Celebrate Recovery Welcome Home Groups are a safe place for veterans and their family to connect. Most military families miss the camaraderie that the military culture provides. This can be achieved through Celebrate Recovery and Welcome Home Open Share Groups.

Exploring Combat Related Post-Traumatic Stress

Do you:

• Feel upset by things that remind you of what happened?

• Have nightmares, vivid memories, or flashbacks of the event that make you feel like it’s happening all over again?

• Feel emotionally cut off from others?

• Feel numb or losing interest in things you used to care about?

• Become depressed?

• Think that you are always in danger?

• Feel anxious, jittery, or irritated?

• Experience a sense of panic that something bad is about to happen?

• Have difficulty sleeping?

• Have trouble keeping your mind on one thing?

• Have a hard time relating to and getting along with your spouse, family, or friends?

• Often avoid places or things that remind you of what happened?

• Consistently drink alcohol or use of drugs to numb your feelings?

• Consider harming yourself or others?

• Start working all the time to occupy your mind?

• Pull away from other people and become isolated?

• Feel guilty that you lived through the events?

• Lash out with outbursts of rage and violence?

• Miss the camaraderie and sense of belonging you had in the military? 

How We Find Recovery

Through a relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Higher Power, and by working through the 8 recovery principles and the Christ-centered 12 steps, we can find Freedom from our hurts, hang ups, and habits.

Characteristic of Someone in Recovery for Combat Related Post-Traumatic Stress may include but are not limited to:

• Finding accountability partners and a sponsor, utilizing them throughout the week.

• Seeking out appropriate medical help if needed, connecting with the Mental Health Champion for resources.

• Attending Large Group weekly and participating in a Welcome Home Open Share group to recover your sense of belonging.

• Joining a Celebrate Recovery Step Study Group.

• Reaching out to other veterans struggling with hurts, hang ups and habits. Inviting them into your Welcome Home Open Share Group to recover your sense of mission/purpose.

It is our prayer that you have found this information helpful in describing what PTS ‘looks’ like symptomatically. If you answered yes to 3 or more of these symptoms you may be experiencing Combat Related PTS. Too often many seek help without receiving a diagnosis of PTS. Many doctors and mental health professionals do not know what the full spectrum of PTS looks like. Do not be afraid to take this with you if you choose to seek medical help. PTS is multi-faceted and can be difficult to diagnosis. You and those around you need to know the facts about what it is and what it looks like. It is treatable and can be overcome. There is hope.