We stay busy here at Stack Up, if you can't tell. As we wrap up yet another week of serving our servicemembers through gaming, we hope you'll continue to check out our Supply Crate updates.
Today's update comes from Army Veteran Corey, who wanted a Supply Crate to start a video game group as a form of therapy at the Vet Center where he works:
I am a disabled veteran who was medically retired from the Army after sustaining a serious injury to my lower back during airborne operations. I had graduated and earned my green beret, but shortly after found out how serious my injury was. I had the option to keep going forward with my special forces career and lose my ability to walk in two years time or get medically retired and not lose my ability to walk when it comes time to raise a family. Now I am working for the North Bay Vet Center in Rohnert Park, CA while putting myself through school to get into the medical field. I want to give back and take care of my fellow veterans as best as I can and plan to work for the VA once I am done with school. In the meantime I am working in the Vet Center here as the Outreach Specialist to let veterans know about who we are and what we do. We specialize in mental health counseling for veterans who are battling PTSD and Military Sexual Trauma. We are looking at starting a video game group as a form of therapy due to the studies showing that it helps a great deal with PTSD/MST. The Vet Center falls under the Veterans Health Administration and we are looking to help our veteran community in every way possible. I believe our mission is the exact reason we are a good candidate for the supply crate, helping our veterans community with their PTSD/MST battles. Get them doing something fun and socializing amongst each other. Give them a sense of normalcy and team bonding again. It would help our team tremendously because we need to tailor to every veteran we counsel in every way possible. We do not want anyone to feel left out or like there's no group that is a good fit for them. Upon receiving a supply crate we would start the group in our vet center group room as soon as possible now that we are open to the public again after the pandemic. It is vital that we get our veterans out and socializing again, having fun and enjoying life to the fullest.
Not only does Corey have admirable goals, but it's right in line with our mission at Stack Up. We hope to spread the power of gaming to aid mental health and are eager to help others do so as well. We sent a Supply Crate out to Corey, and he sent us a reply:
Good Morning,
I just wanted to thank you so much. This supply crate is going to help our office and in turn the vets so much. It is allowing us the ability to provide a therapy group to those vets who are more drawn to video games and don’t feel as though the other group options are for them. It is allowing us to better help our vets and give them the chance to socialize more and enjoy life. With the current state of the economy and supply chain shortages it allows us the ability to also provide these consoles to our vets who cannot afford them or even get their hands on one. By having this in our office we can set up multiple group sessions and have multiple veterans play with one another. We have it set up on a projector in the group room to allow for all to see effectively and multiple controllers for multiple participants in the office. It will also allow is the ability to run these sessions virtually and allow vets to participate from their own homes and their own setups if they prefer to do so. That way more veterans can participate. Again, our team cannot thank you and the donors enough!
Kind Regards,
Corey Whelan
This all sounds amazing, and we hope it continues to help the Veterans participating. This is exactly what we want to see happening. If you're thinking of trying something similar with a Veteran hangout, support group, or therapy for Veterans and Active Servicemembers, don't hesitate to check out our Supply Crates page.
WrathofWall sponsored the Supply Crate sent out to Corey to be used at the North Bay Vet Center, and we really urge you to check her twitch channel out as she's been supporting our mission.
What's the Call to Arms? Hit the button below to learn more about how you can support Stack Up and our mission of supporting Veterans through the power of gaming.
