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One of the most powerful aspects of the two-week immersive Road Home program is group therapy for veterans and service members. Along with the help of clinicians like Dr. Klassen these sessions, vets and service members in these sessions can share their experiences, questions, and perspectives in a safe space. Powerful transformations and healing can occur when one veteran, for example, can shed light on the experience of another, helping that individual better understand a trauma and change the narrative.

Cognitive processing therapy helps veterans and service members understand how their experience of a traumatic event may have changed how they see themselves, others, and the world. CPT, in particular, targets beliefs around "what ifs" or "should haves," which are inherently toxic and can result in feelings of guilt and shame that often keep a person stuck in the symptoms of PTSD. CPT can't change what happened, but it can help that person construct a new narrative that helps change how that person feels about the trauma.

Midway through the two-week immersive Road Home Program when veterans and service members have told their stories of their traumas several times and more details and context emerge with each telling, sometimes the "hot spots" surface. These hot spots are the parts of the trauma that are particularly provocative and upsetting, the memories and emotions that are keeping the person stuck. By focusing on those hot spots, clinicians can help accelerate the therapy and move the person toward healing.

It is a paradox that the harder we try not to think about something, the more we think about it. Memories and emotions related to trauma can only be suppressed for so long. It's like holding a beach ball under water. It's hard. You can do it until you can no longer do it. Trauma therapy, as offered during the Road Home Program, helps veterans and service members with PTSD bring their stories of trauma to the surface in a safe and controlled way and from there move toward healing.

Creating individualized treatment plans for veterans is crucial as they may be experiencing symptoms from PTSD, TBI or other concussive injuries as well as moral injury. Often, soldiers enter a war in their late teens or early 20s when their brain has not yet reached full maturation. Providers must consider all of a veteran’s physical and psychological factors when tailoring treatment strategies.

If I could tell civilian providers working with veterans and service members with PTSD and other mental health challenges one thing, it would be that this population includes some of the most resilient people on the planet. I think we do a disservice to them by fragilizing them, treating them as if going through these intense therapies—cognitive behavioral therapy, prolonged exposure therapy, and discussions around moral injury and military sexual trauma among others—will break them. On the contrary, during Road Home's two-week intensive program, I have seen undue strength and resiliency demonstrated, which often lead to significant healing.

A two-week program for veterans and services members who have PTSD and other mental health issues, Rush Medical Center's Road Home is intense, fast, and efficient. Through evidence-based studies and experience, providers have found that this two-week intensive is far more effective than traditional therapy to help with symptom remission and increases in resilience.

For tens of thousands of years, there has been a deep symbiosis between humans and dogs. With their superior senses—far more attuned than those of humans—dogs have come to discern human emotions, something that benefits both species. Research in the last several decades has also shown that service dogs that have been exceptionally trained and certified can help people the symptoms of PTSD like nightmares, anxiety, and sleep and behavioral disturbances.

The biggest and most nefarious misconception about TBI is that it doesn’t get better. That is simply not true. The vast majority of people with TBI do well over time and can be effectively treated to live functional and fulfilling lives. However, that does not counter the risk of behavioral, medical, and cognitive problems in the long term. With more research and experience, experts in the field are focusing on learning more to mitigate risk and improve the outcome of those with TBI in both the short and long term.

Staff at Home Base are awed—daily, hourly—by the resilience, determination, and dedication of the veterans and service members with whom they work during the two-week immersion program. Dr. Zafonte recalls one Special Forces member who was injured multiple times but whose focus, invariably and unblinkingly, was to restore himself so as to return to theater to continue to serve. Military members like this man exemplify a dedication to protect our country; something all of us should take time to better understand and appreciate.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Home Base Program is the way it helps veterans and service members come together again with those who may have had similar experiences in combat and now back at home with issues around TBI and PTSD. Along with the comprehensive individualized treatment plans for each person, the program includes group therapies and events, which play a large role in the healing process.

Home Base, a free Red Sox Foundation and Mass General Hospital program, started small, but then and now—as it has grown to help 1,000s of veterans and service members nationwide—it remains a passion for many. The program focuses on treating the invisible wounds of war like TBI and PTSD. With evidence-based treatments in all domains like behavioral therapy, physical therapy, health and wellness, and medications, providers help these warriors with issues that run the gamut from sleep apnea and cognitive function to depression and physical pain.