#Middlebury #Veterans #REACH #BuddyCheck
VETERANS POST
By Freddy Groves
The holidays will be here soon, and not all of us will do well with getting through that time of the year. Whether it’s the pressures of the social aspects of the season or financial worries or we’re just not feelin’ it, sometimes it’s all just a bit much. But we’re not alone.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a website loaded with resources to help with all kinds of concerns. Go to www.va.gov/REACH/challenges and scroll down to view the categories, such as life transitions, health challenges, feelings of depression and many more. Select up to three statements that describe what you’re going through (examples are “I don’t care about the things I used to care about” and “I don’t have anyone I can ask for help”), then click the “All Done” button at the bottom.
What you get is a page of resources tailor-made for you. Start working your way through all of them. The bottom line is that if you need support, the help is there. You’re not alone. Sometimes the VA does things perfectly, and this website of resources is one of those.
On the flip side of the coin, perhaps you’re doing extremely well and want to connect with fellow veterans who might need a bit of help. Buddy Check is a program that connects veterans. You’ll take some short peer-to-peer training (a 34-minute video) and then pledge to reach out to 10 veterans. Although there is an official Buddy Check Week, there is no reason you can’t reach out at other times of the year – especially now with the holidays coming up.
Check out Together We Served, a.k.a. the Buddy Finder (www.togetherweserved.com), to hunt for veterans you served with, and reconnect with them. At this writing, the site has over 2 million veterans who’ve registered their profiles to make contact with other veterans. Together We Served also has a Facebook page, as well as an app on Google Play and the App Store.
© 2024 King Features Synd., Inc.
