Training, not therapy, as a solution for PTSD

After being medically retired from the Navy in 2015, Christine Conley needed a purpose.

It took her a few years but she found her purpose, joy and a rewarding career all in one. Conley participated in Boulder Crest Foundation’s unique treatment program for veterans and first responders who are dealing with severe post-traumatic stress disorder or combat-related stress.

PATHH (Progressive and Alternative Training for Healing Heroes) is a thorough training program that takes groups of six to eight through an 18-month process that has yielded dramatic results. Thousands of veterans and first responders have gone through the program at its 37-acre retreat in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia or another one on 130 acres in Arizona’s Coronado National Forest.

Conley, a single mom with a teen-age daughter named Keegan, says the return from her last deployment to Afghanistan was a turning point.

“When I was struggling badly, she was the one who looked at me and said, ‘You're here, but my mom never came back.’ That was a wake-up call.”

Her challenge began with an RPG blast. Conley suffered brain, shoulder and leg injuries, in addition to PTSD. She underwent 12 surgeries in all.

Still, she needed something other than pills. Various therapies didn’t work either. She needed training on how to overcome her PTSD.

“I had to take a good hard, look at myself,” said Conley, who is finishing up her 18-month program but now works as a guide at Boulder Crest’s site in Virginia. “I had to make a mindset shift and that definitely happened. I know what life is like without taking care of myself, without making sure that I am doing the practices that we teach here. And I know what life is like with those practices. I've had that experience for a year. And I know that I'd much rather be on the side with it than without it.”

Students begin with their journey as strangers. They pack their bags, say goodbye to family and friends and dive into a weeklong session that trains them on how to process the baggage that is dragging them down. Throughout the 18-month period class members stay together virtually as a unit, continuing to learn and bond with each other.

Dusty Baxley, executive director and master PATHH guide, emphasized the environment and the common thread that unites the students and staff. “We’re all walking the same path. We understand one another and what we’re all dealing with. They can disclose to one another the shared experiences. But it’s not the experience itself, it’s the shared struggle.”

Baxley, a retired U.S. Army Ranger, explained that the introductory week is designed to start the participants down the path and the 18-month program allows them to fully complete the journey.

“What we’ve set up here is this safe and trusted environment,” he said. “We’re not therapists. What happens here, stays here. There are no recordings and there are no records. We’re here to come together and form a new team.”

The program is training, not therapy, emphasizes David Brayden, director of programs for Boulder Crest Virginia. After all, it took years for the PTSD to take hold.

“The importance of the program is not just something that happened to you over a day or weekend,” says Brayden, a retired Navy SEAL. “It’s going to take time, work and personal effort to get through and ultimately see change in the person, and make that change lasting. This isn’t something where you go hunting for the weekend, feel good and then go home with no follow up. If they commit to the program, there are going to be many proven benefits.”

Oftentimes, participants are angry or unsure of what to expect as they begin the program. But in just a few days, they open up, exchange warm embraces and solidify their newfound brother- or sisterhood.

During the week, there are 30 wellness practices including peer-to-peer role playing, a bonfire where personal stories are shared, a songwriting exercise and an hour-long hike along the Appalachian Trail.

“The expectation we have for the students as they depart Boulder Crest and start on their 18-month journey is that they stay engaged in the course,” Brayden said. “It’s laid out from week one to the last week. They are doing the work and don’t let up on it and stay connected with their team. If they do that, they will be immensely successful in their lives going forward.”

The role playing is part of the relationships and communications module. Several days into their time at the camp, each student identifies a loved one they will speak with upon their return home and then practices that conversation face-to-face with another student as the class looks on.

“It helps them build up as they prepare to go back home and prepare for difficult conversations with loved ones, friends and important people in their lives,” Brayden explained. “This really gives them the opportunity to think about how they are going to address their family, their loved ones, friends and relatives and do it with confidence.”

That was among the key moments for Conley in her emergence from the grips of PTSD. During her training, she envisioned and practiced the conversation she would have with her daughter.

Conley practiced what she would say, how she would react and even the location, near the ocean where they lived in Virginia Beach.

“I had been working on our relationship, but I was trying to make up for the guilt that I was feeling instead of actually just sitting back, listening, trying to be empathetic and putting myself into her shoes,” she says. “I did that module with her and that started an entirely different verse of our relationship. I had a much more healthy relationship. I owned it. I apologized. Life is not perfect, but our relationship is fantastic.”

And her growth has enabled her to help others in her role at Boulder Crest. Among them is Anthony Mazzariello, a Marine Corps veteran and emergency medical technician with the New York Fire Department. His experience on 9/11 with the NYFD is what led him to Boulder Crest as part of a class that met in August.

“It was an opportunity that I didn’t think was worth passing up,” said the 24-year veteran of the NYFD. “I reached a point in my life where I needed help. I was desperate enough to find new ways of dealing.”

Conley and the other guides are critical in the healing of the students.

“Boulder Crest is different than other programs because it is not a therapy, it is instruction in practice by people who have walked in your shoes before,” Mazzariello said. “Speaking with any counselor here, there is a trust we give to them. They are as close to understanding how you feel inside as anyone you can possibly think of because they have walked that path. They are on that path, a little ahead of you. And they are there for you.”

Mazzariello said the counseling exercise will help him connect better with his wife.

“My time here at Boulder Crest has given me the tools I need. How I use them properly is completely up to me. My focus of being here is to reconnect with my wife,” he said, noting the couple recently relocated to Myrtle Beach from NYC. “The move has been great. I’ve gotten to know her again, but I need her to get to know me.”

As Mazzariello and his classmates continue their progression, Conley is helping others and finishing up her 18-month training. But she’s already changed and grateful.

“I almost became a statistic. And if it wasn't for my daughter, I might've actually become one.”

To learn more about Boulder Crest, visit www.bouldercrestretreat.org.