Our Mission
To provide advocacy, support, and innovative, experiential recreational and wellness programs and reintegration retreats, projects and services for military family members and veterans.
History & Purpose
The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families was founded in 2007 by current Executive Director Stacy Bannerman and military family members of troops who had served or were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and veterans. Recognizing that military families and veterans needed resources outside of military command, and a voice in the public conversation and political dialogue, we mobilized into volunteer peer support networks and created ad hoc advocacy groups to promote specific issues and legislation. Through the early stages of development, the project helped bring to the forefront the issues facing military families and returning veterans, with a particular focus on the forgotten veterans e.g. women and the Guard/Reserve.
After years of bearing the burdens of the war at home, advocating for our troops, and caring for our veterans, we became worried about the toll the war was taking on the families left behind, particularly the wives of combat veterans.
We were also increasingly concerned with the lack of services and support for women veterans, and the escalating rates of military sexual abuse. We were troubled by the fractures in military families; the physical, psychological, career, family, and financial stress – and distress – that combat deployments create for military wives; and alarmed at the rapid rise of domestic violence suffered by the women who love veterans.
There are a lot of veterans, pundits, and politicians talking about the wars, and how better to care for the troops who have been deployed, but virtually all of them are male. None of them are veterans of the war at home, or caring for a combat veteran of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Very few are one of America’s forgotten women veterans, struggling to have their service and post-service needs recognized and addressed. Women veterans and wives of combat veterans, and the issues they face, have been mostly invisible.
The Sanctuary for Veterans & Families helps the women who serve and sacrifice on behalf of the United States Armed Services claim their rightful place in the conversation about the human costs of war, and provides them refuge and support, whether their duty was on the home front or on the front lines.
Our Goals
- Direct Support and Services: To provide Sanctuary WeekendsTM for veterans and military family members dealing with the strain of deployment(s), and the trauma of war.
- Research and Education: To conduct research on the psychological impact of combat in women veterans and military families and publish and disseminate findings. Provide education, training, and multimedia materials for affected individuals, communities, caregivers, stakeholders and the general public.
- Policy and Advocacy: To advocate on behalf of veterans and military families and promote policies for improved prevention, care, and treatment of the invisible wounds of war, including: secondary trauma in military family members, caregiver burden in wives of combat veterans, and military sexual trauma in women veterans.
Founder & Director
Stacy L. Bannerman, M.S., founder and director, has been deeply engaged in the non-profit and education arenas for nearly 20 years as an executive and consultant. She has created numerous flagship programs for women, including a Continuing Care project for women offenders that resulted in less than 10% recidivism after three years of programming; a project to prevent and address domestic violence in female minority populations; an HIV/AIDS outreach and education program for African-American women; and the innovative Sanctuary Weekend™ series of retreats for women veterans, wives of combat veterans, and caretakers of disabled veterans.
In 2006, she testified before the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs; in 2008 she testified before the House Veterans Affairs Sub-Committee on Health on the Mental Health Impacts of Deployment on Families of Iraq War Veterans; and in 2009, Stacy provided testimony to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel. In 2010, Ms. Bannerman provided testimony to the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity in support of the bill she championed, the Military Family Leave Act of 2009, delivered a presentation for the country’s first-ever Military Family Advisory Council to the Oregon State Legislature, and attended the Military Spouse Summit at the invitation of the Congressional Military Family Caucus.
Ms. Bannerman is a Blue Star wife, author of the book, When the War Came Home (Continuum Publishing, 2006), and nationally recognized expert on military families and veterans affairs. She has met with over 80 Senators and Congressmen, calling for improved veteran and family benefits, and comprehensive post-combat mental health care, and is a powerful speaker on effects of war on the families left behind, and the post-combat issues facing veterans and their spouses and children.
The Sanctuary WeekendTM Team
Susan Avila-Smith is the founder of Vet WOW (Women Organizing Women: Veteran Advocacy for Women Who Served in the Military) http://www.vetwow.com, and her focus is peer mentoring, education, and support for military women, and helping victims of military rape or trauma obtain needed medical and psychological care, and VA benefits. Fourteen years, and more than 1500 clients later, she continues to educate the public and politicians while at the same time advocating for VA benefits for survivors of Military Sexual Trauma (MST). She served in the US ARMY as a Chinese linguist for four years, experienced multiple traumas, and found the system to be broken.
Amber Elizabeth Gray, MPH, MA, LPCC, ADTR, NCC, Ph.D. Candidate, Restorative Resources/Trauma Resources International has worked with survivors of civilian war trauma and combat stress for many years. As one of her contracts, Ms. Gray established the Trauma & Resiliency Program for the Raven Drum Foundation. She has also established treatment programs for victims of war, torture, and violence around the world, most recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Port au Prince, Haiti. Under Ms. Gray’s leadership, these programs have provided multi-modal, comprehensive services for survivors of traumatic events. She has worked as a clinician, program director, trainer and consultant for over 12 years serving survivors of political torture and violence, war, and combat, and as a health professional in post conflict environments since 1985. She is a licensed mental health professional, a registered dance movement therapist, and a public health professional. Amber integrates movement, mindfulness practice, and drumming into the therapeutic process.
Sara Rich, MSW Ms. Rich received her Master’s degree in Social Work from Portland State University, and is a social worker and family therapist in private practice. She has served as a Chaplain at Unity of the Valley for two years, and serves on the Trauma Healing Project board of directors. Sara is perhaps best known as the mother of Army Specialist Suzanne Swift, who was court marshaled after refusing redeployment to Iraq. Specialist Swift served in Iraq from February 2004- February 2005 with the 66th Military Police Co. based in Fort Lewis, Washington. Spec. Swift faced up to a year in prison, and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Military Sexual Trauma. Legal appeals followed, and Ms. Rich has been an advocate for her daughter and others nationwide. Her story has appeared in The New York Times magazine, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Tammara Rosenleaf, M.A. received her Master’s from Antioch University, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies/History, and minors in Psychology, Secondary Education, Social Work, Political Science, and Religious Studies. She has decades of experience in social work and advocacy for military families and veterans that includes work as a case manager for severely disabled mentally ill (SDMI), the developmentally disabled (DD), and veterans. The wife of an Iraq war combat veteran, her family has a long history of military service. Tammara’s personal experience with and knowledge of the signs and symptoms of TBI, PTSD, secondary PTSD, and the intergenerational effects of combat-related trauma, coupled with her professional expertise, compelled Ms. Rosenleaf to become one of the first and few military family advocates for services for spouses and disabled veterans, their caregivers, and families. Recognizing that America’s support for the troops typically ignores the effects of combat deployments on military families, she has developed a proven case style to remove systemic barriers to mental health care for our veterans and families. Tammara provides peer mentoring, support, and coaching on how disabled veterans and their caregivers can employ this method, thereby empowering them to be their own best case managers, or to effectively advocate for themselves with the DOD and VA staff assigned to their case.
Peace may exceed our grasp, but sanctuary is in our hands.
