The Dog House Helps Vets With PTSD

Blackdog Foundation is a self funded veteran outreach that deals with the most unpleasant aspects of PTSD such as domestic/community violence intervention and mediation.

Marine Phil Northcutt in Iraq, he's one of many who suffer from PTSD but found resources to help put their lives back on track. The Black Dog Foundation does this each day.

(OLYMPIA, Wash. ) - I started using the 38ft LCPL (WWII landing craft) my wife bought me to get Blackdog Foundation (Blackdog is a 501c3 set up to help veterans) out of her spare bedroom I was using as an office. From the first time we used it, it blew me away how much peace using the boat brought those I was working with on PTSD issues.

Whenever you’re working with those under stress you must wait for them to be ready to open up before any ground is gained in healing. They can run through the gambit of things to avoid talking about the real pains. So some vets will give a curtsy list of non important issues to avoid the other.

In some quarters like community services, the VA and most others there is an appointment made for a certain time, and you must show up early. Then you wait in an unpleasant atmosphere surrounded by those holding their gloom in their faces, waiting, and waiting. Then your name is called and you are expected to bark out your deepest fears on command to beat the clock before you hear: next!

The responses are so different on the doghouse (the LCPL ) from the moment someone sets foot on the boat there are questions about it, does it run, have you seen whales, can we…. ?

The sounds of the water slapping gently against the sides of the boat, the voices of the gulls talking with each other, even an occasional seal barking, cause a flow of communication. As the doors open to their thoughts it becomes a natural shift in their new comfort to feeling safe enough to pour forth their deepest emotions. That’s when the healing starts with laughter at the tiny bubbles.

Tiny bubbles are what I call that left over effect from releasing emotion, the silly giggle of relief and the little bubbles at the end of your nose. We wipe them away and feel no shame by them.

Well as all things that work, you try to duplicate positive results by repeating the process right? Well with boats there is only one truth, I was told by an old sailor, they, boats that is, spend their entire life and yours trying to sink!

Thanks to the kindness of a fellow veteran seeing our purpose with the boat decided to make us a deal we could not pass up. Our friend gave us a 27 ft Chris craft to take veterans and their families out fishing cruising and crabbing. Boy did we do just that, we went on a three hour tour with several kids and others. Just like the T.V. with the captain and Gilligan show, it turned into many more hours than planned after running out of gas.

After being rescued, like I said many hours later, and all were safe. I was amazed that no one at all got upset during our drifting, there were so many jokes thrown at the staff all we could do was laugh.

The catch 22 in any successful endeavor is there are things you learn that aren’t so great, like the part about boats always trying to sink. Finding that we did have some leaks, we took the boat to Swan Town in Olympia to work on it and get back into service for the veteran outreach program. Not being informed of our options on how to house the boat for the repairs, we got our number two boat ready to sail but as we went to see about putting it back in the water we were told we could not do it till paid in full. That would seem fair but to not let us move the boat means we are held hostage to guarantee them constant increases in our fee.

Blackdog Foundation is a self funded veteran outreach that deals with the most unpleasant aspects of PTSD such as domestic/community violence intervention and mediation. We give support and intervention to those threatened by meth and other negative aspects of that culture in our community.

We do all this by peer accountability; those that have served are likely to keep serving our country and communities if given the opportunity to do so. So we at Blackdog try to give them all the chance to help not just those feeling squared away, but also those that have only a soft grip on just one corner.

Any veterans needing PTSD reduction or anyone with ideas on how to help the Foundation will be cherished.

To learn more, visit: Blackdogfoundation.org