There & Back Again
"Navigating Life After War"
About Us
There & Back Again is a non-profit, privately funded reintergration program for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Based on their combat service, many veterans return with a myriad of complex emotional issues. We offer services to help veterans transition back to their lives stateside. The organization is comprised of individuals who are dedicated to the healing of our military men and women.
| Silke Denker, MBA, MA in International Peace Studies |
Silke has practiced the method of active support listening in a peer-counseling format since 2000. In Europe, she has used this tool to work on the emotional recovery from WW2 with international groups since 2002. Through a six-month experience in the Middle East, during which she worked with Israeli soldiers and veterans as well as with Palestinians, she realized the importance of the emotional and psychological effects of war for combatants in particular. She studied these academically and has since been working with veterans in the US, leading support groups for individuals diagnosed with combat PTSD and their families.
Silke has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Muenster, Germany, and a Master’s degree in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, IN, USA.
Bill retired from 27 years of full time parish ministry in 2006, enabling him to devote more time to the work of helping men and women re-enter their lives upon returning from war. The beginning of this work is rooted in Bill’s experience as a Navy Corpsman from 1967-1971, spending two years working with wounded Marines before being assigned to Marine infantry. After serving with the 27th Marines at Camp Pendleton, CA, Bill spent a full year in the field with two Marine Combined Action Platoons in Vietnam.
Bill's work helping people re-inhabit their lives after traumatic life events has always is the foundation of his work. His work with the project, There and Back Again, has brought his life's work full circle. With Scott Wakefield, Bill has worked with over 1300 men and women of the NH Army National Guard upon their return from Iraq and Afghanistan.
When Bill graduated from Andover Newton Theological School in 1980 he began 26 years work as a local church pastor for two congregations in southern New Hampshire. He is known recently for this work at the Mason Congregational Church, 1980-1990, and at Brookside Congregational Church, U.C.C., 1990-2006. A strong priority of his ministry in both locations was to make strong connections between the local congregation and wider community needs.
As the coordinator of the Yoga Services Program of the Trauma Center in Brookline, MA (http://www.traumacenter.org). Dave is an accomplished yoga instructor. He was responsible for the implementation, supervision and oversight of the yoga intervention component of the two recent pilot studies conducted by the center’s director, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, to assess the utility and feasibility of support through yoga for traumatized adults with PTSD. In addition, Dave gained his extensive experience in the instruction of yoga with PTSD and mental illness populations by developing and conducting yoga groups for several rape crisis, domestic violence, mental health and veterans administration centers and clinics throughout Greater Boston. Dave is the owner and director of Black Lotus Yoga Inc., a yoga studio in Cambridge Massachusetts. He founded the Black Lotus Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching of yoga to individuals with PTSD.
| Sue Lynch, Program Director, JD, RYT |
Sue began her yoga practice in 2001 in her efforts to manage syptoms of PTSD. As an attorney and an officer in the Judge Advocate General Corp (JAG) in the U.S. Army Reserves, Sue has experienced the effects of PTSD after returning home from the Gulf War in 1991 where she served as an E4 paralegal. Yoga has been instrumental in her recovery from PTSD and her ability to handle a second deployment to Kosovo in 2004. In addition to relieving such symptoms, Sue discovering spirituality, a vigorous physical workout and a clear and balanced mind. She strives to pass on the healing of yoga to her fellow veterans so that they too can find relief.
Sue graduated from Suffolk University and Suffolk Law School. She received her 200-hour yoga teacher certification from FindingInnerPeace.com and is a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Yoga Lotus Project, a nonprofit organization offering yoga classes to those who suffer from PTSD, including veterans returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Sue is also the owner of Charlestown Yoga located in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
www.charlestownyoga.com
| G. Scott Wakefield, Ph.D. |
Scott served with the military for 35 years. His most recent assignment was to develop and conduct programs involving re-integration of soldiers returning from war. Scott was recognized by the NH Pastoral Counseling Center for the work with veterans. For the past 15 years Scott has been training in areas such as leader development, change, and human interaction. In addition to the training, he is a professor at Southern New Hampshire University, teaching in the Organizational Leadership Program. He consults primarily with military organizations, most recently the Air Force. His focus is helping people understand the link between interpersonal and organizational dynamics, to include awareness of how the structures and cultures can be understood in a way that increases performance. Scott also teaches on-line for Fielding Graduate University, Touro University and New England College.
Scott has a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Psychotherapy from Notre Dame College and received his Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development from the Fielding Graduate University. He is a member of the National Training Labs Institute of Applied Behavioral Sciences, facilitating human interaction labs at their Bethel, Maine campus.
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