AVOW Magazine Winter 2022/2023 : simplebooklet.com

6Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comChristina Wilkinson - USAFPUBLISHER Sheila L. Holmes - USAFEDITOR-IN-CHIEFSPECIAL ADVISORSGenevieve Chase - USA / American Women VeteransLindsay Church - USN / Minority Veterans of AmericaCassie Gabelt - USN / Minority Veterans of AmericaTracie Rosado - USA / WoVeNVR Small - USN / Women Veterans Enterprise CenterMelissa Washington - USN / Women Veterans AllianceAT-LARGEDanielle Johnson - USMCPat White - USMCCONTRIBUTORSWritersCREATIVE TEAMSabreDesign.com / IG: @TheRealSabreDesign / FB: @SabreDesignART DIRECTION/DESIGN/LAYOUTchris@sabredesign.comAVOW Magazine Social MediaFacebook.com/AVOWMagazine | Instagram.com/avow_magazine | Twitter.com/AVOWMagazineO: 209-841-8866 (Sabre Design)E: contact@AVOWMagazine.comAVOWMagazine.comCopyright © 2022 by AVOW Magazine. All rights reserved. The name AVOW™ and the AVOW logo are trademarks of AVOW Magazine © 2019, 2020, 2021 exclusively for the American Veteran Organization of Women Magazine which is published quarterly for women veterans of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, or in some instances with third party copyright holders.For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.Sabre Design & Publishing18737 Back Street #605Groveland, CA 95321www.sabredesign.comProudly published and producedin the United States of AmericaA magazine for women veterans, by women veterans, and for the people who love them.Sheila L. HolmesDr. Ruth MooreChristina WilkinsonPat WhiteLindsey HelmJeannette GarciaPhyllis T. MillerVictoria ScudderVickie GuillotAmanda HuffmanMaya YegarovaCarrie BeaversNiurka CastanedaNerfertiti San MiguelPhotographyAmber HargroveSheila L. HolmesPhyllis T. MillerPat WhiteVictoria ScudderAmanda HuffmanNiurka CastanedaBrandi PetitMaya YegarovaEngin AkyurtAlex McCarthyRuth MooreJessica VargasJeremy BishopJeannette Garciazrelean.comLindsey HelmKevin SchmidChristina Wilkinson

Page 7

7Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023Letter from the Editor-In-ChiefAs many of you read in our end-of-year email, we are taking this time expressing gratitude for our advisors and advertisers, authors and contributors, our sponsors and subscribers -each of you who have continually helped amplify experiences of the amazing women veterans who served or are serving their country and who continue serving our communities on a daily basis. Every issue of collected experiences from our sister veterans reminds me of each of our unique service records -our resilience- and how much we have in common. I nd myself revisiting my own memories through the interviews and articles as they come across my desk; from the failures of the weight program and its far-reaching impacts to the successes through closeness and teamwork, the rollercoaster of memories is often bittersweet. What I also discover with each new collection is support and knowledge of walking through this world less alone -the weighty burdens shared amongst peers and the accomplishments shared with cheers.As we spend time reecting on this year’s hard-won battles and plan our course through the year to come, I trust each of us to reach out to the servicewomen in our lives with a kind word and supportive smile. The holidays can be emotionally exciting and exhausting -and the aftermath can leave many lonely -even as timelines & pho-to feeds most often show our largest smiles. A kind word, voicemail, short text, or quick meetup for lunch is the invaluable connection we all need and are deserving of. Looking forward to hearing from each of you throughout 2023.Sheila L. Holmes / Editor-in-ChiefAVOW MagazineAMERICAN VETERAN ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN MAGAZINEON THE COVER:AMBER HARGROVE OF THE HIT TELEVISION SERIES NAKED & AFRAID.

Page 8

Page 9

9Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)What did you say? What did you do to provoke? Were you drinking?Did you ask for it?You probably deserved it. You should have known better. ese are just a few of the comments or statements I have heard about the trauma I have been through. ese comments or state-ments also did not come from strangers, but from family, friends, and co-workers. is is the reason victims fear speaking up: the criti-cisms and comments of disbelief -the eye rolls and sighs. People do not take traumatic events seriously until it is too late, and there is no turning back from the repercussions. Many have shared their experiences of domestic vi-olence, sexual assault, and war trauma while being in the military, but these stories are of-ten fully disregarded; the stories that the world hears are of those who have lost their lives from the abuse, all the while victims who are alive are neglected. I am glad to be alive, to be able to share my trauma, to bring awareness to the issues and empower others to break the silence of their trauma. ere is life after trauma, and the way life goes becomes our responsibility. We get two options: choose to live as a victim or over-come the trauma and become a survivor. My name is Jeannette Garcia, and I use my voice to empower others to break the silence of trauma. I am a rst-generation American born in East Los Angeles, California. My modest be-ginnings propelled me to join the military at the age of twenty-one. My military back-ground includes serving a deployment from 2011-2012 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom as part of a Special Team known as Army Female Engage-ment Teams (FET). I was a U.S. Army Mili-tary Police Ocer from 2009–2014. After the military, I became a federal police ocer with the United States Air Force and have a total of eight years of law enforcement experience under my belt. I am known for sharing my stories about domestic violence, sexual assault, and war. In 2020, I launched my website www.wesur-vivedtrauma.com that empowers my fellow survivors to read my story and share their ex-periences. Having a male-dominated career, I SURVIVINGAFTERTRAUMA BY JEANNETTE GARCIAKnown for her courage in sharing her story about domestic violence,sexual trauma, and war, Jeanette Garcia is empowering others to continue sharing their experience to break the silence of trauma.

Page 10

10Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.combecame reluctant and allowed my traumas to be forgotten. I was only able to be silent for so long, until I came to the realization that I was able to help others. It is rewarding to know that opening up about my trauma empowered victims to share their stories with me and re-lease the pain they have held onto for years. I want to share a part of my story with you, in hopes of giving you your power back and breaking your silence. HERE ARE SMALL PIECES OF MY YEAR OF TRAUMA. Domestic Violence: “… e LOVE of my life must have had enough and admitted to the indelity. I went to my room and began to pack my bags; I wanted to leave my apart-ment. … I yelled and pleaded with him to stop hitting me. He stopped as if he were in shock and disbelief at what had just occurred. I left. I just lost the love of my life. e person who hurt me the most was the person that I love the most.” Sexual Assault: “e thing I looked forward to the most was deployment -a dierent pace from where I was at that point. Many of the women throughout the brigade were chosen to be part of Female Engagement Teams for the battalions. We were all excited about being on a particular team and getting to deploy with our infantry brothers…. I questioned myself for a few days, but someone had mentioned that I had sex with one of the other guys in the unit. At the time I blamed myself; I blamed the alcohol; I blamed everything but the per-son. I kept it to myself. I was so embarrassed.” Loss During Deployment: “After arriving in Afghanistan, the units separated into the areas of operations they would be working for the remainder of the year. e Female Engage-ment Team members had to stay back to do more training on cultural support. We were in this training for a few weeks. I received a message on my Facebook from a high school friend who said he was deploying to Afghani-stan as well. is friend of mine was also best friends with one of my best guy friends, who I saw when I was back in Arizona. We became close back home. A few days later, he messaged My friend did not come that day to see me, because he had stepped on an IED and he died.Garcia was part of a Female Engagement Team while serving in Afghanistan.

Page 11

11Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023me again on Facebook; and to my surprise, he asked me where I was. I let him know that I was in Kanda-har, and he told me that he had just landed in Kanda-har. I was so excited to be able to see somebody from my hometown in a place that was so far away… My friend did not come that day to see me, because he had stepped on an IED and died. I lost the piece of home that I thought I had while I was in Afghanistan. I nev-er talked about it. I cried myself to sleep that night. I cried the next day when I was in my room.” Blast: It was awesome being a part of a Female Engage-ment Team, because I got to experience Afghanistan dif-ferently. I was able to dismount with units on patrol and get to know the local populace. I love everything about it -the good and the bad. e experience has changed me in ways that are hard to explain. It was amazing to see the women and for them to experience us… they asked if I considered going on a mission without my team-mate; it would be my interpreter and myself. e type of mission it was, they didn’t need the team -just me- to search if need be. Of course, I said yes! I could have said no, but I loved going and experiencing it all. Little did I know that night I said yes to what would be one of the worst days of my life. I share this hard year of my life with you because at the time, after it was all over, I thought I was not going to survive. e details of the traumatic parts of my stories make it hard for listeners to take in. Every time I speak to an audience and share my stories, I can see how uneasy it makes them feel. I also have triggers but guess what!? I SURVIVED! Not only did I survive, but I am thriving. I did not let those things dene who I am! ey are just things that happened. I have the choice of who I am in my life, and I chose not to be the victim of this life. I choose to be a woman who shares tough parts of my life to inspire and empower others to break the silence and regain their power. I want to give trauma survivors back their lives! I am able to share these dicult experiences of my life with the world because it gives me so much pas-sion when I hear a new voice speak their truth. Life is never easy, and I do have moments when I am callous given what I’ve been through. Being able to write it down and say it out loud helped me cope with the demons and guilt I carried inside me. I want to be that space for fellow survivors -to motivate them to speak up and break their silence. My experiences represent a victim- she is now dead and has transformed into a resilient survivor. Garcia became a federal police ofcer and has a total of eight years of law enforcement experience.

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

14Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comOnce upon a time, what started as an entrepreneurial class project at a global supply chain program hosted by the Miami Dade College became a life-changing endeavor for Niurka Castaneda, founder of AMOR Umbrella, a Florida-based boutique enterprise bridging the gaps between the armed forces community and civilians across the nation. Now, her vision and mission are growing into a movement representing the rich cultural diversity of all military branches, especially the over-two-million women veter-ans who often feel forgotten, left behind, and invisible.e idea of these gift initiatives was born when Makissa Lewis, a woman veteran and the founder of My Seester -a nonprot serving her peers- suggested sending a signed, heart-shaped umbrella representing this overlooked demographic to the White House. Immedi-ately, Castaneda decided to take the challenge and embarked on a year-long journey to make it happen. During that time, impressive partnerships were established among several organizations, small businesses, and artisans across the nation united under one vision: to support the neglected military community, advocate for mental health, and showcase the world-class talent our rich country has to of-fer. Live events were organized to gather the signatures required; and each time, new re-lationships were created and epic memories were built to last a lifetime. Each gift has been meticulously curated for the intended recipient and artistically wrapped in glamorous textiles, personally handpicked by international mixed media artist Nefertiti San Miguel from Etnia Fusion Boston, fol-lowing the Japanese tradition of tenugui & furoshiki. Every ensemble tells a unique sto-ry of mindfulness and connection among all parties involved (the giver, the maker, and the receiver), fostering love and support in each multi-sensory masterpiece, whether highlight-ing cultural background, cheering-up a full recovery from cancer treatment, or sharing the benets of aromatherapy. All components have a special meaning full of symbolism, from the colors selected to the accessories included in each presentation. Side note/fun fact for the American history lovers: both gifts were mailed from the post oce located just steps away from the Boston Tea Party.e rst time the organization sent a gift was November 2021, and the recipient was the newly-elected Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris. e color theme was purple to represent all the wom-en veterans who have served in the United States military. Many dierent cultural com-International mixed media artist, Nefertiti San Miguel, from Etnia Fusion Boston.Top middle:Amor Umbrella founder, Niurka Castaneda.Bottom:Niurka Castaneda shing and interviewing with America’s Finest.

Page 15

15Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023ponents were intentionally brought together to represent the ethnic diversity of our pop-ulation. e second gift in the series was sent in May 2022 to e Honorable Governor of Florida, Veteran Ron DeSantis and his wife Mrs. Ca-sey DeSantis to show love and support to the family after her recent cancer treatments and full health recovery, e color theme was pink and brown to symbolize cancer-awareness and the natural resources found in the Everglades National Park.All gifts have been one-of-a-kind function-al art, mainly including heart-shaped umbrel-las lovingly signed by friends and supporters, leather bags designed by San Miguel and Cas-taneda, and handmade in the USA by Donald Dodson, a veteran artisan.e bipartisan gifts initiatives were just the beginning for AMOR Umbrella in co-creation with the private sector to strengthen military and civilian understanding while enriching our communities, fostering cultural diversity, and discovering a vast pool of talents in all cor-ners of this great country. Castaneda shares, “Next initiatives are currently underway, with the intentions to increase visibility for our cause, and bridge communication gaps among veterans, ac-tive military members, and the civilian de-mographic. Future recipients will be iconic public gures such as Oprah, Drew Barry-more, and Martha Stewart. For more details about our progress visit: https://www.amo-rumbrella.com/. ”We are in search of donors and volunteers to amplify eorts and impact. Future projects will continue to showcase USA-made products and veteran-owned businesses; if you are a vet-eran, active duty, or spouse and would like to be considered to share the spotlight with us as one of our valued contributors, contact us via email niurka@amorumbrella.comFIND US ONLINE AT—WEB: HTTPS://WWW.AMORUMBRELLA.COM/FACEBOOK: HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/AMOR-UMBRELLA-351160152360175 LINKEDIN: HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/COMPANY/AMORUMBRELLA TO SUPPORT OUR INITIATIVE, PLEASE VISIT: HTTPS://FUNDTHEFIRST.COM/CAMPAIGN/RESTORING-HOPE-4Z1NMJ Honoring our military with Amor Umbrella.

Page 16

Page 17

Page 18

18Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comHOW DID SHE GET HERE? Her thoughts as a child were: What if people can see another version of all that surrounds us? Would it make a difference? Would there be a possible alternative to the choices we make?" Thomas uses this thought of making a dierence with raw or discarded items used as art to transform or add visual perspective in order to trigger people’s thinking and ease life’s stresses through art as a medium. Art became the path for her when she decided to transform her combat boots into a work of art, a way of embracing art and empowering others through art as well as sym-bolizing her total commitment to art after her tour of duty in the military. As recently as ve years ago, omas saw an abandoned sheet metal panel left at a con-struction site for trash pick up, and thought to herself, “is sheet metal has the potential to bring joy and to sit tall as a work of art to evoke the senses.” At a yard sale, she noticed a wood mirror with dents and scratches and saw the possible beauty.A dear friend of hers found a pair of old blue suede shoes at a yard sale; and just a con-versation later, omas had taken on the pair of shoes and transformed them into exquisite footwear given the title Blue Passion.For an elementary school project, she gave an in-classroom demonstration to grade school-ers on transforming used paper towel rolls and empty boxes into works of art. e mission of the school project was to show young students more ways to use art and to save on paper prod-ucts by making them into art. omas came upon a perfect round tumble-weed on a long journey through the Palm Des-ert and thought, “is would be a great hanging mobile.” With great care and delicate attention Contemporary art on shoes and art on scarf seriesArt on blue suede shoes Blue PassionWater is Lifeon exhibit at The Ronald Reagan AirportArt on the scarf

Page 19

19Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)not to break the brittle tiny branches, she trans-formed a tumbleweed into a multi-color uores-cent hanging mobile. e tumbleweed quickly became a sensation at a desert outdoor art fair; a developer purchased the one-of-a-kind mobile art within fteen minutes.Walking by a local community church, omas noticed two outdoor tables and benches riddled with rust and sea-aired weather damage. Immediately, she cleaned up the two tables and applied the art. Now the community church has two updated tables and benches by the application of art where passers-by and tourists have expressed their ap-preciation for the visual wonder.Art has been the answer to many ills, and her perspective determined what activities she could implement in various art forms. e thoughts of creating art projects where inspi-ration can be a sense of well-being through dicult times of COVID and related stress- induced conditions. omas creates art to tell a story and to invite the observer to reect the creation; for example, “Man & Energy” from the “Vibrant nature & Universe Sensation” series is an inter-pretation of positive energy when man and the universe become as one through the quest to be mindful of taking care of our planet.omas is also known for her art series Vibrant Nature and Universe Sensations. e Series shows the artist’s appreciation for nature and its grace. In her words, “e reward of an artist to experience a sense of creating a condi-tion of the positive realm.”omas is also known for her patriot-ic art series; one in particular, e Price of Freedom is a visual tribute to the men and women of valor and to the fellow veterans of past and present wars, living with the night-mares. e painting has been on a touring exhibit, from Colorado museum and gal-leries in 2017, and in 2020 at the Women in Military Service Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, to now at e Dulles International Beat-up mirror; the cracked wood was smoothed out, treated, then applied art to create a four-season mirrorThe Price of Freedomon exhibit at Dulles International AirportTransformed tables and benchesAn outdoor art exhibit of art on silk

Page 20

20Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comAirport and a reproduction on exhibit at e Hulford Gallery.On October 12, omas unveiled her art series on silk fabric at the state capitol in Sacramento, California, and her art mission has expanded to a national level; through art exhibits, she takes on the quest to oer the importance of art as a healing and stress-re-ducing avenue. omas’s straightforward phi-losophy is, “Art is a means to inspire through visual images by creating a sense of reection and promoting a positive atmosphere. Art is not a luxury; art is an essential element for everyone.” rough her therapeutic art sessions in-troduced to the participants as Welcome to Paint & Snack, she brings out the artist with-in us all and only asks her participants to have an open mind and leave self-critic at home. Many often see art as a stando to an exclu-sive craft, where only a few are welcome to practice the act of creating; whereas actually, once each of us creates art, the relaxing state of a visual concept becomes a reality. On October 29, Phyllis presented her works of art at e Oceanside Museum of Art, an exhibition continuing through Janu-ary 15, 2023. omas continues to nd great satisfaction when a participant is pleased with themselves by a completed creation. In an exercise to keep the body in shape, creating all forms of art is a healthy therapeutic for the state of mental

Page 21

21Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023well-being. She advocates art as a means to self-empowerment through creativity, as she did for the Bandini Golf course, next to the West Los Angeles VA Campus, in another Paint & Snack in November 2022. In the past, Phyllis has answered art requests to provide art for the interiors of oces and apartment complexes and exhibit at the Library of Congress. She also has two artworks on ex-hibit: one at e Dulles International Airport, Washington, DC, and the other at Ronald Rea-gan Airport in Virginia/Washington. However, out of all the exhibits and venues, she expresses pride to have a rst-place win for her piece From Within at the Western Regional VA Arts Com-petition and have her skill on exhibit at e Oceanside Museum of Art. rough art venues and events, she hopes to reach those in position to support the arts to empower communities nationwide; until then, she continues to use her art to get the message across.PHYLLIS T. MILLER, MEROE GALLERY/THE VETERAN ART VENUE. “EMPOWERING THROUGH ART, WHERE ART EVOKES THE SENSES.” WWW.MEROEGALLERY.COMCombat bootsTall sheet metal transformed into a giant art piece

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

25Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023While growing up in Oroville, Hargrove said, “e mentality of bare-foot and pregnant, or join the military, was present during my high school years.” Hargrove didn’t have any college options after grad-uation, mainly because she knew her mother couldn’t aord to pay anything. is is how she knew the military was her calling. “I have always been outgoing, hard-working, and not scared to take chances, so that’s when I joined the U.S. Army -best choice I’ve ever made,” Hargrove said. She enlisted as a 63J chemical equipment operator, and it was just what she want-ed to do. Being in this career eld carried her through multiple ups and downs in training and also during Iraq deployments.She told us she grew up quickly being deployed to Iraq at such a young age; her time in the sand box was a huge reality-check, because so many soldiers lost their lives in such a short amount of time. “When I was injured during my second deployment to Iraq, I knew that was going to push me out medically,” she continued, “I was dev-astated and retired from giving 12 years of my life and time, because I believe in the military and what it represents.” Hargrove said, “I struggled with being separated from the military, a version of PTSD [that] was hard to manage; I needed a way to bring me back to who I am.” From there, Hargrove said she started hiking; and of all things, wrestling alligators. “Surprisingly, alligator wrestling is intense and exciting but sometimes dangerous. No, I didn’t go crazy; I just realized I needed to ll my own cup by remembering what I was (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

Page 26

26Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comRaising money every year for Michelle's Place Cancer Resource Center in Temecula, California. Hargrove’s daughter, Leila, was 12 years old when she started helping raise money, and she is now 16 years old.Amber Hargrove with herdaughter Leila Spencer. passionate about… e outdoors, hiking, camping and shing,” Hargrove explained.Because of her love of nature, her favorite season is no other than summer itself. She said she loves the feeling of warmth, and told us being outdoors is a breath of fresh air.As a huge fan of Naked and Afraid, Har-grove felt the survivalists were pushing them-selves to the limit of their capabilities, and she wanted to be a part of it. She applied to the show. “It was an easy process... ll out the application, submit a video or photo demon-strating your survivalist capabilities,” she said. Hargrove learned many basic survival skills throughout the military, but she main-ly relied on her mother who taught her basic re skills and shelter building techniques. She made her video interesting by submitting one where she is wrestling an alligator, and she re-ceived a call the following week. e process also included going through a background check and a psychological exam. After com-pleting everything, she realized in two weeks that she was headed to the everglades to be a part of Naked and Afraid.Hargrove was the toddler who disliked wearing clothes so much, she took them o when she went to the the park until she was three years old. She tells us, “My grandmother makes a joke every now and then, saying, ‘Am-ber Dawn could never keep her clothes on’.” is is why Amber says Naked and Afraid chal-lenges were not a problem for her. Motivation for Hargrove on a daily basis is having no fear of failing. She believes in herself 100%. Har-grove said, “I am a visualizer; I set goals, imag-ine it, and make it happen. If I fail, it’s ok; I will gure out how to do it.” She continued, “We are restrained by fear, but in taking the element of fear out, you have nothing to lose.”ere were many ups and downs while lming the series. Diculties not only includ-ed lming in dierent locations with dierent partners, but being part of a 60-day chal-lenge that took place in Peru. Hargrove said, “I cant explain how much drama was behind the scenes with my partners, but it wasn’t just about surviving in the wild, it was surviving

Page 27

Hargrove s husband Peter Kohler teaching her how to make knives Kohler s company is Dark Timber Custom Knives my partners As with most military members and veterans Hargrove wanted a strong united front with her partners during her time in Peru but unfortunately that did not happen She said In the end I was very blessed to have my journey I have learned more about myself and what I m capable of while I was in Peru than ever before Hargrove jokingly said that she endured bugs heat snakes and snakes in the grass In watching Naked and Afraid it is evident that those who choose not to work as teams struggle more in completing challenges during the show The process of not being included as part of a team causes a lot of stress during the process It s also good to note that if you haven t seen this series yet Hargrove worked with more than just one team during her Peru challenge Hargrove said Even with all the stress filming it s all real We don t get tents or food at all Scary Yes but also addicting I crave the outdoors seeing how far I can push my limits When asked about her favorite survivalist Hargrove said Matt Wright and Steven Lee Hall JR They are incredibly talented survivalists who just enjoy challenging themselves and pushing their limits as far as they can to survive the harshest environments I was lucky enough to have them as partners Hargrove said she played a joke on her partner Steven Lee Hall Jr while filming Naked and Facebook com AVOWMagazine Winter 2022 2023 Afraid in Peru I saw a huge tarantula while filming and I knew Steven hated spiders So I asked him to close his eyes and follow me He did Then I put him in front of the tarantula and he screamed like a little girl It was hilarious she said AND WHAT IS HARGROVE DOING THESE DAYS Currently I have been working for my husband Peter who is a bladesmith and an incredibly talented artist Peter s company is called Dark Timber Custom Knives Hargrove says she enjoys working with him and managing his social media platforms She added If you are interested in seeing my CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 27

Page 28

28Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comWHAT’S SO FUNNY? Amber says: Something funny about me is I am a horrible chef; literally, I have tried new things to cook, but I denitely struggle. I guess it’s a bonus to have a husband who loves to cook. I’m left with cleaning which I love to do.LEARNING & TEACHING EXPERIENCES Amber says: I recently taught myself how to shoot a bow right-handed; I’m left-handed dominant, and taking time to train my muscles was worth it. Whenever I shoot outside my house, the neighbors send over their daughters to shoot. I have two daughters and two sons, and they all know how to shoot a recurve bow. ABOUT FAMILY Amber says: My step-daughter Ivy is seven, and is very proud of me. She likes to brag about me killing snakes or hunting gators. My daughter, Leila, is 16 and can take on any outdoor challenges; she loves shooting the bow and shing. I’m so proud of who she is; and recently, she decided she wants to go to Duke to become a lawyer.My daily lifestyle is being a mom and taking care of my husband’s business; I enjoy everyday of it honestly. I never forget to take time to ll my cup by working out, hiking, shooting my bow or by raising money for Michelle’s Place Cancer Resource Center. I love helping others and volunteering time to raise money for those in need. ON RETIREMENT Amber says: If I could plan my retirement, I would buy a piece of land in Montana and build my forever home on ten acres.Instagram: @amber_combat_survivalistEXTRASMy greatest fear is our country falling apart. We need to remember who we are and build a strong united front.husband’s work or catch me on a live feed, we run a group on facebook called Dark Timber Brotherhood, a place for outdoors survivalists, hunters, and knife collectors. It’s a wonderful community to join.”In looking back at the last ve years, Hargrove says the biggest highlife element is meeting her husband, who also happens to be her best friend. She shares with us, “I’m able to be with someone who supports my adven-tures and passions without question (minus the alligator wrestling); but honestly, if there was a second place it would be completing the 60-day challenge in Peru.” Hargrove tells us she still tears up sometimes thinking about it. She also says her heart was so dedicated to not just surviving but thriving. She said, “I created so many new relationships with other survivalist that I call them family now. Best experience, hands down.”Hargrove’s dream job is to create an outdoor program for mothers and daughters, taking them out in the wild to build their shelter and catch their own food, removing any commu-nication with the outside world, and building their relationship by relying on each other for 72 hours. Hargrove said, “I believe the outdoors can bring people peace, and enhancing their outdoors skills is imperative. Realizing they are capable of anything can bring a sense of pride and peace to oneself.”e biggest inspiration in her life is the person who made her who she is today: her mother Cathy. “My mom would teach us how to sh and especially how to love and appreciate nature,” Amber said. Fishing, camping, and building forts was everything to her family. She told us she can now look back and see she was a tomboy at heart, because she was always playing sports and wanting to be outdoors. “I really haven’t changed much about who I am now, except I keep my clothes on when not lming!” she jokingly said.

Page 29

Page 30

30Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comAs veterans begin their transition journey and apply for civilian jobs, they may face unique challenges in obtaining meaningful employment. Although each tran-sition is unique, a few commonalities seem to span the veteran population: veterans often nd it dicult to eectively translate their military experience into civilian terms, how to commu-nicate their value during interviews, and how to apply the skills they obtained from the military to corporate America. A May 2022 Call of Duty Endowment Lessons Learned For e Future of Veteran Employment report highlighted an im-portant statistic via e Veteran Metrics Initia-tive data that aects the veteran population: 61% of veterans are underemployed or unemployed. e same report underscored how veterans are three times more likely to secure a job after a mentor assists with interview prep and are twice as likely to secure a job after a mentor assists with resume review. While Transition Assistance Program classes deliver invaluable guidance and are an excellent starting point, applying for a mentorship should also be a top priority bullet point on a veteran’s transition check-list: men-tors hold veterans accountable when it comes to goal-setting, help a veteran’s personal growth, and oer workplace guidance as an esteemed corporate professional themselves.In particular, American Corporate Partners (ACP) is a nationwide, nonprot organization that oers a FREE, year-long, customized men-toring program. Student veterans, non-student veterans, transitioning military service mem-bers, and active-duty military spouses (known as Proteges in the program) are paired with em-ployees with management experience from over 110 Fortune 500 company partners.Retention rates and starting salaries for ACP Proteges are higher than those of other veterans in the country: 86% of ACP proteges who found employment in 2019 stayed with their organization for at least a year, and ACP proteges who started a job earned a base salary of $86,000 in both 2019 and 2020.While mentors are compassionate, under-standing volunteers who contribute immensely to a veteran’s success in corporate America, it’s crucial to note that a mentorship also oers a hu-man connection: mentors are a support system. No one knows this better than Marcella Begay, an ACP alum and U. S. Navy veteran. Marcella gained a position as a Marketing Spe-cialist during her Nike-based mentorship with Stefanie Jacquemin. Begay and Jacquemin were able to address the ongoing issues that working women face. “Stefanie is a mother herself, and it was a huge support for me to have a mentor guide me through work/life balance in the corporate world... She mentored me on how to present myself to interviewers in a way that stated that my family is a huge priority for me,” Begay says. Fellow ACP alum Rebecca Myers, U. S. Army veteran Garrison Sergeant Major was paired with ACP mentor Marc Dietrich and agrees that hav-AMERICAN CORPORATE PARTNERS BY MAYA YEGOROVAFOUNDED IN 2008, ACP AIMS TO EASE THE TRANSITION FROM THE MILITARY TO THE CIVILIAN WORKFORCE. ACP IS THE ONLY NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION ENGAGED IN NATIONAL CORPORATE CAREER COUNSELING FOR RETURNING VETERANS AND ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY SPOUSES.

Page 31

Page 32

Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.com32Retired Air Force veteran, entrepreneur, and author establishes best-selling brand while winning awards for ce-cent children’s book.Scudder joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 years old, served for four years as an active duty airman, then transferred to the Air Na-tional Guard to nish her college education full time. At the time, she thought she might stay in another four more years or so, but she ultimately enjoyed serving so much she just kept signing those reenlistments papers every time they came due. At her 14 year mark, she had risen to the rank of master sergeant (E-7), completed her B.A. in education, and applied to become an ocer. She retired in 2006 as a captain (O-3). Fast forward a few years – after marriage, a baby, a few moves, and many years of teaching experience under her belt, Scudder decided to leave the classroom to become a full-time en-trepreneur in 2017 and is still going strong, stronger than ever.Scudder’s roots in entrepreneurship are long and deep. She was raised in a family-owned restaurant business and learned work ethic and business management from her parents (and grandparents before them). Her mother was also a crafter who made hand-poured designer candles she sold and showed houses as a side gig. Her dad also had a side business as a guns and ammo dealer, so Scudder was well-versed in the concept of multiple streams of income long before it became a mainstream entrepre-neurial catch-phrase. Much later, she and her mom resumed the candle business together and grew it signicantly. After some years, Scudder sold her half of the business, and she stepped aside to focus on a new job, marriage, and becoming a mom.e break didn’t last long. In 2007, nudged by a friendly challenge from her husband, Scudder started an eBay business for some side cash, quickly grew it into a “Power Seller” ac-count, and became addicted to the world of ecommerce. In 2017, Scudder discovered Amazon FBA, which allows third-party sellers to list on Amazon through various dierent options. She started with retail and online arbitrage (nding products to ip and sell from local stores or websites). “It was and still is a beau-tiful model that works well and hand-in-hand with eBay for those familiar and comfortable with that platform. In fact, many of my list-ings are automated to cross-list between both platforms.” Scudder continues to grow and adapt, partnering with wholesale accounts and attending trade shows to set herself apart from competitors. She now writes her own unique listings for Amazon under her own trade-marked brand, Christmas Market Ornaments, expanded her brand to her website on Shopify, BUSINESS SPOTLIGHTVictoria ScudderAWARD-WINNING CHILDREN’S AUTHORVICTORIA SCUDDER IS A GO-GETTER; ALWAYS HAS BEEN, AND PROBABLY ALWAYS WILL BE. THE TERM, “I’M BORED,” IS NOT SOMETHING THAT’S EVER BEEN IN HER VOCABULARY.

Page 33

33Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023www.ChristmasMarketOrnaments.com and www.Victoria-Scudder.comhttps://www.amazon.com/author/victoria-scudderand has established credibility with some of the largest Christmas gift vendors in the coun-try, along with a selection of favored fair trade organizations around the globe. She has sur-passed a quarter million annually in sales and is expecting to see a half-million-dollar goal met by the end of 2022. What about the off season?As if growing toward a half-million dol-lar business isn’t enough, Scudder also writes children’s books and has successfully published four books with Scout & Company Publish-ing, her own Kindle Direct Publishing compa-ny. Her latest release, Rosie the Farm Truck, is a multi-award winning picture book written for ages 4-9, though it’s been received just as well with older siblings. Rosie the Farm Truck is the recipient of the Mom’s Choice Awards Gold (2022) and the Family Choice Award 2022. Rosie’s second adventure Rosie Meets Little Red is due for release this summer (**will be re-leased by AVOW Magazine publication date), and her third adventure highlighting U.S. Vet-erans will be released fall of 2022.Scudder is a multi-certied educator with extensive classroom teaching experience at the elementary, middle school, and college levels, Scudder is also a trained historian, retired U.S. Air Force ocer, and a homeschooling mom to a teen. She is a full-time business own-er, ecommerce expert, and coach who enjoys helping others build and grow their businesses online. Originally from Nassau County, Flor-ida, and a southern country girl at heart, she currently lives in the beautiful Florida Keys with her husband Trey, son Jack, and her 24/7 shadow named Sailor (the dog!).VISIT SCUDDER’S WEBSITE AND FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES ABOUT NEW BOOKS, PROMOTIONS, AND SPECIALS. THE AWARD-WINNING ROSIE THE FARM TRUCK’S SECOND ADVENTURE WILL BE RELEASED THIS SUMMER 2022!

Page 34

34Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comI am Lindsay Helm. I am a Veteran, a Mil-itary Spouse, a Founder & CEO, an ad-vocate, a mom, and a volunteer. From humble beginnings in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, as a young high school graduate, I enlisted in the United States Army in 2003. Working as an Information and Technology Specialist, I started my six-year active duty career in South Korea. During that time, I became a wife and a mother before leaving active duty service in 2009 (to focus on my family), I then com-pleted a year in the Kentucky & Tennessee National Guard. Yet, my service to America’s Military did not end when I took my uniform o for the last time. It was just beginning. Like many Veterans and Military Spouses, my pro-fessional journey has been anything but tradi-tional. I have taken on a variety of roles since transitioning to civilian life. Giving back to my community has been a central focus of my professional journey, especially with respect to my fellow Veterans and Military Spouses.I have served as a board member and web-master for local Military and Civilian Spouses Clubs and helped launch Fort Drum, New York’s local chapter of the Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Professional Network. Where I assisted in placing 150+ Military spouses into full-time remote positions, generating hundreds of thou-sands of dollars for the local economy. Yet, de-spite my professional success (I also obtained my MBA in Project Management, Professional Certications) and strategic volunteering, I still found that being a Veteran and Military Spouse brought its own unique set of employment chal-lenges. When faced with the inevitable prospect of an upcoming move due to my then spouse's continuing Military career, I began applying for tech-industry jobs at my new location.Despite my background in the tech indus-try, having worked on high-prole government contracts and agencies across the United States, I was informed by the contracting company that they would no longer be pursuing my can-didacy due to the short amount of time that my active duty spouse’s training would have in the area. I was enraged, and certain that the rm’s blatant discrimination had to be illegal. Refus-ing to let injustice for Military Spouses go un-punished, I took my struggles public.I made a Facebook video explaining the situation. Much to my surprise, it quickly went viral. Fellow Military Spouses around the globe began sharing that they, too, had expe-rienced similar discrimination in their careers, and thanked me for shining light on an often overlooked predatory practice. is experience fueled my passion to bridge the gap between the Veteran and Military Spouse communities and employers. Inspired by my viral video, Military Spouse Magazine reached out and requested that I serve as a guest author to tell my story and expose a problem within the Military community that is unfortunately not often discussed. is is an old tale but to date and sadly, still relevant, I am working to x this!I was selected as the 2017 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year for Fort Irwin, CA. It was at the national banquet hon-oring the winners that I had an idea that would change my life. A speaker was lamenting that there was no existing technology to aggregate veteran and Military Spouse professional tal-ent into one single system that would allow prospective employers to search through re-sumes and hire qualied applicants specically from the Military community. Still working in the tech industry, thanks to the skills that I learned while serving in the Army, I thought to myself “Well, I should build that technology”. us, the idea for Empower Employ was born (http://www.empoweremploy.us/).In 2017, I ocially launched Empower Em-ploy, a company focused on building training programs dedicated exclusively to transitioning service members, veterans, and Military Spouses, and the companies that want to hire them. Un-fortunately, like many entrepreneurial veterans, I faced tremendous challenges and setbacks. Within 7 months of launching, my immediate-family structure changed, and Empower Employ experienced a signi-cant nancial loss due to the actions of an ex-business partner, distraught I made the dicult decision to shut Empower Employ’s doors for 4 long years. Despite my setbacks, my dedication to the Military communi-ty did not diminish. In 2020 I got remar-ried. My platform as a veteran and Military spouse advocate only continued to grow. anks largely to my aforementioned suc-cess in furthering the careers of so many Military Spouses with Fort Drum’s Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Professional Network, as well as my professional success at Tanium and Amazon, in late 2020, I was named as one of NNY360’s 20 Under 40, BY LINDSAY HELMVETERAN ANDMILITARY SPOUSE:EMPOWERING ROLES

Page 35

35Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023an award dedicated to yearly celebrating and spotlighting upcoming young professionals and leaders in Northern New York. e day before the NNY360’s 20 Under 40 photoshoot my brother, Jake, unexpected-ly passed away. And I was a mess. Grief will make you re-evaluate your purpose in life, encouraged by my peers and mentors, I de-cided in 2021 to re-launch Empower Employ. e issues with connecting employers to mil-itary-community talent I identied 4 years earlier still existed; since Empower Employ had shuttered, I felt that it was time for me to step up to meet that need. But this time my focus is on training prospective employers on not only how to hire veterans and Military Spouses, but on the value that the talent can bring to organi-zations, as well as how to trans-form organiza-tional culture to include and support Military hires. Inspired by my discrim-inatory experi-ence years earli-er, I realized that I could build the best technology in the world, but unless compa-nies were willing to educate themselves on the Military com-munity, the existing gap would remain. With this renewed focus, I ocially relaunched Empower Employ in June 2021, during a pcs move cross-country from NY to Hawaii. It’s been under a year as of today; I am not in debt, protable as a business, and 100% fe-male, veteran, and military spouse owned. I have 17 corporate partners and have placed 80+ spouses and veterans in roles this year without a single investor. I've gotten creative in nding startup funds. Here is the point: there are so many people pushing the ‘You need investors,’ mind frame, and you really don’t. I am a huge advocate for bootstrapping if you can. Getting funded is a means to grow your business. I recommend reading Prof-it First by Mike Michaelowicz and Traction by Michael Gerber to get some insight from those who have paved the way before you. To get startup funds for my company, I bid on four government contracts in 30 days; I won two. e other two were canceled. e two I did win equaled $26,000 in revenue that I used to nd the right people.How to succeed in business: PEOPLE! Find the right team. Advisors, people who have exited com-panies, search them out on LinkedIn. ASK FOR HELP! Find the right accelerators, Find the right training programs. In my one year, I have gone to Bunker Labs and Warrior Rising for free. I’ve spent the rst year getting the basics down, building solid relationships, and business operations; this month, I found out I got into Stella where I am receiving one on one coaching for free. I am ex-tremely proud of Empower Employ, its former team members, and its future. But after all of this, can I be brutal-ly honest? I am tired. I suer from impos-ture syndrome, I criticize my-self, I am self-conscious, and I have a hard time making friends. I feel alone most days and the founder's fatigue is REAL. I forget that I am not a superwoman or a superhuman. Some-times I feel so overwhelmed and that I am failing. So many people ask me for help and so many I want to help but just can't, and it's heartbreaking. If I have learned anything from this last year, it is that resiliency and patience are needed and nding the right support sys-tem is beyond key. Take time for yourself and be patient. Just know that if you reach out to me and I don't respond, try again. I promise I'll get to you, my door is always open. You can get in contact with me by sending a LinkedIn con-nection request and sending a message.To Preserve The Freedom &Prosperity We & Our Families Fought & Sacrificed To Defend.JOIN OUR ARMYVisit CV4A.org to learn more!SMI am tired. I suer from imposture syndrome, I criticize myself, I am self-conscious, and I have a hard time making friends.

Page 36

36Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comI never expected my life to be anything but ordinary, but then everything changed in the fall of my senior year of high school. e United States of America was attacked and a world I knew nothing about -the military- came into view: rst, by learning about the active response the military was taking; then, being surrounded by friends impacted by mili-tary service through joining, being activated to deploy, and becoming an ocer. Back then, those words did not mean anything to me. The military seemed like a foreign concept outside of my range of possibility, but my interest was piqued; and over time, I continued to try to learn all I could about military service -eventually leading me to consider enlisting, and by luck, learning about the Reserve Ocer Training Corps (ROTC) program through a friend at the college I was attending. Some might say they found the military; but for my story, I feel it is as if the military found me. It pulled me in through my cu-riosity of the unknown; and then, once giv-en access behind the curtain of unknown, I had a desire to serve and learn all I could so I, too, one day could be part of this or-ganization. at is how my time in the Air Force ROTC program began: lost and full of wonder, nding a part of myself that I didn’t know was missing. My path to the military changed everything about my life going forward; and today, it is hard to remember what life was like before military service be-came part of who I am. In 2007, I was commissioned in the U. S. Air Force. My husband was already serving in New Mexico, and I was lucky enough to be assigned at the same location. It was there that I learned about the military in a way that I hadn’t understood in college. I learned through watching engineering projects being constructed across the base. I learned about setting up a base and runway repair through exercise after exercise, both at my assignment in New Mexico and also at training in Ohio and Florida. I was then tasked with deploying to Af-ghanistan. I had known a deployment was coming, and my only hope was that it wasn’t FromMilitary ServiceTO SHARINGWOMEN’S STORIESBY AMANDA HUFFMAN(CONTINUED ON PAGE 38)

Page 37

Page 38

38Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comwith the U.S. Army. Well, the deployment was with the Army attached to an infantry unit I couldn’t serve in at the time; it was 2010, and combat exclusion still existed. I was not allowed onto the front lines of com-bat. I found myself in small villages in Af-ghanistan drinking tea with contractors and doing site inspection for our various engi-neering projects. A few years later, everything would change. My husband and I decided to start our family, and soon I was pregnant and try-ing to decide the next path forward. At the time, women were given six weeks of mater-nity leave, and the expectation to be ready to deploy six months after delivery. I struggled with what to do: walk away from a career I loved or continue to serve with the high pos-sibility that before my son would turn one, I would be on another deployment some-where in the world. I thought about how challenging my rst deployment had been, and I did not know if I wanted to do that again all while missing out on parts of my son’s rst year of life. In the end, I decided to leave the military and switch to mom and military spouse. At rst, I stayed away from the veter-an community convinced I did not belong there. I tried to stay hidden among the mil-itary spouses; but my unique perspective as both a veteran and military spouse gave me an angle from which to tell stories, and I was slowly pulled into the veteran community from the military spouses who encouraged me to tell my story. When I approached them with a new idea of telling the stories of women who had served, they were the ones who pushed me to take the leap. I didn’t know then those undocumented stories of military women would change my life, cause a shift in my focus, and lead me to where I am today. I had tried a number of ventures all ending in defeat, so I had no reason to expect telling stories of women on a podcast would be any dierent than the other ideas I had tried. But this time something was dierent. e Women of the Military podcast started to gain traction. I started to get more and more requests from women wanting me to interview them; whereas, months before I had begged women veterans for the opportu-nity to interview them. And then I tried something risky; for

Page 39

39Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023me, it felt crazy. I shared a personal perspec-tive on the podcast instead of an interview. Episode 42: 7 ings I Wish I Would Have Known About Military Service. at podcast ended up being one of the most popular ep-isodes and started to tug at an idea. ere needed to be more resources focused on joining the military. Yes, I told the stories of women who had served. But what was being done to help women who were considering military service?So, I created a free Girl’s Guide to Mili-tary Service; to my surprise, girls found it and downloaded it. ey sent me emails; they asked me questions; they told me how much the podcast helped them when they had no one to talk to about their desire to join the military. It made me want to do more. I started writing a book to expand my guide while continually asking the questions like, “What do I wish I would have known when I was considering the military? What resources are available for girls today? What questions did I have? How did I decide the military is right for me?” Hours and hours spent writing, rewriting, researching, and rewriting again to create A Girl’s Guide to Military Service: Selecting Your Spe-cialty, Preparing for Success, riving in Military Life publish-ing September 13th through Elva Resa. I hope this book can be a resource to help girls know they can serve in the military while also helping ensure they have the best start to military service.

Page 40

Page 41

41Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023(CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)In past issues, I have covered various com-ponents of illness and stress; but this month, I am going to relate the progres-sion of stress to our bodies’ and minds’ resil-iency and the manifestation of serious health conditions.STRESS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE ADDICTIVE!!!Stress is the physical or mental response to an external cause. We all live with it, and in many cases can use it productively. In some circumstances, stress can be good for the body (eustress). is kind of stress is described as feeling the anticipation for a date or trip. It can also be likened to excitement, or the thrill we get from the ride in an amusement park. Eustress can feel like gentle butteries in our stomachs, or it can feel like our hearts beating rapidly as our body releases norepinephrine. Stress can also be counterproductive (distress) and impact our emotions and bodies in a nega-tive way. In the military, we experienced distress from the moment we stepped o the bus and en-tered recruit training. Our drill instructors and company commanders were trained to activate our stress responses as part of the conditioning to make us into soldiers, sailors, airmen, or ma-rines. For eight to fourteen weeks, we were yelled at, harassed, rushed, and sleep deprived through psychological operations (psy-ops) to lose our in-dividuality and become a team. Stress is situational and can be acute (in the moment) or prolonged over a period of time. In either case, when we experience stress, our bodies release neurotransmitters (dopamine and norepinephrine) and hormones (cortisol) to help our body operate eciently while under duress. Stress studies show that the longer we are exposed to stress, the more addicted we become to these chemicals; where in some cases, our minds do not calm down and we will subconsciously create more stress to stay “jacked up.”TRAUMA: DO WEPRACTICE RESILIENCY OR DRAMA???From the Oxford dictionary, trauma is de-ned as a deeply distressing or disturbing ex-perience. Literally, trauma is an event or series of events that impact us mentally and physi-cally. Distress can lead to trauma if a person does not have good coping skills or resiliency, and the event is replayed over and over in a person’s mind.Many of us have experienced trauma at least once, if not many times in our lives. e key to handle or resolve trauma in a healthy way lies in our ability to live in the moment, practice mindfulness, and be resilient. ese are skills that are not often taught in the home or school settings and research in stress health identies that the best time to learn these skills should happen in our preteen and teenage years. So what happens if people haven’t developed resiliency and experience trauma? In general, they will think about it continuously and try to rationalize it from their life perspectives. ey will talk about it with anyone and everyone to try to get feedback and understanding, and/or they will internalize it and not discuss it with anyone because they don’t know how to express or release their emotions. Both dynamics create a negative emotional cascade of behaviors that women describe as “drama.”THE HPA AXIS:OUR PRESSURERELEASE VALVEOur HPA Axis is literally the synergy of three organs working together in the body. From Fron-tiersin.org, “the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is a neuroendocrine mechanism that mediates the eects of stressors by regulating [a person’s] metabolism, immune responses, and autonomic nervous system (ANS).” To simplify this, we can say that the hypo-thalamus is the brain’s gatekeeper for how it re-sponds to threats. Distress is a threat. Trauma is a What do stress, trauma, allostatic overload,and immunity have in common?For many of our sisters, they are a progression of how we lose our vitality over time and become sick with long-term and chronic illnesses.According to Medical News Today, heart disease, strokes, and diabetesare among the top 10 causes of death,and the incidence of these conditions rises sharply with gender.

Page 42

42Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comthreat. Basically, anything that keeps the body in an aroused (danger, danger) state is perceived to be a threat. e hypothalamus sends a message to the pituitary gland to release some powerful hormones and endorphins to the adrenal glands, which in turn activate the autonomic nervous system. is message is the key to a person’s ght, ight, faint, or freeze responses. Understanding the process of the HPA Axis is the foundation for knowing how the body re-sponds to stress over time. e body has a built-in capacity and threshold for stress called the allostat-ic load. When everything is balanced, a person is in allostasis. When things become unbalanced, the body will try to adapt to the stressors. If the body is successful, it returns to allostasis and both the neurochemicals and hormones return to nor-mal. If the body can’t return to allostasis, it will reach a point of allostatic overload, where it can no longer adapt to stress. It is at this point where the immune system becomes compromised and stress-based health conditions develop.STRESS-BASED HEALTH CONDITIONSe chances are that as veterans, we all have some health issues. We know that some are related to age and even gender, but others are related to stress and genetics. When stress is left unchecked, it can contribute to many health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.Some people have or develop chronic skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis. Eczema is a chronic skin condition that causes red, itchy, and dry rashes on the skin and psoriasis is an auto-immune disease that causes dry, itchy, and thick patches of skin. Both are related to stress, diet, climate, environment, and genetic predisposi-tion and may improve or become exacerbated depending on how a person reacts to stress. Other stress-based health conditions can arise out of chronic pain associated with de-pression and posttraumatic stress which can activate genetic switches for autoimmune dis-orders like arthritis, bromyalgia, chronic fa-tigue syndrome, or multiple sclerosis. As the disorder emerges, the chronic pain can lead a person to use psychopharmaceuticals and ei-ther gain or lose weight with the changes in neurotransmitter and cortisol levels.Finally, people without genetic predisposi-tion to certain diseases may gain or lose weight based on a stress lled lifestyle, diminished activity, poor food choices and intolerances. ese factors can lead to elements of a Func-tional Neurological Disorder that includes psychogenic and dissociative seizures, mi-graines, gut and brain inammation, depres-sion, anxiety, and mood dysregulation. ose who smoke, drink excessively, or use recre-ational drugs are usually at a higher risk for many of these stress-related conditions.DO MY ACHES AND PAINS HAVE ACHES AND PAINS?If you can relate to any of these stress related conditions or autoimmune disorders, or have a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress, it might be time to ask yourself if you should schedule a function-al health consultation. Functional health exam-ines how your body derives nutrition from foods and how this aects your total being. Functional health also provides insight on the relationship between your gut and brain. When a person eats inammatory foods or foods that they are intolerant to, the gut can become inamed and leak digestive uids and nutrients into the low-er abdominal cavity and blood stream. is can create bloating and pain. When toxins begin to accumulate throughout the body, inammation can spread to the joints, organs, skin, and brain. It is a vicious and circular process that can make a person sicker and sicker.What does a functional health screening in-clude or examine? Each provider is dierent and may have dierent criteria; but the common Dr. Ruth Truth: Trauma and Drama are often portrayed as a spiral where an unresolved trauma creates personal drama, andcontinued drama creates layers of trauma.FUNCTIONAL MEDICINECost EffectiveSystems OrientedPatient CenteredHealth FocusedRoot Cause ResolutionLong-term Restoration of HealthRecognizes Biological UniquenessSynergistic ApproachPreventiveCONVENTIONAL MEDICINEExpensiveSymptoms OrientedDoctor CenteredDisease FocusedSymptom SuppressionLong-term Reliance on MedicationEveryone is Treated the Same WayDisjointed ApproachReactiveVS

Page 43

Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023elements will include blood tests to measure organ function, inammatory markers, protein levels, and nutrient levels. After blood tests are received, the provider may order a food intoler-ance or sensitivity test. As a provider, Dr. Moore prefers bioresonance tests to determine food intolerances. Other providers might choose to perform immunoglobulin tests based on blood analysis. Both tests have a high amount of accu-racy, but blood testing may be more expensive and is less user friendly than removing a sample of 10-15 strands of hair.Another component of functional testing could include testing for neurotransmitter or hormone levels. is allows the provider to see if a person’s hormones and neurotransmitters are imbalanced and aecting the mind’s abili-ty to issue command codes to the body. ese tests measure the major sex-based hormones, neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA, do-pamine, and norepinephrines, hormones like cortisol, and amino acids like palmitoyletha-nolamide or PEA which is a natural pain reliev-er that the body is usually decient in. With this information, most providers can prescribe supplements and dietary changes which, over time, can reduce chronic pain and many symp-toms associated with stress-based illnesses.When all these tests are studied together by a functional practitioner, a clear picture emerges as to how the brain and gut are operating together. Neurotransmitters and hormones do much more than regulate the body systems; they also aect how the body can handle stress and immunity challenges. When a practitioner goes deeper to study the amino acids of the brain, they can also see what the brain’s capacity is to process infor-mation and use higher order thinking skills.As you can see, Functional medicine uses traditional testing but derives much more indi-vidualized and personalized information for the patient. Aside from the practitioner interpreting the test, the patient is in control of her health, as she follows a diet that supports her body and all its systems. Functional health utilizes the true “farmacy” or food-based medicine approach that the body can more easily recognize and use.HOW CAN I GET BETTER?One of Dr. Ruth’s truths is that wellness is a state of mind and health is a state of being. If you or someone you love has stress-based health conditions, autoimmune disorders, chronic pain, or excess weight, she recom-mends that the aected person practice activi-ties which are proven to reduce stress. Some of these include exercise, mindfulness, structured breathing, and avoiding known stressors.Another focus to stress reduction is short term coaching to identify stressors, learn ways to rede-ne stress and work through it, and then develop resiliency. Coaching is a wonderful, short-term tool that allows people to make solution-oriented goals and devise a plan on how to achieve them.Physically, the next step is to schedule a functional health consultation with your pro-vider of choice, or Dr. Moore. ese sessions can be done by zoom, generally take 1.5 – 2 hours, and can be reimbursed by most insur-ances if a physician refers them.After the functional health consultation, your provider will recommend a certain eating plan and oer online resources that can support you as your food choices change. is eating plan is integral, because it will eliminate foods that can be inammatory, allow the body time to heal, and then reintroduce foods slowly and with care. When you add foods back in, your coach will also help you learn to eat these in moderation to protect your gut and brain health.Finally, your provider should either refer you to an exercise specialist, or teach you how to exercise within your body’s limits as you change your diet and take back your health.e beauty of functional health is that it is ALL about the patient, and the patient can be-come the head of her healthcare team. She can recruit the providers that she needs to get relevant answers and healing methods. Her providers will not try to push medications and can help her un-derstand and self-treat for a variety of conditions that formal medicine can only control.If you are struggling with complex issues, Dr. Moore is available Monday through Friday for personal consultations. She does free 20-minute veteran consultations on Mondays from 1PM to 3 PM EST, and if you would like more informa-tion, she can be reached by calling her oce at (207) 619-4886, or through her website at www.downeastwellness.com.MEET DOCTOR RUTH MOORE AND COOPERDr. Ruth Moore is an integrative and functional practitioner in Ellsworth, Maine. In addition to earning her PhD from Saybrook University’s College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences, she is also Board Certied in Clinical Aromatherapy and is a Fellow with the Complementary Medical Association.She presently employs a staff of 3 providers and an ofce manager in a hybrid practice that allows her to see local patients in her ofce during the week, and she also works with her global patients via ZOOM. Dr. Moore has published her dissertation in PubMed, published Building Resiliency: 32 Days to a Better You through Amazon, writes for AVOW Magazine, and consults with organizations and providers on the use of bioresonance and complementary medicine. She is a respected keynote and motivational speaker who accepts 4-6 speaking engagements per year, and is in demand with various corporations around the United States.When not working, she can be found at various places through Acadia National Park, local and state parks, and her lakeside home. She and her retired service dog Cooper enjoy #lakelifefromgraham and will frequently share their mindfulness moments on social media.43

Page 44

44Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comBeavers’ life would be changed on the last night of Army Advanced Individ-ual Training (AIT) forever. She was woken suddenly by a man’s hand; it was one of the drill sergeants, slowly moving his hand up her leg, over her body, and down her arm. She opened her eyes and saw him standing there. Immediately, she closed her eyes and froze. She laid perfectly still, paralyzed by fear and dread, held captive inside her own body. e events that happened that night changed her forever. She didn’t report it at the time because no one would believe that it had happened, and she was relieved that she would be leaving AIT the next day. After that night, in 1991, she was depressed and didn’t know why. She completely denied that horric moment and left it suppressed, refusing to believe the incident ever happened.is is where Beavers’ struggle with mili-tary sexual trauma (MST) began. She was sta-tioned in Germany, where she would meet her husband and eventually exit the Army to be with him at Fort Bragg. She picked up a job and joined the Army Reserves, but she jumped back into active duty as a medic when she was red. She was stationed at Fort Bragg, but her relationship with her husband was falling apart, which also strained her military career. Sprinkle on an underlying issue with MST, and soon she was out of the Army again and divorced. She moved back to Illinois, where she worked as a registered nurse.In 2019, Beavers nally went to the Veter-ans Administration (VA) to see about identi-fying the demons that were haunting her, and after two hard-fought years, it was proven she suered from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by MST. While struggling with the VA, Beaver began helping other vet-erans, especially women. In 2021, Beavers started making moves toward a more signi-cant impact by targeting veteran suicide rst. In March 2021, Beavers started Soldier Girl Coee Company, LLC. HOW DOES BEAVERS STARTING A COFFEE COMPANY HELP VETERANS WITH SUICIDE AND PTSD? As Beavers explains, she spotlights one or two nonprot organizations each month. When a customer enters a promo code desig-nated for a specic organization, the customer gets a discount on their coee, and a portion BUSINESS SPOTLIGHTSoldier GirlCoee CompanyCARRIE MURRAY BEAVERS GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN ILLINOIS. AFTER GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL, SHE DID ONE SEMESTER OF COLLEGE, DECIDED SCHOOL WASN’T FOR HER, AND JOINED THE ARMY. THAT’S WHEN IT HAPPENED. ONE NIGHT, AT THE AGE OF 18, WHILE SLEEPING IN AN OPEN BAY AT ARMY ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL TRAINING.

Page 45

45Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023https://soldiergirlcoffeecompany.comof the prot of that purchase goes toward that organization. So far, Soldier Girl Cof-fee has donated several thousand dollars to various nonprot organizations that focus on PTSD, MST, Veteran Suicide Preven-tion, and general veteran well-being. By do-nating to these types of organizations with funds produced from Soldier Girl Coee, Beavers is helping to fund programs that get veterans out of isolation and involved with groups that boost their morale and give vet-erans purpose in the veteran community. Outside of Soldier Girl Coee Compa-ny, Beavers also donates to several veterans and rst responder organizations and hosts events specically for that community. She also makes a point to utilize veteran-owned companies for all her company’s needs. Now Beavers is entered in the Mr. and Mrs. Military Pageant. Her partner in crime is Jason White from the Florida Chapter of the Birdwell Foundation. Every donation to the Birdwell Foundation, through the link below, gets them a vote. If they win, the two of them can continue to support veteran pro-grams and help reduce veteran suicide. HTTPS://WWW.BIRDWELLFOUNDATION.ORG/MR--MS-MILITARY.HTML#/

Page 46

Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.com46Pett’s unusual story begins during her time as a U.S. Air Force Medic and CPR Instructor, while serving at RAF Lakenheath in 2008 where she nearly lost both legs and her right arm due to an undiagnosed arterial blood clot that went untreated for six weeks because she was misdiagnosed as fat (160 pounds while working out daily). She explains this was during the early 2000s, the “pre-booty loving era,” and the “eyeball program’ were the norms. Pett passed PT tests, but she was also short and had that booty. She had just tested for E-5 Sta Ser-geant when she felt what she described ex-quisite pain; so painful, in fact, that she was propelling herself around the oce with fur-niture and felt like she was on re. She felt a sense of impending doom -that she needed to check her engine light before the whole en-gine blew out. Air Force physicians dismissed her purple arm and legs as Reynaud’s phenomenon (a dis-ease causing some areas of the body — such as ngers and toes — to feel numb and cold in response to cold temperatures or stress), so she opted for a second opinion by a British rheumatologist who immediately ruled out Reynaud’s and advised an angiogram be per-formed. e request was ignored by her mili-tary physicians.Instead, Pett’s supervisor had her run a physical tness test to ‘work out the mus-cles.’ When she failed the test, she was then required to complete a mandatory physical t-ness test daily. After falling o the bike because she couldn’t feel her feet, she was referred to a rheumatologist who determined her condi-tion as Reynard’s, but it was just one hand Pett described as the color of Barney-the-dinosaur and ice cold. When she went to supervisors at RAF Lak-enheath, her care was further sabotaged by her supervisor informing the clinic prior to Pett’s appointments that she was making things up. Pett described nally receiving a doppler ultra-sound while screaming in pain and simultane-ously being told to stop faking it. In England, Pett explained, there is only the emergency room of the National Health Service to be seen for sickness; it isn’t like the United States because a patient could be waiting there for weeks. Pett was quite liter-ally at Her Majesty’s mercy. While she and her then-spouse (also an E5 in Air Force be-ing deployed) waited, they were informed his decision to stay with her or deploy would de-cide his career right then and there. “Either he stays [with you] and we court martial him, or he deploys, and your unit takes care of you.” inking she’d have a minor surgery -not the ght of her life- she encouraged him to deploy with his unit. Upon her admission to the vascular inten-Brandi Pett is a medically-retired Air Force veteran, veteran advocate, and podcast host of Yes, I Am the Veteran. TRIPLE-LIMBSALVAGEBY SHEILA L. HOLMES

Page 47

47Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023sive care unit (ICU) after a 12-hour wait, she realized how grave her condition truly was; yet, friends and colleagues of her and her hus-band were initially advised, “If you go to see her, they’ll write you letters of reprimand.” Pett remembers, “It was a horrible way to be an in-patient, by myself, being read my last rites.” To this day, she doesn’t know how long her hus-band was gone -some time between one to two weeks before his return; and in the interim, her mother and sister were own to be with her at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. What started as a large arterial blood clot in her left ventricle and delayed treatment cas-caded into many more clots throughout her body (20mm clot in each leg, 10mm in her right arm, and the 4cm x 2cm clot in that left ventricle); in addition, Pett now had necrotis-ing fasciitis and compartment syndrome. Ac-cording to her doctors, the condition was un-heard of in a 23-year-old woman. In order to relieve the compartment syndrome, surgeons had to perform a bilateral fasciotomy so deep she could see her shin bone. e arteries in her lower leg had to be stripped.Compartment syndrome occurs when the pressure within a compartment increas-es, restricting the blood ow to the area and potentially damaging the muscles and nearby nerves. It usually occurs in the legs, feet, arms or hands, but can occur wherever there’s an en-closed compartment inside the body.Fasciotomy is a surgery to relieve swelling and pressure in a compartment of the body. Tissue surrounding the area is cut open to re-lieve pressure in time or risk loss of the limb. Fasciotomy is most often needed in the leg, but it may also be done in the arm, hand, foot, or abdomen. Pett was featured in Medical journals -one for surviving, because the medical community had never encountered so many arterial blood clots shed out where the person lived: both legs and her right arm, including her chest/heart and kidney which she refused treatment for, because she felt had she survived, she’d only die of secondary issues. After her vascular surgery, e hospital informed her she’d almost drained the hos-pital of morphine -she was on the maximum of all pain meds. Pett couldn’t be tradition-ally transported, so she was transferred via air-evacuation in a U. S. Air Force’s four-star general’s private jet on a long spine board for three hours to Rammstein. Her options for air-evacuation back to the United States where she could be treated by vascular sur-geons were Travis Air Force Base, Wilford Hall, or Walter Reed Medical Center. Pett chose Wilford Hall. Because the treatment to save her life had required a signicant amount of muscle be cut out and 70% of a muscle can regenerate, when (CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE)

Page 48

48Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comher whole limb was compartmented, she end-ed up with 17% circulation in her leg -that of an 89 year old diabetic. Outranking personnel called her a freak. Four months after evacuation, her com-mander was still asking, “Where’s my troop?” Because she wasn’t combat injured, there were no protocols, and Pett was forced to contin-ue working as an instructor teaching students. She nally had to stop teaching because she couldn’t wear her boots, and the students wouldn’t listen to her because all they could see was that she wasn’t within regulations. For 18 months after her air-evacuation, she was still considered in-service while ve clinics were still caring for her. Nobody could nd the cause of her medical emergency.Pett describes sleeping on the couch for ve years due to pain. She was now consid-ered a triple-limb salvage, and while Fish-er House Centers for the Intrepid helps veterans who are critically-injured during service, those veterans have typically been down-range. Pett shared that though she was categorized as the worst-scarred veter-an in San Antonio, it was immediately made obvious by her lack of care and treatment that she was not actually considered a crit-ically-wounded veteran, because she wasn’t combat-related. She had to obtain assistance from the patient advocate to have her dou-ble upright ankle-foot orthotics xed. Her second medical journal write-up was for surviving the birth of her child; she ran for Ms. Veteran America and won the 2020 Hot Mamma of the Year Award. Pett realized many veterans didn’t have knowledge -like treatment outside pharmacology and alternative treat-ments. at’s when she started her own pod-cast, Yes, I am the Veteran, landing on Vet-Ra-dio syndicate for a year. She was also featured on all major podcasts. Pett is currently building her own platform to empower women veterans by creating a place for women to feel more secure speaking with other veterans.” Pett described that her intent arises from the fact that women vet-erans who want to start podcasts for stations typically have no ownership; all their con-tent work stays with the podcast owners and doesn’t follow with the woman veteran should they decide to change venues. Teaching wom-en how to successfully brand themselves with marketing and multiple streamcasts that are fair and don’t take advantage of them is a need Pett sees in the veteran world. e name of her podcast comes on the heels of so many as-sumptions about her condition simply because she’s a younger woman driving a car with dis-abled veteran plates. A woman almost pulled her parents out of the car because her parents were disabled and Pett’s husband wasn’t even there. Pett showed her leg and said, “I am the Veteran.” After partnering with several events earlier this year, Killfoot clothing has reached out for collaboration. She’s also interviewed combat veteran Cecilia Marie, a Virginia Beach based tattoo artist out of Sweet Surrender studio, who has not only donated her work for vet-erans with post-traumatic stress disorder, but has also donated proceeds to Operation Tattooing Freedom (benets Tattoo Veterans with PTSD), and has shared her design work: a woman veteran saluting as well as one with patriotic roses with “Yes, I am the Veteran” at the top. As for some words of wisdom? Pett shared, “While it’s OK to not be OK, it’s not ok to suer silently -we are our own best ad-vocates.” ...she was notconsidered a critically-woundedveteran becauseshe wasn’tcombat-related.

Page 49

49Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023It was a day like every other day.She began to pick up the pieces of her belongingsthat lay like shattered glass all around her.Without uttering one word, one scream; with a whimper, she picked them up.But, the pieces of her soul would not t back into herself.She didn’t call a rape line, prayer line or a hot line.She did not utter one word.“You don’t tell” she picked that up at 6 years old.She picked up fear and couldn’t trust anyone, she picked up panic and was terried of life.No one told her to do this; it just happened.She picked up depression and all color disappeared.She captured the negative opinions of herself in the worldand life was lived under a cloud of self-hatred. That cloud became a back seat driver in her psyche.She picked up that someone needed to decide for herbecause she could never be sure of her own decisions.She forgot how to think and it kept her from moving forward.She picked up numbing what was left of herself with food. Eating until she couldn't feel anymore and the rest of her caved under the weight of her enormous body, sealing her pain and protecting her from the world. “She still had a pretty face”.She picked these up wholly and completely without hesitation or doubts. She lay in darkness looking up. The moon said, “Darling you don’t have to be whole to shine.”There was a day like every other day and she picked up something else.She picked up rage.It fell to her like a leaf falling from a tree and she picked it up.It got hot in her hand and then lled her completely.It burned until only ashes were left.She began to sweep away the ashes. She looked up and there were no clouds in the sky or gloom on the horizon.She felt a feather in her womb; life growing.She picked up something else; she picked up hope, then purpose;she picked up valor and shield.She would be that soldier for her children.She picked up love and strength.No one told her how to do this, it just happened. Her wings began to stretch.And on another day, she stumbled over freedom; it lay before her and she picked it up and began to y.Picking Up the Pieces BY VICKIE GUILLOT

Page 50

50Winter 2022/2023 • www.AVOWMagazine.comThe nonprot was started by a woman named Janet Brennan. Brennan was an emergency room trauma nurse for twenty years who left nursing to work in a pharmaceutical clinical research company as an executive who helped start the company in sixty-ve countries. She was responsible for the operations outside of the United States. Brennan’s father is a Vietnam-Era veteran and a retired Philadelphia reghter. She also has other family members who served. In the corporate world, Brennan described how she didn’t feel like she was giving back and wanted to do so. To get the word out about the program, she went to the Veterans Administra-tion (VA) and dierent groups whose partici-pants have other therapists and the therapist recommends equine therapy. It is a rolling en-rollment so people don’t have to wait for help. Brennan loves horses and had always want-ed one. While working in the corporate world, an opportunity appeared to get her own horse and she jumped at the chance. Once she got her horse, Irish, she had the idea to breed and get her own herd, even though she knew little about that at the time. She thought that once she retired from her corporate job she would start a therapeutic riding facility. With her nursing background, experience in business, and her extreme respect and appreciation for people who serve in the military along with the police and reghters, Shamrock Reins was born! At that point Brennan had twelve horses all of her own.In January 2015, the rst session started. Brennan works to ensure the horses have good ground manners and are able to be ridden in the therapeutic horsemanship program. e horses are exposed to the obstacles and are used to two people walking beside them. Hors-es inherently know who they’re dealing with and know how to handle them. It is imme-diate biofeedback. If you are happy, the horse is happy! e horses respond to their partici-pants and how they’re feeling. Some horses are not meant to do this job and that is a part of their evaluation. If the horses need a vacation, they get one. ey can only work six hours a day and cannot work more than three hours at a time without a break. When the horses are not working, they are in their pastures so they can run and play. Sessions are one hour to one-and-a-half hours. ey also have specialty workshops, including military sexual trauma (MST). e programs of Shamrock Reins have been de-signed to provide the participants with the most benecial therapeutic experience to en-able them to develop valuable coping skills. One woman veteran who served in the U.S. Navy for 14 years as an aviation elec-trician mate and Navy police heard about Shamrock Reins from another woman in a VA group in the Horsham clinic four years ago. She was hesitant to reach out because she was shy and doubted her self worth. She had al-ways dreamed about being around horses. She has been a participant for two years now and was encouraged by her therapist at the farm to make a list of what she has received from equine therapy. She shared she now has a sense of community and acceptance just as she is. She doesn’t have to be strong and guarded. When people greet her and ask how she is, they real-ly mean it. She has learned about herself, self care, and responsibilities. She used to be fear-ful, on-guard, and pushed things away but the horse won’t let her do it. “e horses call you out on your own B. S.” She has learned to let go of trying to be perfect and learned patience. She goes once a week and is recovering from trauma from her service and childhood. She said she never knew how instrumental horses were in helping others. Another woman participant served in the U.S. Army for 12 years. She handled the hatch forms on ships and cargo handling. She was Shamrock Reins is a nonprot 501(C)3 Charitable Organization that was formed February 10, 2014, to provide Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies for veterans, active duty, and reserve service members, rst responders, their families, and the families of fallen heroes. All services are free to the participants. BY PAT WHITESPECIAL HORSES ASSISTINGWITH MIRACLES & RECOVERYOFFERING COMFORT& KINDNESS

Page 51

51Facebook.com/AVOWMagazine • Winter 2022/2023the only woman in her Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) school and unit at the time and was a victim of MST. She attends therapy at the VA and heard about Shamrock Reins from them over ve years ago during an MST workshop. After that workshop, she knew she wanted to continue. She had never been around a horse before and didn’t want to talk about her trauma. For two years she wouldn’t go anywhere. Someone told her to try all re-sources to help her feel better. She said, “I’ll give it a shot.” She thought she could learn something and possibly help others if she talk-ed about what happened to her. It helps her to have more things in her arsenal. Before, she would only talk to her animals about what happened. She said she couldn’t have made a better decision for herself. She told the people at Shamrock Reins, “If you need a cheerleader, I’ll cheerlead for your group.” She said every-one is so kind; and even on her bad days, they are good after spending time at the farm. “I enjoy this place. I love Shamrock Reins.” I know rst hand how Shamrock Reins changes peoples’ lives. I was seeing a counselor and she recommended equine therapy to me. I was never a horse person and was afraid of them. I started attending in February 2022. Shamrock Reins has been a Godsend for me. e sta are so friendly and helpful. I look for-ward to going every week. If I lived closer, I’d be stopping by every day! Shamrock Reins is saving peoples’ lives every day. I recommend everyone reach out and try. SPONSOR A VETERAN, SERVICE MEMBEROR A PROGRAM SESSIONEquine Facilitated PsychotherapyWeekly sessions involve challenging ground activities with horses in the arena. Course obstacles designed to represent challenges the participant is facing in his/her daily life. Participant works through obstacles with the horse helping the participant to develop valuable transferrable coping skills. Sessions are conducted by a licensed therapist with the assistance of an equine specialist and volunteers.Therapeutic HorsemanshipInvolves a series of sequential units conducted in weekly sessions involving both instruction and activities related to horse characteristics and behaviors, safety, bonding with the horse and grooming, leading and ground work, among many other activities. Sessions are conducted at each participant’s pace allowing time for participant to bond with and form a positive relationship with their horse. Sessions are conducted by a certied therapeutic riding Instructor assisted by volunteers.Pre and Post Deployment SessionsThese programs are designed for active duty, reservists and their families to provide support in managing and coping with the challenges they face pre and post deployment. Sessions are designed for one to two days and are exible to be extended as needed. The sessions are conducted by a licensed therapist with the assistance of an equine specialist, and volunteers.Family Support Programs during DeploymentThese programs include a variety of sessions designed to support families during deployment including equine facilitated psychotherapy and therapeutic horsemanship. Sessions are conducted by a licensed therapist, certied therapeutic riding instructors, and volunteers.Specialty WorkshopsFull-day equine facilitated psychotherapy programs designed to address a specic issue such as bereavement, military sexual trauma, anxiety, trust, social detachment and various other targeted issues. These workshops are offered monthly, based on interest and are conducted by a licensed therapist, an equine specialist, and volunteers.CONTACT US: 215-766-4988 or jbrennan@shamrockreins.org.

AVOW Magazine Winter 2022/2023

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6