MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — This Saturday is Veteran's Day, and groups are using this week to help raise awareness about post-traumatic stress.
It's a serious issue facing too many of our veterans. Sadly, statistics show every day, 22 veterans lose their battle to PTSD. A nonprofit called 22 ZERO is working to get that number to zero.
Tia May's life was changed because of the group. She's now a volunteer.
Up until the last year, May didn’t know what peace felt like. She spent years battling different traumas from her childhood to her time in the Army. She served from 2001 to 2004.
"At one point I was on 12 medications with the VA," May said.
She said nothing would help, until she discovered 22ZERO.
"When you see someone that scores an 80 on a trauma screens, and go down to 10 and below, and not have those triggers and reactions — That’s huge!" 22Zero's Executive Director, Dr. Pamela Arnell, said.
Dr. Arnell is the nonprofit's Executive Director. She says Tia is a testament to how well their program works, which is geared towards veterans and first responders.
"We are a peer to peer program," Dr. Arnell said.
In these sessions, those struggling with PTSD don’t speak about the trauma they've experienced. Instead, they're given resiliency skills to bounce back from trauma or from negative emotions. She said it's basically retraining their brain.
"The best part about going through the session it gives you the tools moving forward to combat things. My session only took an hour, and from the day forward my entire life has been completely changed in every way possible. Their session was able to attack 40 years all at one time, which is absolutely amazing. You don’t have to discuss any details," 22ZERO Volunteer Tia May said.
Tia has found purpose again thanks to 22ZERO, and she hopes others struggling with PTSD will too.
22ZERO's services are free to first responders and veterans.
