Local Group Aims for PTSD Home
Jan. 9, 2014
A new local group aims to create a healing center for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Ryan Patrick Kennedy House would offer patient-centered holistic inpatient and outpatient care to veterans and their families.
The House will actually include several buildings on a 50-acre site designed by Marlin Design of Traverse City. The group is hoping a supporter might step forward and donate the land needed, envisioning a tranquil facility nestled near water and woods.
Phase I of the project would center around a 10,000-square-foot residence. Other stages would follow as funding becomes available. Operating funds would come from grants and donations, according to Christine Stalsonburg, a Traverse City realtor who serves as CEO of the organization.
“The Ryan Patrick Kennedy House would be a no-fee facility available to any veteran,” explains Stalsonburg, who has two sons serving in the military.
The group surveyed dozens of local veterans to help determine which services were needed.
“It will include space for families to stay, a trail system, service dog training, a garden area, art therapy, massage therapy, acupuncture therapy, exercise therapy, a equestrian center for equine therapy, music therapy, aqua therapy and family coping skills,” adds Stalsonburg.
“PTSD is as old as war,” explains Linda Fletcher, a retired Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army and founder of A Matter of Honor (AMOH), a TC group devoted to educating the public about military PTSD. “This is nothing new…studies show that about 30 percent of those who go to war develop PTSD.”
AMOH is partnering with the Kennedy House project, named after a Chicago-area soldier who enlisted in the Army in 2008. PFC Kennedy served in Afghanistan in 2009-10 before returning stateside where he was stationed in Colorado and began suffering signs of PTSD. Kennedy fatally shot himself in August 2012.
“The warning signs were there, but because he was still active duty, there was much stigma about him getting the help he needed and deserved,” says Stalsonburg, a friend of Kennedy’s mother. “That should never be. When someone reaches out for help, they should get the help they need. It was admitted to the family that Ryan fell through the cracks.”
The group has applied for nonprofit status and so far has raised $10,000 toward its goal of $5 million. A Chicago-area fundraiser is scheduled and a TC event is also anticipated. Donations are currently accepted online.
“Our heroes need our help,” says Stalsonburg. “Every little bit helps.”
On Feb. 11 and 18 Fletcher will teach a class on combat PTSD at Northwestern Michigan College.
“We need places like the Kennedy House all over the country,” she says. “PTSD is an epidemic. We have a massive wave of incredible pain coming at us. It’s estimated that each case of PTSD costs the country $1.2 million to $1.7 million. PTSD reaches out beyond the veteran to his family, his employer, society at large. Its tentacles reach everywhere.”