Rev. Janie McDonald remembers watching the Memorial Day parade in Bradford a couple of years ago when she saw a VFW float that had a sign that said, “22 a Day.”
McDonald and her husband, Rev. Matthew McDonald of New Life Fellowship church, didn’t know what the sign meant at the time, but found out later at the Memorial Day ceremony it was referring to the 22 veterans who, on average, commit suicide each day.
That message made Janie McDonald cry, and also resolve to do something about the grim statistic locally by organizing the “Reboot Combat Recovery” course.
The Reboot program, which focuses on helping veterans heal from service-related trauma, will be facilitated by the McDonalds free of charge from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday as well as the same time the following 11 Mondays in the lounge of their church at 50 Sullivan Road in Bradford. Spouses of veterans are also invited to attend the event at the church, which was previously called Foursquare Gospel. Assisting the McDonalds, who completed a four-part training program, will be Brock Byerley, a combat veteran from Bradford. Free meals will be offered with each session.
Janie McDonald, who had been a social worker for more than 25 years, said she found out about the program last winter through a Facebook advertisement for the Reboot program.
The course was created by Dr. Jenny Owens, an occupational therapist and her husband, Evan, at Fort Campbell, Ky. Jenny Owens had been working with combat veterans with physical limitations, when a veteran asked her, “Do you think it’s possible for a soul to die.”
The question inspired Owens to set up a program for the “invisible wounds” suffered by veterans.
“The course itself was founded in 2011, so it’s fairly new,” Janie McDonald explained. “It is a course, it’s not a support group, it’s not therapy … it’s actually a 12-week course.”
She said there is curriculum, some homework, videos and a graduation involved, complete with T-shirts and documents for those who complete the course.
McDonald noted the course does not compete with courses offered by the Veterans Administration or other military organizations, instead it is designed to complement other programs.
“It will address everything from survivor’s guilt to unforgiveness and anger,” she remarked. “Aside from the suicide rate, there is the divorce rate, the unemployment rate and the addiction rate — they’re astronomical in our veteran community. This is designed to address those deeper issues.”
Commenting on the deeper issues, Matthew McDonald explained, “They’re the soul wounds that people have and don’t really want to talk about; I think they have to have a safe environment where they can talk about it and help heal them.”
The program, which is offered in 200 locations, has had 6,000 graduates since 2011 with a high percentage satisfaction rate.
“It is faith-based, you do not have to subscribe to the Christian faith to come along, but that is what it is based on,” Janie McDonald added, noting the program is offered by the church as an outreach ministry. Participants are asked to register online at rebootrecovery.com and can do so until the third week of the program.
