Military & Veterans

Who are Military & Veterans?

Whether you're active duty, reserve, or retired, your experiences — from boot camp to deployment to reintegration —

have shaped how you see the world, others, and yourself.

You have served in ways most will never understand

  • You may carry pride, discipline, and strength

  • You may also carry memories, loss, guilt and pain

It’s important to have a space to unpack all of it - without judgement, without pressure

Why is therapy important for Military & Veterans?

Moral Injury

Military culture often emphasizes duty, loyalty, and moral clarity. But real-life situations—war zones, conflicting orders, impossible decisions—can leave you questioning your values, your role, or your worth.

Examples of moral injury in military life:

  • Surviving when others didn’t

  • Being ordered to act in ways that conflict with personal ethics

  • Failing to prevent harm despite best intentions

Therapy offers:

  • Narrative work to reframe and find meaning

  • Self-compassion to reduce shame

  • Support for spiritual and existential repair

Health & Wellness Statistics

Relationships & Divorce

  • Divorce rates for military couples are higher than civilian averages, especially among female service members.

  • Combat deployment increases the risk of marital distress and divorce, particularly in the first year post-deployment.

  • Veterans with PTSD are 60% more likely to experience relationship difficulties, including:

    • Emotional detachment

    • Intimacy challenges

    • Communication breakdowns

Substance Use

  • 11% of veterans meet criteria for a substance use disorder (SUD).

  • Alcohol is the most commonly misused substance among veterans

  • Veterans with PTSD are 2 to 4 times more likely to have a co-occurring SUD.

  • Prescription drug misuse (especially opioids) has been a significant issue:

    • Roughly 1 in 10 veterans report misusing prescription painkillers.

PTSD, Combat Stress & Trauma

Service often involves trauma—whether in combat, training, or military sexual trauma (MST). Common signs include:

  • Flashbacks or nightmares

  • Hypervigilance or being easily triggered

  • Anger, avoidance, or emotional numbness

  • Feeling disconnected from family or civilian life

You don’t have to relive everything in order to heal. Trauma-informed therapy helps you move forward without shame.

Health & Wellness Statistics

Mental Health

  • 1 in 3 veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD, depression, or anxiety.

  • Only about 50% of veterans who need mental health care actually seek it.

  • Military sexual trauma (MST) has been reported by:

    • 1 in 3 women veterans

    • 1 in 50 male veterans

Suicide

  • In 2022, an average of 17 veterans died by suicide each day.

  • Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than civilians.

  • Veterans ages 18–34 have the highest suicide rate among all veteran age groups.

The Culture of Strength

In the military, emotional control is survival. Vulnerability can feel dangerous. Many service members learn early on to compartmentalize emotions in order to function. But when the uniform comes off, the walls built to protect you can start to close in.

Therapy helps:

  • Normalize emotional expression

  • Rebuild trust in self and others

  • Create space to feel—without falling apart

Suicide Risk

Veterans die by suicide at significantly higher rates than civilians.

  • Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general U.S. population

  • For post-9/11 veterans, the rate is even higher

  • Many struggle silently with moral injury, PTSD, depression, and substance use

Therapy provides a SAFE, CONFIDENTIAL space to talk about suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, or what keeps you up at night. You’re not alone, and there are ways through it.

Barriers to Seeking Help:

Military & Veterans often hesitate to seek mental health support because of: 

  • Stigma

  • “Civilians won’t understand what I’ve seen or done”

  • “If I let go of control, I won’t get it back”

  • “I should be stronger than this”

  • “Therapy feels like weakness or failure”

But here’s the truth:

Courage is facing the hardest things—not alone, but with support.

Our Approach to Common Worries:

“I’ve kept this stuff locked up for years. What if opening it up just makes things worse?”

    • Many people carry pain in silence because they fear what will happen if they let it out.
      We use evidence-based trauma therapies such as:

      • CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy)

      • ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)

      • Narrative Therapy and Moral Injury Repair

      • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

      These methods help you process trauma in structured, manageable ways—without reliving everything all at once.

“I’m afraid no therapist will understand the things I’ve seen or done.”

    • You might be right—not everyone will understand. That’s why we prioritize clinician-client fit and offer care tailored to you.

    • It’s important to have a therapist who can handle the weight of your story

What treatment for Military & Veterans looks like at The Center for Healing & Recovery…

  • You choose your pace. You decide what to share.

  • We meet you where you are, not where others think you should be.

  • We honor your story—whether you want to say it out loud or not.

  • No judgment. No assumptions. Just real, grounded support.

Whether you’re working through combat trauma, adjusting to civilian life, or just trying to get through the day—we’re here to walk beside you.