wheels of bureaucracy often move slow-ly. Sometimes, what is needed is a fast, low risk wayto test drive an idea and prove that a concept works.Sometimes we just need to passionately believe thatan idea will yield great results. Sometimes we simplyhave to step in, and say, here it is.

Enter Healing Warriors Program.

Healing Warriors Program was started by three Heal-

ing ouch practitioners - Shelley Poland, Jane rexlerand Ana Yelen. Having worked together in other non-profits, and at various veterans and Veterans Affairs(VA) events, there is a history of teamwork alreadyin place. Janes parents were both marines and whenJanes father passed away last year, she asked thatmemorial contributions be sent to Healing WarriorsProgram. Tese first donations covered the non-prof-


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it status filing. We clearly felt the presence of Spirit!Shelley and I have a long history of partnering forvarious outreach efforts. So assuming the role of Co-Executive Directors was comfortable and logical.After six years of organizing volunteer events and see-ing veterans from various wars - some POWs, somedisabled, some with brain injuries, and some ampu-tees - benefit from the various therapies, we knew itwas time. We knew we needed an ongoing clinic, notonly for our veterans, but also for their families. Also,we knew that we could not operate something of thisscale on a volunteer basis alone.

Healing Warriors Program was founded in 2012 asa nonprofit organization dedicated to providingcomplementary care services and education to ourveteran community and their families. Te programintegrates the principles of Mind Body Terapy to as-sist veteran and active duty members with PSD andpain management.

Tose of us in the Healing ouch community knowthat Mind Body Terapy works. We see it in ourpractice, our clients tell us, and we directly experienceit ourselves. One of the visionary pieces that Janet

Mentgen wove into her Healing ouch certificationprocess, and which she herself practiced throughouther life, is to work in collaboration with practitionersof other modalities. Our certification process requiresthat we experience 10 holistic therapy modalities.Tat practice equips us with experiential knowledgeof how these modalities influence body, mind, emo-tion and spirit.

Healing Warriors Program clinics will offer a variety ofevidence based mind-body therapies. Phase One will

include Acupuncture, Cranio-Sacral therapy, and Heal-ing ouch. All practitioner staff for Healing WarriorsProgram will be certified in their respective modalitiesand will have standardized documentation forms.

In addition, each specialization will have a managerto provide oversight to ensure standards of practiceand quality assurance for each service. Our servicemember community is heavy with trauma and we

need to provide the best we can offer.

It is our vision to have integrative care services be apart of every service members health plan.

Where can I find a clinic?

So where are we in the process of establishing ourclinics? Tis past November, Healing Warriors Pro-gram received 501(c)3 status, launching us into aflurry of planning and implementation. At the end of2012 we submitted our Pilot Clinic proposal to theDenver and Cheyenne, Colorado VA, with implemen-tation discussions currently underway. While we wait

for engagement with our local VA, we are movingahead with the next steps in launching our clinic.

Our Phase One vision includes a clinic site in Den-ver and one in Northern Colorado. We have alreadyreceived referrals from local veterans offices and it isclear that we need a clinic presence as soon as pos-sible. As you would guess, there is a lot of planningand organization that goes into structuring some-thing for success.

Our planning team has been defining roles and

responsibilities, processing flows and operationalguidelines. Data collection is a big part of this, whichbrings us to technical and logistical considerations.Tis is big. We know it is - and - we could not bemore excited.

Funding?

Te big question for any non-profit is funding, andwe are working on it. We have a list of grants we willbe submitting. Grants of course, have a set of require-ments and dependencies that require us to have vari-

ous internal structures in place. Did I mention datacollection? Metrics are key.

Our newly assembled fundraising team has alreadystarted planning a few important events that wehope are both fundraising opportunities, as well as,fun opportunities to meet with like-minded individu-als in our community. I love that we are buildingenjoyment into these events. Laughter and fun are

Te Healing ouch for Military Personnel


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their own healing specialists!

GratitudeWe are very excited about the team that is assem-bling around this effort. Tey are passionate, skilledand heart-centered people. We are so thankful for thesupport from our community. Each day we hear fromsomeone who wants to help, or who wants to watchour progress so that they can launch something intheir own geographic area. We are meeting manywonderful people who have service members in theirfamilies and who want to do something to help.

Always we say thank you, and thank you for yourservice.

How can you get involved?

Sign up for our mailing list so that you will receive ourmonthly updates. Like our Facebook page. We postsome really interesting articles that we find on PSD,pain and working with veterans. If you want to be in avolunteer pool, let us know. We have events plannedthat can always use an extra pair of hands. Of course,if you know someone who would be interested in thework we are doing, please pass along our contact in-

formation. Tis really is about community - with eachof our talents and gifts shining. One last thing -- pleasekeep us in your prayers. Tis work is so needed - and- the time is now!!

You can add yourself to our mailing list by going toour website at: www.healingwarriorsprogram.org orby sending us an email [email protected]

You can also reach me or Shelley directly [email protected]@healingwarriorsprogram.org

1. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=169340558

2. http://www.usmedicine.com/articles/walking-a-tightrope-military-tries-to-balance-appropriate-pain-treatment-with-growing-misuse-of-prescription-drugs.html#.UQnZO2dCp8E

3. http://www.bravewell.org/

E

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Te Healing ouch for Military Personne
mailto:ayelen%40healingwarriorsprogram.org?subject=Healing%20Warriors%20Programmailto:spoland%40healingwarriorsprogram.org?subject=Healing%20Warriors%20Programhttp://www.ishahealing.com/mailto:suewalker88%40gmail.com?subject=The%20Body%20Selectric%20Classmailto:spoland%40healingwarriorsprogram.org?subject=Healing%20Warriors%20Programmailto:ayelen%40healingwarriorsprogram.org?subject=Healing%20Warriors%20Program

The Healing Touch for Military Personnel

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