Work related problems may signal other issues
Interviewee1:
I used to work 14-15 hours a day just to keep my mind busy. I went about 25 years doing the same thing over and over and over. Getting fired from this job, fired from that job.
Interviewee2:
I bounced around to about like five different states when I got out not knowing what to do.
Interviewee3:
A lot of conflicts between me and coworkers. It was just tons of conflict. People would get really upset at me for the way I was just...I was like a hard charge. I was always working and the people would feel threatened by that because they think, oh, he's going after my job.
Interviewee4:
I had to work with civilians for the first time and that was challenging. Just little things would set me off that people in my office would do, and I would get so frustrated and I wouldn't know how to figure it out. There were days where I didn't feel I had job satisfaction because I had been out there supporting Marines and I was in this unique job with great opportunities, it just didn't feel as fulfilling as it used to be.
Interviewee5:
When I first came to California, I had a job and a place to stay, and when I got here, the Executive Chef was fired and there was no employment for me. I'm knocking on every single door, “Please help me. Please. I don't want to be homeless. I just graduated and I want a job.”
Interviewee6:
So I ended up working security and I worked for them for five years and after that they laid us off. Sheriff's Department called me and I went to Sheriff's Department and there's just so much, being in law enforcement also, there's so many homicides going on, child molestation going on, I mean things of this nature.
Interviewee1:
It took a lot of years to finally realize that you did have a little something that was bothering you. I was really, really upset with some people and that was when I finally went down to the Denver Vet Center and said, “I need some help.”
Interviewee3:
I didn't know what I could do. But we had gone to the VA Hospital before for other reasons and I had seen all the posters do real warriors ask for help, and stuff like that and I said, “I'll start with a Counselor.” I went to go see a Counselor. He basically set up some goals, he asked me what my goals were and then he just structured them.
Interviewee6:
Therapy is good because like I can talk with her, where in the past I couldn't talk about it. It was something I kept balled up inside myself and it's helping a lot.
Interviewee1:
It made me deal with some things that I obviously hadn't dealt with in 25 years. It come out okay. Knowing that there was so many other guys there that were the same was the biggest thing that there was, because now you know you're not the only one.
Interviewee4:
I got referred to see a couple mental health professionals and we talked. I actually felt, three months after getting out, I felt more like myself than I had in years before.
Interviewee5:
So I was accepted into the CWT Program which I'm so grateful for.
Interviewee7:
They help you with your resume, like interviews...they help practice with interviews. They have programs there where you can go to the computer lab and they do all these programs for you.
Interviewee2:
I'm going through the Vocational Rehabilitation (now known as Veteran Readiness and Employment) Program, which if you're disabled over a certain percent, they'll help out, they'll get you all the materials you need for school.
Interviewee1:
The big thing is I'm happy with who I am now where I wasn't happy with who I was. I believe I'm much calmer now. I don't seem to ruffle so many feathers as I used to.
Interviewee5:
I work with Vet to Vet which is a non-profit organization that's affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs. I am the first female Veteran to have her own cooking classes. I'm a gourmet chef. That's what I went to school for.
Interviewee7:
I'm working full time. I just recently got married and now it's just like, alright, you can do this.
Interviewee3:
You gotta put yourself first and that's what helped me is just saying I gotta put myself first. I really gotta take care of myself, because if I don't take care of myself, I can't take care of anybody.
