the BRAIN - Shepherd Center

Photo by Gary Meek
Photo by Leita Cowart
Below: Greg Hutchinson discharged from the
SHARE Initiative at Shepherd Center this past
summer. His treatment team believes he is
prepared to face the challenges ahead. While
in the program, he participated in equestrian
therapy at Chastain Horse Park in Atlanta.
In the SHARE program, soldiers are housed
together near Shepherd – much like they would
be when on active duty – and go through the long
process of healing together. The military-like setup
is part of the reason the program is so effective, Dr.
Kaelin says.
“Wounded soldiers tend to be more comfortable if
they are left in a military environment,” he explains.
“So we house the patients together instead of mixing
them into the civilian patient population. They get to
be around other patients who are in similar situations,
and that helps them in therapy – even informally.”
Greg’s healing began once he realized he could
let his guard down around staff and other patients –
including ones who outranked him, he says.
“You had to practice what you were learning, and
that’s hard to do the first few weeks,” Greg recalls.
“When you’re in the Army, you are taught to always
have your dukes up. Once you figure out that you can
let your hands down and trust people, and that there
were no ranks in the groups, then you could start
healing. I’ve been able to help others go through that
process. Most of us don’t have anyone else. I might
have had experiences in combat and working through
those issues that can help someone else. Or they might
have strategies that can help me. The PTSD – and all
of the emotions – is the hardest thing to get fixed.”
Greg discharged from the SHARE Initiative this
past summer – feeling both eager and apprehensive
about leaving the program. He has no long-term
goals yet. Instead, he focuses on the more immediate
future. He expects to be medically discharged from
the Army soon.
“I’m moving to Wisconsin with an Army buddy
and starting life over there,” Greg says. “It’s a
Catch-22 because I want to get out and go on with
my life so badly, but I also know that this part of my
support will be missing, and that’ll be scary. Every
transition is tough, but the transition out of
Shepherd will be very scary. Being on my own,
where I can’t just go knock on someone’s door and
talk, and have them understand what’s going on,
that’s intimidating.”
Terri Kohn, LPC, Greg’s counselor at Shepherd,
knows, maybe even more than Greg does, just how
far he has come. “He has had several bumps in the
road and will continue to face challenges that might
set him back,” Kohn says. “But he definitely makes
use of the strategies he has learned to get through
the more difficult times.”
It’s a challenge Greg appears prepared to take on
and one he is now better equipped to face.
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