In July 2007, Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, a licensed clinical psychologist, began collecting resources, information and volunteers in order to found Give an Hour. Give an Hour is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free counseling and other mental health services to active duty servicemembers, National Guard members, reservists, and veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan wars who have separated or retired.

Besides offering services to servicemembers and their direct dependents, the program is open to those who are not eligible to receive treatment through the military or the VA, such as parents, siblings and unmarried partners.

Across the country, Give an Hour has close to 5,000 licensed mental health professionals, and within the area there are hundreds. With the thousands and thousands of returning servicemembers, it should come as no surprise that as of March 2010 providers reported almost 25,000 hours of donated mental health services, which, based on a nationwide average of $100 per hour, means that Give an Hour providers have donated $2,410,625 over the past three years.

"It was a way to say thank you," said Linda Green-Baskett, when asked why she signed up with the organization.  "I was actually born on a military base, and while I was growing up, serving in the military was something everyone did. I have family and friends that to this day are in the military, so I understand."

Green-Baskett, who has an M.A. in Psychology and is a licensed mental health counselor, has been in practice for 14 years. She has an office in West Seattle, but she is open to phone appointments should it be easier for the patient.

In her time with Give an Hour, she has met with servicemembers, who typically want to know if what they are feeling is normal, and family members, specifically spouses, who want to know what to expect when their spouses redeploy.

"I grew up during the whole anti-Vietnam era, and that experience motivates me to show appreciation to those asked to and who volunteer to serve," Green-Baskett said. "That makes them heroes, and they deserve whatever we can give."

"We can offer support in the way of health and well-being," said Dr. Mukti Khanna, Ph.D., clinical psychologist. "Politics aside, we owe this to those that have served. This is our contribution."

According to Khanna, who has been donating time for over a year out of her practice in Tumwater, trauma treatment protocol has changed a lot in the past decade, and the clinical understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder has evolved.

"There is a definite transition from being an active duty soldier who needs to be hyper-vigilant to normal, everyday life.  We need to acknowledge that or else we place additional stress on those returning veterans," Khanna explained. "A lot can be done in just a few sessions to stabilize a person."

Those interested in using Give an Hour should visit www.giveanhour.org. Specific providers or types of providers, such as those using homeopathic techniques, can be chosen using the Provider Search tool.