Episcopal chaplains address healing from trauma

The people in the best position to help heal the warriors, are wounded warriors themselves. They get it. They suffered from it. They understand the needs because they had the same needs. Above all, they stand as an example that PTSD does not have to be the end of anything. It very well can be a new beginning.

Most veterans will say, "I just want to go back to the way I was." Families wish the same thing. The truth is this is impossible. No one is ever the same because every event in a human's life goes into "who" they are the next day. We all change. For veterans of combat, it is not just one traumatic event but many of them feeding off others. While they can never return to the same understanding, beliefs, reactions, hold the same hopes and dreams or have the same level of faith, they can grow from their experiences and be better than they were before.

Chaplain Packard is the kind of example the veterans need as well as anyone else trying to heal from traumatic events. A struggle with faith does not mean there is no faith at all. A struggle to recover from the traumas of war can mean a better person because of the steps taken to heal.

Episcopal chaplains address healing from trauma, honor Bishop George Packard
By Val Hymes, January 29, 2010

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal chaplains gathered in Washington, D.C. Jan. 19-23 for a Federal Ministries Conference to explore "Healing from Trauma, a Journey into the Holy," hearing from theologians, victims of tragedy, disaster experts, a chaplain on the ground in Afghanistan and two chaplain families dealing with the pain of war.

The also met to honor their boss, Bishop Suffragan of Federal Ministries George E. Packard, as he prepares to retire in May.

The chaplains shared their stories of how they have tried to heal the wounded in spirit from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and those fighting and injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They told of how their own lives were damaged, how they coped and worked to heal, where God was, and where they are now.

The conference included an afternoon and evening at Washington National Cathedral for the 70 chaplains and their spouses. There they examined their spiritual journeys in relation to God and the tragedies of the decade, visited the War Memorial Chapel and celebrated Eucharist at the high altar.

Packard has served as head of military, federal hospital and prison chaplains since 2000. No stranger to trauma, he served in Vietnam as an infantry officer, earning medals and coming home with post-traumatic stress disorder. He stayed in the reserves while attending seminary. After his ordination in 1974, he became an Army Reserves chaplain and served in Egypt and during the Gulf War at the Pentagon. As bishop, he has traveled to Iraq and Kuwait to counsel and pray with his chaplains on the ground.
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http://www.episcopal-life.org/81799_118996_ENG_HTM.htm