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Resources For Veterans
We wish to welcome veterans to Winona State University and to thank you for your service to our country. Over the past few years, WSU has welcomed many veterans back from active duty, plus we have students who are currently in the military. We value the maturity, leadership, dedication and responsibility you bring to our campus, and we honor the sacrifices you have made. The transition from soldier to civilian and from soldier to student is huge. For some of you this transition happened quite smoothly, for others it may be a struggle. It is important to remember that homecoming is a process and not a one-time event. So please give yourself time to make this transition and exercise patience in the meantime. All veterans, like all students, are highly individual and adjust to college in their own way. However, we have found some commonalities among returning veterans. Veteran students most often find it strange, and possibly alienating, being in an environment where most everyone else is going through the everyday motions of life, while you have had a life-changing experience to which most cannot relate. While you were gone relationships may have changed, or previous friends may have moved away from Winona. While in the military you learned battlefield skills that were essential to life in combat, but which can cause misunderstanding and frustration here. You may find you need to relearn who and how to trust, how to feel safe, how to relax, how to express emotions, and how to focus on and find meaning in things that are not life and death decisions. You almost certainly will find that the day-to-day life at college does not match the high levels of the adrenaline of war. Some veterans find this very mundane until they are further along in the transition home, and others welcome it. Also, some veterans find the total number of daily decisions overwhelming. Granted, the consequences of decisions made while a soldier are vast, the total number of decisions can be quite small compared to civilian life. And, of course, it may take some time to develop an identity beyond “soldier.” While all returning veterans experience a transition, some also experience combat stress in various forms. Studies by the US Army Mental Health Advisory Team suggest that somewhere between 11 and 17% of returning soldiers will experience acute stress in the form of depression, anxiety or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These emotional and cognitive difficulties can interfere with one’s ability to concentrate and succeed academically. Often these students feel alienated from their community and question the value of school. While some form of combat stress is likely immediately upon return, if, after three months, you find symptoms are intensifying instead of diminishing, effects of the war are interfering with your relationships or academic success, you are self-medicating with drugs or alcohol to numb negative emotions, you are experiencing thoughts of suicide, or you continue to re-experience events from the war, a consultation with a professional is highly recommended. Experiencing combat stress or PTSD is not a sign of weakness, but rather is a normal set of reactions to the experience of war. However, when these feelings or reactions are not dealt with, they can lead to difficulties in readjusting to community life or the life of a student. Some signs of combat stress include:
We offer the following self-care checklist with hopes that it may help ease the transition.
It is our goal at WSU to ease this transition by providing support, available resources, and a safe and welcoming environment. It is in recognition of the multiple challenges and stressors facing veterans that the following list of resources is offered.
Veteran Resources
WSU Resources
Winona Resources
MN Resources
Educational Resources
National ResourcesThe following list of links is for your educational purposes. This is certainly not an exhaustive list, nor are the sites maintained by the Counseling Center. We attempt to choose high quality sites, but cannot guarantee the information on these sites.
Last Modified: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:51 by Eric Busch |
