June Is National PTSD Awareness Month - Profiling PTSD United

I first encountered Josh Rizzo when he was tearing up the base paths as a member of the West Point baseball team.  In the intervening years, he has served several deployments and excelled in several post-military careers.  Throughout all of his endeavors, he has remained stalwart in his support of fellow warriors who suffer from the effects of PTSD.  Along with several trusted colleagues, he has founded PTSD United.  When Josh reminded me that June has been declared National PTSD Awareness Month, I told him that I would be honored to make readers of The White Rhino Report aware of the month and of the work of PTSD United in particular.

I encourage you to read the information below, log into their website, and reach out in whatever way you are able to do to stand in support of our brothers and sisters who suffer from PTSD - donate, volunteer, tell your story.

Our Process

Connect. Learn. Heal. Grow. Inspire.

PTSD United, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing resources for sufferers of PTSD, their friends and family, and anyone else interested in learning more about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Our primary method of helping PTSD sufferers is through our free, completely anonymous online social community, which is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week where people can go to connect with others living with PTSD.

On the individual level, we hope to assist in leading members through “Our Process” and proactively addressing the challenges of living with PTSD on a daily basis. Through our online social network and associated charities and resources, members will:

CONNECT with a community full of people just like them

LEARN that they are not alone, discover available resources, and better understand PTSD

HEAL through community interaction, discussion forums, and social support groups

GROW as individuals and eventually feel comfortable sharing their stories and feelings

INSPIRE others to realize that they are not alone, gaining a communal understanding of how
PTSD affects them and learn to guide others to overcome the sometime debilitating aspects

Our Vision

PTSD United, Inc. will work to reduce the stigma of PTSD and ensure 

that PTSD – and more importantly the population suffering from it on a 

daily basis – is given the appropriate attention and support it deserves.

Our Mission

To provide a centralized, anonymous, social community with additional 

resources for people living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, helping 

members to realize that they are not alone in their struggles. With a 

strong support network, this will ultimately be accomplished by the 

members – through the process of Connecting, Learning, Healing, 

Growing, and Inspiring each other.

PTSD United Website

A New York Times #1 Bestseller That Deserves The Status - Mini-Review of "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green

For some reason, I was unaware of the buzz surrounding "The Fault In Our Stars" until last week.  I encountered someone on the subway reading the paperback.  When I asked about the book, she informed me that it had been made into a movie that was about to open, and that it was one of the best books she had read in a long while.  Her praise for the novel was so specific and so effusive that I immediately ordered a copy.

John Green has written a very touching and unsentimental book about two teenagers who choose to live life to the fullest while dancing under the dangling sword of Damocles that is a diagnosis of cancer.  Unlike the cloying "Love Story" of a generation ago, this book captures the heart of a girl and a boy who meet in a cancer support group meeting in a church basement - "The Heart of Jesus."  Their journeys of discovery, exploration, growth, affirmation and acceptance are inspirational without being condescending or cliched.  This is a book with a lot of "metas."  There are metaphors for love and for life and for disease.  There are meta-conversations about "cancer books." And there are the inevitable metastases that hover over each cancer patient like a phantom's shadow..

This book is both heart-breaking and uplifting, and is richly deserving of its current status as a favorite of young readers and older adults alike.

CEnjoy.

Al