Using Storytelling to Heal Trauma and Bridge the Cultural Divide Between Veterans and Civilians

There is a growing disconnect between the Veteran and civilian communities related to their understanding of war-related trauma, postdeployment reintegration difficulty, and the experience of Memorial Day. A therapeutic way to bridge this divide is through community storytelling. This paper describe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of loss & trauma Vol. 22; no. 8; pp. 669 - 680
Main Authors Mamon, Daria, McDonald, Elise C., Lambert, Jennifer F., Cameron, Amy Y.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 17.11.2017
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Civilians
Community
Memorial Day
military-civilian gap
Personal experiences
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
reintegration
Storytelling
Veterans
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Summary:There is a growing disconnect between the Veteran and civilian communities related to their understanding of war-related trauma, postdeployment reintegration difficulty, and the experience of Memorial Day. A therapeutic way to bridge this divide is through community storytelling. This paper describes a program development project at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center that was created to increase the connection between these communities. Using storytelling, six Veterans shared their personal experiences with a civilian audience in honor of Memorial Day. Qualitative data on the impact of the program is reported, and suggestions for future application and research are discussed.
ISSN:1532-5024
1532-5032
DOI:10.1080/15325024.2017.1382653