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Jumping in with Both Feet

By Ray Parrish

Like it or not, we're in a position to help all those veterans who can't find help anyplace else, because we're the ones they are calling for help. Luckily, new developments make it possible for most of you reading this to become part of a support network we're setting up. My priority is to provide mental health and VA claims support for each IVAW chapter, GI coffeehouse, GIRH counseling center, military base and prison with a veterans group.

The VVAW hotline and my email get referrals from the GI Rights Hotline, IVAW, VFP, MFSO and AFSC among other groups, the VVAW website, several other websites, web searches that turn up our TV show, veteranshelpingveterans.us. The calls for help are on a variety of topics, although PTSD comes up in most. Many callers will avail themselves of the services of our therapist, Hans Buwalda, for treatment or get a referral from her for a local mental health professional. Many are impressed with the fact that we're the only veterans' group offering such comprehensive services.

Many are still on active duty and a family member will call us because they can depend on our confidentiality to protect their military careers. There are the veterans who can't go into a VA facility because they no longer trust the government that sent them to war or they felt betrayed when they returned. Some vets' PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is so severe they ended up with bad discharges and were turned away by the VA. Some ended up in prison, and some don't even ask for help because they are ashamed to be seen as weak.

VVAW members are already working within local groups to help in these efforts and you can join in. Go to the IVAW website and contact the nearest chapter to find out what they need. Do the same with the GI Rights Hotline website or call a nearby prison to get contact info on any veterans groups. You may be directed to a vet who called before you and is already coordinating support. You might be asked to call area mental health or VA claims professionals to find volunteers.

You might decide to become certified as a veterans' peer-counselor, get accredited as a VA claims agent, or get trained to answer calls through the GI Rights Hotline. For the first, call your local VA Medical Center and ask for the coordinator of PTSD peer counseling or "vet-2-vet" program and if there are none go to the VAMC Director and offer to help get one going. VETNET in Chicago got the grant to develop the veterans' peer-counseling curriculum and the week-long trainings are happening in VAMC's nation-wide. Training in VA claims has recently taken a giant step with the release of a new 6 hour dvd titled Veterans Benefits Advocacy from the National Veterans Legal Services Program (nvlsp.org) the same people who write the Veterans Benefits Manual (VBM) I depend on. This dvd should give you the skills needed to pass the VA exam to get accreditation and the VBM will enable you to win cases that the mainstream veterans service offices call unwinnable.

When the 2010 edition of the VBM comes out this summer, the publisher is donating all the unsold 2009 editions to me for distribution to support incarcerated veterans. We'll start with the Maine State prison just before the Veterans For Peace convention there. Since there are so many prisons, and so many vets in them, I expect to run out of the freebies early.

You may decide to actually become a veteran-owned service provider business by taking advantage of loans and grants from the VA, EPA or Small Business Administration to buy an apartment building and lease through the VA Supportive Housing program or start a business (plenty of money for green businesses) to provide jobs or training for vets. Whatever you decide, I'm here to support your efforts.

Ray Parrish (Sgt., USAF, 72-75) is VVAW's military counselor.