Overview:

Jamie Lusch/Mail Tribune

Our programs and services facilitate family reunification and promote military spouse/child/veteran wellness by providing peer support, psycho education, family friendly and developmentally appropriate activities, experiential education, ecotherapy, and practical tools and training in self-care techniques for:

• Better understanding post-combat stress in returning troops;
• Practical information about how having a veteran in the household impacts family members;
• Methods for identifying, managing, and reducing stress responses and anxiety in both the veteran and the military spouse utilizing traditional and complementary therapies;
• Learning realistic skills for dealing with the battles that begin when the war comes home from other military family members and veterans.

These low tech, high touch programs were developed by military family members and veterans who possess a unique combination of professional expertise and credentials as well as significant personal experience in working with the military and veteran community.  Services are specifically tailored to assist military family members during deployment, and allow them and their veterans to get to the heart of homecoming issues.  We offer individual and group support in safe, confidential settings that are oriented toward a family systems model while providing specific programs and sessions for each of the affected populations.

SVF Projects & Services:

Blue Star Brunch
Camp Howdy for Military Kids
Equine Therapy for Disabled Veterans and Their Caregivers
Sanctuary Weekends™
Referrals: We field requests for assistance from military family members and veterans seeking referrals, peer support, legal or financial assistance, help with veteran interpersonal violence, military sexual assault, mental health counseling outside of command, and other issues.

Advocacy:

• Spearheaded introduction and passage of the Oregon State Military Family Leave Act.
• Secured sponsorship of the federal Military Family Leave Act of 2009.
• Drafted the Military Family Mental Health Care Act of 2010.
• Deliver proposal to Joint Committees for America’s first state Military Family Advisory Council (MCAP).
• Provided testimony to nine US Congressional and state legislative committees.
• Participated in first-ever Military Spouse Summit in Washington D.C., at the invitation of the Congressional Military Family Caucus.

About the Sanctuary Weekend™

We provide Sanctuary Weekend™ retreats for Women Veterans, Wives of Combat Veterans, Caregivers of Disabled Veterans, and Guard/Reserve Families.  The weekend wellness and reintegration retreats are tailored to each population, and designed to facilitate readjustment, provide respite and recreation, and promote physical and psychological wellness by improving stress management and self-care skills in a safe, nurturing, rural environment.  Sanctuary Weekend™ retreats include eco- and equine-therapy, outdoor activities, psychoeducation, tools to reduce stress and anxiety, and peer support and mentoring.

Women veterans connect at Sanctuary Weekend.

Women who went to a Sanctuary Weekend said:

“This retreat would have given me a reason to live in my first year after deployment.  You could potentially save a vet’s life by bringing them to a Sanctuary Weekend for Women Veterans retreat in the first year.” – OIF Woman veteran

“My husband stated, ‘WOW, something happened over the weekend, you are relaxed and I don’t know how to describe it.  It’s like you found yourself.’”

“I feel connected in a way I have not experienced prior to the military.”