Veterans with PTSD find relief in beekeeping
Gently lifting canada goose outlet black friday a wooden frame containing dozens of Italian honeybees, Vince Ylitalo seemed transfixed as he canada goose outlet and several other veterans inspected the buzzing insects.
is really cool, canada goose outlet locations he said, pointing to a bee with blobs of orange pollen on its hind legs.
Ylitalo, who has battled PTSD after serving nearly 40 years in the military including two tours in Iraq, didn seem bothered by the bees swarming around his head or crawling all over the entrance to their hive. Instead, the 57 year old logistics expert said the several hours spent working on the two hives each week at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire was a respite of sorts from his anxiety and canada goose outlet niagara falls depression. Known as an apiary, the hives are located next to a lilac garden off a busy street.
in this program to help me get out of the thought process of all those problems that I have, said Ylitalo, who has struggled since leaving the canada goose retailers uk Army in 2017. helps me canada goose outlet los angeles think of something completely different. I just thinking about bees. are beginning to study whether beekeeping has therapeutic benefits. For now, there is little hard data, but veterans in programs like the one in Manchester insist that it helps them canada goose down jacket uk focus, relax and become more productive. The programs are part of a small but growing effort by Veterans Affairs and veteran groups to promote the training of soldiers in farming and other agricultural careers.
Standing near Ylitalo in her white bee canada goose coats on sale suit, Army veteran Wendi Zimmermann said bees canada goose uk customer service have helped her deal with the anxiety she feels outside her home even though she initially feared being stung. She and Ylitalo are among 12 veterans that have taken part in beekeeping since canada goose outlet real the program started in May.
gives you a chance to shut down and not think about the outside world. It shows me there is a way to shut my brain down to get other things accomplished, Zimmermann said. my mind would be filled with thoughts constantly and I wasn accomplishing daily tasks. some of the programs are geared to giving soldiers the skills to become farmers and commercial beekeepers, others aim to address the challenges facing those returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq with brain injuries, post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. The programs are careful to say that beekeeping is just one of several benefits that could help a troubled veteran.
anecdotes we have heard are fantastic, said Alicia Semiatin, who heads the mental health program in Manchester. find that it is really something that they benefit from at the time they are doing the beekeeping and the benefits seem to be carrying over not only for days but weeks afterward. What more could you ask for from treatment than something to that degree? stories have been heard from beekeeping programs from Brockton, Mass., to Reno, Nev. Those running the programs said there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that beekeeping is making a difference for those who spend time managing hives and harvesting honey. Beekeeping gives them a sense of purpose, helps them relax and allows them to block out dark thoughts, they said.
affords us the opportunity to really kind of engage in a different way with canada goose outlet the natural world, said Adam Ingrao, a fourth generation soldier who runs Heroes to Hives through Michigan State canada goose outlet us University Extension. not thinking about what happened in Afghanistan or Iraq. You thinking about what happening right here, right now. is providing space to Heroes to Hives at Henry Ford old farm near Ann Arbor. The free program provides a nine month beekeeping course to veterans, about 80 percent of whom have a disability.
In Reno, Ginger Fenwick started Bees4Vets with her husband, Daniel, in 2018 after spotting a 1919 pamphlet written by the government that advocated canada goose outlet new york city beekeeping for veterans returning from World War I with shell shock. Bees4Vets trains 10 veterans a year to manage some of its roughly 30 hives at the canada goose factory outlet vancouver agricultural experiment station at the University of Nevada, Reno and resident backyards in canada goose montebello uk nearby Sparks.
Inspired by concerns about high levels of suicide among veterans, the program focuses on those with PTSD or traumatic brain injuries from Nevada and northern California. It also has teamed up with a University of Nevada, Reno professor who studies PTSD to research canada goose factory outlet toronto location whether beekeeping is helping https://www.kabbalah-arizal.nl veterans. If a majority shows improvement, the program plans to study why and how and whether beekeeping could be helping.
At the University of Minnesota, Rebecca Masterman runs its bee canada goose outlet squad. One of its programs works with veterans who manage 18 hives on the grounds of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. She said the program main goal is to expose veterans to beekeeping, though it also promotes the therapeutic benefits of working with bees. She was cautious, however, about commenting on whether it could be treatment for veterans with PTSD.
know that beekeeping is an amazing experience, said Masterman, whose program is seeking funding to study its impact on veterans with PTSD. at the same time, we not trying to do therapy without setting up an actual program that would specifically do therapy.