Bringing Together Women Vietnam Veterans
by Donna Buechler, R.N., M.A.
NCP Clinical Quarterly 2(2): Spring, 1992
1969 is a year I will always remember. I spent that year with the United States Air Force as a nurse in Vietnam, and at the time, I was unaware of the impact the war would have on my life. I later came to recognize that the experience had affected me in many ways. Undoubtedly, these experiences in Vietnam strongly motivated me to work with other women veterans when I came to work for Readjustment Counseling Service.
The number of women who served in Vietnam is relatively small, and therapists have consistently experienced problems in getting enough women together in one location to facilitate structured group work and support. The lack of availability of such groups for women has been an ongoing source of frustration to many women veterans and therapists. In an attempt to address this problem I came up with the idea of a "marathon" therapy group, specifically designed for nurses who served in Vietnam. With the approval and support of our Regional Office, I embarked on the process of identifying women who would be intersted in attending such a group.
I was soon to find that this, in and of itself, presented a major challenge. Although many women have made initial contacts with their local vet centers, few seemed interested in engaging in a complete course of treatment. The reasons for this are complex. Resistance could be the result of many problems, including the denial of problems, fear of losing professional stature, isolation from the veteran community, or the failure of the therapist to communicate an understanding and concern for the womans' experience in Vietnam. All of these reasons were among those offered by the thirty women I contacted in the course of setting up the group. Eventually, twelve of the nurses signed up to attend the weekend group, and all but one showed up as scheduled.
Developing a weekend "marathon" therapy group turned out to be a complicated procedure, requiring attention to many details not often associated with regularly scheduled therapy. In this particular case, we had women coming from five states, and we were concerned about the financial impact on the participants, finding adequate lodging, group space, and facilities conductive to both group and individual activities. These problems were resolved by finding a motel with adequate group space within walking distance to the Vet Center. A large part of the financial problem was resolved through the local VFW Post and The Order of the Purple Heart. These veteran organizations covered the entire non-clinical cost of the program, providing the financial support necessary for private rooms and meals for all participants. Without the support of these organizations, it is unlikely that we would have been able to provide the participants with any personal space for reflection, an important component of any marathon. In developing the format of the group, I decided that it was important to have a male, non-veteran, co-facilitator, to offset my personal involvement with the topic and provide a perspective otherwise absent from the group. I spoke personally with each of the group members, preparing them for the experience before they arrived for the weekend. It was essential that each woman had an understanding that it was to be a therapy group, where everyone would, in their own way and in their own time, share some very difficult and painful memories.
The women gatered at the Vet Center at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night, with small group activities lasting until 11:00 p.m. We resumed at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning and continued until 10:30 p.m., with adequate time built in for rest, relaxation, and alone time. Additionally, the co-facilitator and I were available throughout the weekend for emergency consultation. The group resumed on Sunday morning following a breakfast honoring the nurses, sponsored by local veterans organizations. This tribute ended on a very moving note when a wounded Vietnam veteran thanked the nurses for their help during the war and ended his testimony with words taken from Sir Winston Churchill: "never have so many owed so much to so few." Following the breakfast the women met for the final wrap-up, with everyone leaving by noon.
In looking back to that weekend, I continue to be impressed that despite the amount of pain these women carry, they function at very high levels. It saddens me that they believe life can be no happier. Comparing their self-assessments (completed prior to the group) with my own clinical impressions, seven of the nurses meet the clinical criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, and two suffer from partial PTSD (one participant refused to fill out the form). Interestingly, only two of these ten women had ever sought counselng. In spite of the severity of their symptoms, most were employed full-time, and six had completed graduate degrees. The women in this group are representative of the demographics for Vietnam veteran nurses in general. Most of the women are currently in their mid-forties, served in Vietnam as relatively young women, when they were new to their profession, and spent 12 months in Vietnam. Most had attained a higher educational status than their peers and remained employed full-time in nursing. Half were currently married and seven had children.
In general, the group evaluations were very positive, with one point consistently identified as significant: the opportunity to get together with other women who shared a similar experience, understood their feelings and validated their responses. Everyone stated they experienced a closeness in the group that had been lacking in their lives for some time. The majority of the women felt the group was beneficial and were interested in attending another one. In addition, most of the participants stated they would recommend that other women attend a similar group. Follow up with the group members indicated that a number of them, encouraged by the therapeutic support of the marathon, entered into individual or group therapy.
In many respects, the group brought home to me the importance of peer support and validation in recovery from trauma. Furthermore it reinforced the belief that women in need of healing from the war cannot be complete without some type of group experience with other women who served. Why is this so? I'm not sure, but perhaps it's because, when we are with each other, there is the support and understanding of the person as well as "the nurse." When we are with one another we let go of our tendencies to "take care of our patients." We trust one another, are familiar with each others fears and concerns, and understand the commitment and values we were inbued with during our basic nursing education. We know enough about our common experience to break through the barriers ofisolation and denial to foster recognition, acceptance, and untimately, healing forthe woman who has served in a war zone.
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