‘At Ease’
so vets can be
Sharon Robino-West, a therapist for Lutheran Fam- ily Services of Nebraska’s At Ease USA program, leads group therapy for William and other military veterans.
Editor’s note: At Ease maintains patients’ confidential- ity so the names of military members and veterans in this article have been changed to protect their identities.
A
handful of veterans sit talking. One strums a uku- lele. They’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan and have served peacetime deployments in South America
and Asia. Most are Marines, but regardless of branch, they consider each other family. William, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, has been working more hours lately. While he is tired more often, he is sleeping better. “I’m up to about four to five hours [of sleep each night],” he said. Little victories, but worth celebrating here at At Ease USA, a Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska program for veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or other behavioral and mental health issues (
www.lfsneb.org/behavioralhealth/ at_ease/
index.asp). Located just outside Omaha in Bellevue, Neb., the program is only minutes away from Offutt Air Force Base. The program’s confidential help for military members
Brownlee is a reporter for The Daily Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska cares for the wounds you can’t see Story and photo by Mike Brownlee
(active duty and veterans) and their families “is a way of expressing God’s love to people who serve [in the mili- tary],” said Ruth Hendrichs, CEO of Lutheran Family Services. If patients can’t afford care or if their insurance doesn’t cover it, At Ease offers treatment at no cost. It began in 2009 with some Omaha-area residents who had watched friends deal with the effects of war. Knowing that countless other military members needed support, they formed At Ease and asked Lutheran Family Services to administer aid. Since Lutheran Family Services already provided
similar programs to the general public, expanding those services to veterans was a logical step. “This is a way to give back to those who serve,” Hendrichs said. “At Ease fits with our mission.”
Through the program, patients meet one-on-one with
master’s-level therapists or engage in therapy with mem- bers of Vets4Vets, a nonpartisan group that helps veter- ans heal through peer support (
http://vets4vets.org). Sharon Robino-West, a Marine Corps vet who helps spearhead the peer groups, said most participate in each. “When you do both, it really helps [with] recovery,” she said.
Robino-West, also the mother of an Iraq veteran who 16 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
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