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Book helps with post-deployment reintegration

Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare distributing it for free

RESOURCE: Clinical psychologist Dr. Gayle Rozantine holds a copy of her book At Ease, Soldier! How to Leave the War Downrange and Feel at Home Again. The book is available for free at Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare in Lakewood. Courtesy photo

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Sometimes it is hard to access help or even ask for it, especially when it comes to matters like PTSD and post-deployment reintegration. Luckily, Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare in Lakewood is trying to help those individuals by distributing free copies of the book At Ease, Soldier! How to Leave the War Downrange and Feel at Home Again (AES).

"More than half of our patient census consists of Servicemembers and their families stationed at the Ft. Stewart (Georgia) Military Complex, which includes Hunter Army Airfield," said author Dr. Gayle Rozantine, a clinical psychologist. "We consider it a privilege to serve those who have sacrificed so much to protect our freedom and to ensure the safety of our family."

So Rozantine began to develop materials that would help those Servicemembers deal with the effects of modern combat and time spent in a war zone. During the process, she collected feedback from the veterans in her care, which helped shape the book.

"They sent us a complimentary copy and we all thought it was excellent," said Joe Rinehart, clinical manager at Greater Lakes. "We wanted to do something to make it available for everyone who might need it."

Though it is a nonprofit organization, Great Lakes used what resources it had available to buy copies of AES books so it could offer them to local active-duty military families at no cost. 

"There is service available in the community for military and military families," Rinehart said. "We are familiar with that community and what they might be going through. Plus you don't need to wait three months to see someone here; we can get you in and start helping almost immediately."

Rozantine is currently revising a companion piece, "The Clinician's Guide to At Ease, Soldier! Theory and Practice," which she co-authored, for clinicians using AES. The guide presents important information for clinicians, as well as a structured 12-session program to help therapists use AES more effectively. The plan is to have the guide published at the start of next year.

"If we have enough interest, we'd love to also put together a group therapy session revolving around the book," Rinehart said. "And if we have to get more books, we'll find a way."

In addition to the books being given away to military families in Lakewood, copies of AES have also been distributed through Operation Homefront Georgia and used in a class for wounded warriors at Fayetteville (North Carolina) State University. For more information, visit www.soldiersathome.com.

To receive a free copy of the book, stop into Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare, located just off of Bridgeport Way at 9330 59th Ave. SW in Lakewood, and simply ask at the front desk.

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