Free Couples PTSD Retreat

The National Veterans Wellness and Healing Center in Angel Fire, N.M., will offer free, week-long retreats this summer for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and their spouses.

The retreats, which started on a pilot basis last year, are sponsored by the wellness center and the State of New Mexico Department of Veterans Affairs, but are open to veterans nationwide. Lodging, meals and therapy are provided at no cost in a truly awesome setting, nestled in the Sangre de Cristos Mountains.

The retreat includes individual and couples counseling as well as non-traditional therapies including acupuncture, yoga and massage therapy.

To qualify, veterans must be diagnosed with PTSD, must be in or have been in counseling, and must have been referred by a VA vets center.

For more info you can contact Hoot Gibson, vice president of the wellness center, at (575) 377-1082. You can download an application from the center's website, which also lists retreat dates from this weekend through Sept. 23.

This is the only PTSD treatment center that I know of that includes spouses, something sorely needed. I have an ex-wife who says from her experience wives are the unacknowledged veterans, survivors and victims of -- in her case -- the Vietnam War.