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How To Help a Veteran in Crisis: Veterans Day 2023
Veterans Day is November 11. It is a day for honoring veterans for their service to our country. What does honoring Veterans mean? You may even be confused as to how to celebrate Veterans Day. Celebrating and honoring Veterans requires more than saying, “Thank you for your service.” For example, you could celebrate Veterans Day…
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Caring for Veterans’ Mental Health: Lessons for the Therapy Room
CFR Director of Operation Home & Healing, Dr. Nancy Isserman, serves on the Executive Committee of the Delaware Valley Veterans Consortium (DVVC). This Autumn she is stepping down from the Executive Team due to term limitations. Read on to learn more about the lessons on caring for Veterans’ mental health Dr. Isserman has taken from…
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TBI: Meaning, Importance, and Hope
The Philadelphia Phillies‘ partnership with Team Foster and Warrior Canine Connection to bring a new service pup to the Phillies for training reminds us of the importance of learning about and addressing treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Veterans. TBI was the signature war wound of the Operation Enduring Freedom Afghanistan (OEF) and Operation…
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Supporting the Mental Health of Veterans’ Families
Memorial Day this year is Monday, May 29, 2023. Unlike Veterans Day in November when we honor all who have served, Memorial Day honors all who have died for our country, particularly in battle or from wounds they suffered in battle. So many are impacted by the loss of a loved one who served the United States….
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Combatting Rising Antisemitism & Racism this International Holocaust Memorial Day
Commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day January 27, 2023, is International Holocaust Memorial Day, commemorating the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp is a stark symbol of a 14-year campaign by the Nazis and their collaborators to murder all the Jews in Europe. The day also commemorates…
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TTP Co-Director, Dr. Nancy Isserman, featured on Apartment Therapy: Why Holocaust Descendants Fill Their Homes with Things That Are Hard to Look At
April 28, 2022 | Every spring around Yom Hashoah — a day of remembrance for the estimated 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust — Israeli art entrepreneur Sarah Peguine turns to social media to share a photograph from her late grandfather’s childhood in Belgium that hangs prominently on her wall year-round. It’s a portrait of…
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Reflections on the Holocaust and the War in Ukraine from the Perspective of a Grandchild of Holocaust Survivors
Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is Thursday, April 28, 2022. For several decades, the Transcending Trauma Project (TTP) has been researching the effects of the Holocaust on survivor families. A qualitative research project at Council for Relationships, TTP has interviewed 307 survivors, spouses, children, and grandchildren. TTP’s first book, Transcending Trauma, focused on the…
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Insights on the Aftermath in Afghanistan
The last troops have left Afghanistan, but our work with the fallout from the longest war in U.S. history continues. At Council for Relationships (CFR) our therapists are continuing to see their veteran and veteran-connected family member clients. We know from our own clients and from other veteran service organizations that many veterans are upset…
Read MoreHonoring Our Veterans in 2020
Veterans Day is observed annually on November 11th. It is a day set aside to honor all those who have served our country in any of its wars. Unlike Memorial Day, which is a time to remember those who gave their lives for our country, Veterans Day is, “a celebration to honor America’s veterans for…
Read MoreMemorial Day: Honoring the Dead by Serving the Living
Dr. Nancy Isserman is the Director of Operation Home and Healing: services for Veterans, active military members, and their families. U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. William P. Coleman/RELEASED Memorial Day honors all who have died for our country, particularly in battle or from wounds they suffered in battle. Almost two million people…
Read MoreNancy Isserman in The Meadville Tribune: PTSD in Veterans contributes to depression, substance abuse
February 18, 2018 | Nancy Isserman, Director of Operation Home and Healing, spoke to The Meadville Tribune about the need for accessible, high-quality mental health services for Veterans. “The prevalence of PTSD among the veteran population needs to be confronted because the disorder will often contribute to other issues, including depression and substance abuse. Research shows…
Read MoreA Clinical Perspective on Treatment of Vietnam Veterans
The Vietnam War, a documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick details the “epic story of one of the most controversial events in American history.” In a Washington Post podcast, Ken Burns stated: “I do not think that the Vietnam War is over…all wars are fought twice; on the battlefield and in our memory…we’re…
Read MoreI Have A Message for You: Holocaust Survivors Recount Messages from their Parents
In the video, “I Have A Message for You,” Klara, who survived the Holocaust as a young French woman hidden in Belgium, narrates a powerful story about her father and the impact of parental messages on survivors. Klara, her father, and her boyfriend were on a train on their way to Auschwitz. Her father was…
Read MoreSupporting the veteran community this Memorial Day
Dr. Nancy Isserman, MSW, PhD is the director of Operation Home and Healing (OHH). This month we observe Memorial Day. Most people, myself included, don’t stop to think about what Memorial Day is and how Memorial Day connects us to the over 300,000 veterans and their families in the Delaware Valley. In our current culture,…
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Positive Child-Parent Bonds Lead to More Positive Caregiving for Aging Survivors
Last week we observed Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year marks the 70th Anniversary of the liberation by the Allied Armies of the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps. To mark this day we are sharing observations made by the Transcending Trauma Project (TTP) team from the interview statements of survivors explaining how the experience of the…
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