National Mental Health Awareness on the Hill

This week was amazing in so many ways.  I stepped out of my comfort zone once again and shared my story in the Cannon Office Building on Capitol Hill Thursday morning.  Every time I think about these 3 days, I just can't believe it all went so well.  I also can't believe that I am beginning to very much enjoy public speaking.  That is something I never thought I would say!

I am so exhausted right now, but my mind is spinning with so many different directions I want to take this blog.  I think for this one I am mostly going to share the link to my blog post about the event that I wrote on the AW2 blog.  You can find that post here http://aw2.armylive.dodlive.mil/2011/05/giving-a-voice-to-post-traumatic-stress-on-capitol-hill/ 

The other thing I want to say is how excited I am to see our military leaders and some of our Members of Congress truly reaching out and trying to help make a difference in the lives of those affected by mental illness, especially our service members and veteran's suffering from the invisible wounds.

The panel I was part of included some amazing people, Gen Chiarelli, BG Williams, Col Gadson, SGM Gallagher, and fellow spouse Sherri Hall.  They all shared very personal accounts and it was clear how passionate they are for families like ours.  What a renewal this gave me in my desire to advocate for other families caring for a loved one with invisible wounds.  At one point, Gen Chiarelli actually apologized to me for calling them the invisible wounds, because he knows that to those who love someone with these types of wounds, they are visible.

I'm so tired so I'm going to end this blog now.  Please check out my post on the AW2 blog linked to above and feel free to comment!  There will definitely be more to come in the next few days about this trip!

General Chiarelli and myself at the end of the event.  It was truly an honor to meet him!

Even Now.......Gina