About Return To Honor

Dr. Mary Beth Williams - Supports Return to Honor

• Trauma Recovery Education and Counseling Center
• Director, Equine Post-Trauma Recovery, LLC: Horses helping Humans
  

Dr. Mary Beth Williams is in private practice in Warrenton, Virginia. She is an instructor for ICISF and teaches Ethics for Traumatologists. She is also a trained trainer dealing with school crisis. A former school social worker, Dr. Williams developed and managed a crisis team for many years. Dr. Williams has written/co-written/edited numerous books and chapters relating to trauma including K-12 school crisis team (not crisis team alone), The PTSD Workbook (New Harbinger 2002) and Life after Trauma: A Workbook for Healing (Rosenbloom & Williams, 1999, GUilford Press), among others. Dr. Williams also is a forensic practitioner and has worked at all levels of local, state, and federal courts including mitigation in death row cases in Virginia. She has trained both nationally and internationally including Kazakhstan where she was the first American to present trauma-oriented training to various organizations while she was in-country to adopt her daughters. Dr. Williams is also the mental health consultant for the EPA's Peer Support CISM team.

Program Overview Three Day Intensive Cognitive & Experiential Re-Integration Workshop; An After Theatre (After Trauma) Decompression Training as well as family integration programs  For upcoming workshop dates, see below.

Reintegration Workshop; After-Theatre Decompression Training for Veterans; both active duty and those transitioning back to civilian life.

Objective of Return to Honor Programs:  

The Return to Honor programs are conducted by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, (501c3) to support military troops in making healthy transitions after combat duty to maintain service readiness for active duty and return reservists and veterans to productive civilian life.  Return to Honor will also provide on-going support mechanisms while collaborating with existing services.  Issue Addressed:  Combat duty places extreme demands on the mind, body, senses, and the emotions of military personnel.  Prepared with hundreds of hours of training, the intensity and realities of war present a multitude of challenges which only become "real" in-theatre.  These realities can create readjustment issues upon return such as a constant state of heightended alert, coping with killing, the deaths of comrades and innocent civilians as changes in family structures and roles.  These and many other issues often do not appear until 60-90+ days after returning home. 

Return to Honor is a three-day intensive, cognitive and experiential reintegration training designed by a military therapist and conducted by “those who have been there” which includes education and family integraton support. Return to Honor is to be conducted several months after return to avoid combat stress and readjustment issues from developing into PTSD.  The intensity of the military persons experience equally needs to be addressed by an intensive period of readjustment/decompression.  This program is critical for "SERVICE READINESS" for those still in active duty and a healthy productive return to civilian life for those who have completed their duty.

Specifically, Return to Honor provides such a forum.  Return to Honor was designed with a deep knowledge and understanding of the subject area, real world experience and expertise in a variety of modalities.  The training integrates information, models and exercises which reduce the impact -- “trauma” experienced.  Strategic bio-energetics techniques and coping skills are presented in a hands-on manner in conjunction with the groups’ dynamics to address the physical and emotional needs of each participant.  These needs can range from inappropriate reactions set off by “triggers”, rage, loss of mission and values to employment and family tensions.  Each participant is supported by an almost one-to-one ratio of veterans with in-theatre experience.

This workshop should not be considered therapeutic in the traditional sense nor is it designed to replace such services.  However, the nature, time commitments as well as the accessibility of such traditional services fail to address the initial extreme impact of combat duty as well as are often conducted by those who have not be in-theatre.

RECOGNITION
Cognitive awareness, recognizing combat stress, addressing the issue of compartmentalizing traumatic experiences and the resulting fall out. Addressing and letting go of past attachment to a traumatic event.  Focus on present day life and separating who I was before, who I chose to be as a result of the trauma and who I am today.  Eldership presence, being seen, acknowledgment and being heard.

REUNION
Developing and projecting an intent of purpose for who I am today.  Awareness of the three senses that can trigger reliving trauma and providing tools to control it.  Bio-energetic release takes the form of releasing trapped trauma in the body and replacing trauma with who I want to be. Separating compartmentalization with a sense of choice.

REINTEGRATION
Purification and renewal ceremony, taking full ownership of who I am today.  Integrate the families by bringing them into a separate setting to be heard and seen sharing concerns.  Reintegrating participants with their families for a time of acknowledgement.  Celebration and feast, guidelines for what reintegration looks like in the real world, information about additional resources and future involvement with Return to Honor.

FAMILY PARTICIPATION

For families to have an understanding related to how a traumatic event effects the dynamics of a family system.

For the effected family members to have a chance to speak to how this event has effected them.

For families to engage in a discussion to start the healing process and be able to tap into resources within the communities that they live.

To start and support the re-integration process within the family structure.

Why RETURN TO HONOR?

New England Journal of Medicine study found that 63% of soldiers with PTSD said they were reluctant to seek professional help because they thought their unit leaders would treat them differently; 50% thought it would harm their careers. 

RETURN TO HONOR provides an alternative training resource outside the system; supplemental to existing services.  It is a cognitive and experiential training.  Return to Honor was designed with a deep knowledge and understanding of the subject area, real world experience and expertise in a variety of modalities.  We are confident the program will bring about significant positive shifts in the participants’ daily lives and encourage their active participation in other programs and counseling services in their community.  It also offers an excellent training resource for those still in the military to understand and deal more effectively with combat stress.

The program has received support on Capital Hill from a large number of Congressional members from both the Veterans Affairs and Armed Services committees.  Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) stated, “With the magnitude of the United States’ military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to keep a sharp focus on the many unique needs of our veterans.  I respect Return to Honor’s effort to address soldier’s individual needs in a personal and thoughtful way. With the involvement of families, a staff with first hand experience, and a “veterans talking to veterans” approach, Return to Honor is poised to assist veterans reintegrate as healthy productive members of society.”

Program Evaluation

Using expert resources evaluations have been designed to document and assess the effectiveness of each component and provide informal feedback as well as annual, summative assessments for the project and the funding agency.  The evaluation includes the following enabling factors:

Implementation and impact of program/project initiatives; evaluators will examine the degree to which these programs and resources are impacting the target audiences.

Program management and collaboration; evaluators will examine the overall program and its ability to meet its goals and enhance the usage of all services available.
 
The program evaluation will use document reviews, surveys, observations and interviews to ensure full and successful project implementations.  Quantitative and qualitative measures will be used.

Future Programs

Participants will have the opportunity to staff subsequent events to continue their reintegration; additional program options and connectivity points are being designed.  An advanced course program and train the trainer programs are currently being evaluated.  Integrating with existing Veteran’s organizations and community programs will be a center piece of the follow up work.

Train the Trainer Programs
Staff Return to Honor Programs for former participants
Coached Phone Bridges with former participants
Family and Children’s Programs
Resource of services available to veterans and their families locally
5-Day Follow Up
10-Day Intensives