The Resilience Projects

This page is the landing page for

You might have heard some news lately about the Veterans Administration and how they take care of veterans. For generations our government has put our sons (myself included) and daughters in harms way and then neglect their care when they leave the service. The lack of treatment for Battlefield Stress is the latest badge of shame the VA has added to its wall.

In 2007 the Army spent over $7 million on a Resilience program for active-duty military. They had too many troops who were leaving the service due to the ravages of Battlefield Stress. The program tried every therapy they could find at the issue. The program was a success, and it has migrated to several military installations.

The US military uses Reiki along with other holistic alternative and complementary therapies such as massage, acupuncture, meditation, qi gong and yoga for the treatment of Battlefield Stress. The Fort Bliss program was founded by Dr. John Fortunato and is currently under the direction of Dr. Vicki Thomas. On July13, 2008, Army Chief of Staff, George Casey publicly announced that the Fort Bliss PTSD program should be replicated. On January 21, 2010, Fort Bliss Commanding General,Maj. Gen. Howard B. Brombergreported in the Fort Bliss Monitor that the Restoration and Resilience Program had graduated 66 participants since it opened its doors in 2007.

In 2011, Dr. Sara Gilliam lauded the R&R Center as a researcher’s dream. The six-month program is unique in that it utilizes complementary alternative medicine modalities in addition to standard therapy. The CAM modalities include reiki, acupuncture, massage therapy, biofeedback, neuro-feedback, movement therapy, meditation and art therapy.

This link is to demonstrate that it’s not just my idea – Reiki Healing for the Military

Its roots in the military go back to July of 2007, when a Dr. John Fortunato, a Vietnam veteran, clinical psychologist, and former Benedictine monk started the Fort Bliss Restoration and Resilience center in Texas (it offered meditation, yoga, massage, and Reiki in addition to other holistic healing methods). The then Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, and Army Chief of Staff General George Casey both praised the program and felt it should be replicated throughout the military.”

The problem is that just as there is a poor transfer of medical records from the military to the Veterans Administration, this program has not transferred as well.

My thought is that it should be brought to Veterans and civilians with PTSD. You know as well as I do, that you don’t have to be shot at to get PTSD. Any abusive parent, sibling, or bully can do the trick. A traumatic experience can live with you forever.

My objective is to provide an effective treatment to Veterans for free and make the same program available to civilians for a modest fee to pay for it. The cost for civilians is $30 for a stress relief treatment – 20 to 30 minutes, or $70 for a more extensive treatment and training in self-treatment techniques – 1 hour.