Resources for Veterans

If you are or someone you know is a veteran struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1.800.273.8255. If you feel there is an emergency situation, call 911 immediately.

It’s critical the veterans in our archdiocese know they are supported.

The Veterans Crisis Line offers free, confidential support to Veterans in crisis, as well as their family and friends 24/7. Call 1.800.273.8255, chat online, or text 838255.

PTSD Healing

If you are a veteran or member of a veteran’s family, it is possible that you may have experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD has four types of symptoms: reliving the event, avoiding situations that remind you of the event, feeling numb and feeling jumpy or anxious. If you would like to learn more or take a PTSD screen, visit the National Center for PTSD. Potential treatments for PTSD include counseling, medication, use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and cognitive processing therapy (CPT), a type of (CBT).

Hunger

In Cook County, there are more than 18,000 veterans living below the poverty line. Further, 18 percent of the households receiving food assistance in our community include someone who is serving or has served in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Greater Chicago Food Depository is committed to providing food and support for Cook County’s veterans through a variety of programs and partnerships.

Books

Below is a list of literature we can recommend. This list covers topics from homecoming and redeployment to loss.

General

  • Edward Tick: War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Nancy Sherman: The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers
  • Nancy Sherman: “Hidden Wounds: Healing After A Soldier's Homecoming.” 
    The National Catholic Weekly, May 21, 2012, pp. 13 – 16
  • David Adam, Nick Fawcett, Ray Simpson, Christine Titmus: Remember War, Make Peace
    eden.co.uk/shop/remember-war-make-peace-3700161.html
  • Michelle Bellon: The Complexity of a Soldier
  • Kevin Powers: The Yellow Birds
  • Brian Castner: The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows
    The language and images are very graphic, but also very honest.
  • Phil Klay: Redeployment
    Writing about what soldiers, mainly Marines, experienced in Iraq and what "coming home" means.

Loss and Suicide

  • Carla Fine: No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One
  • Iris Bolton and Curtis Mitchell: My Son ... My Son: A Guide to Healing After Death, Loss, or Suicide
  • Harold S. Kushner: When Bad Things Happen to Good People
  • SARK: Glad No Matter What: Transforming Loss and Change into Gift and Opportunity
  • Joanne Marxhausen: If I should die, I should live
  • Linda Goldman: Breaking the Silence: A Guide to Helping Children with Complicated Grief- Suicide, Homicide, AIDS, Violence and Abuse
  • Mary and Maureen Stimming: Before their Time: Adult Children’s Experience of Parental Suicide
  • Ann Smolin, CWS and John Guinan, PhD.: Healing After the Suicide of a Loved One
  • Michelle Linn-Gust, M.S.: Do They Have Bad Days in Heaven: Surviving the Suicide Loss of a Sibling
  • Karen Katafiasz: Grief Therapy