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Veterans learn golf as part of their recovery at Lovell FHCC
By Jayna Legg, Public Affairs Specialist
Army combat Veteran Donald Gianessi never imagined playing golf would help him find peace from PTSD.
Nor could the former infantry paratrooper have predicted even a few short months ago that the residential PTSD treatment program at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center would be so impactful.
“This program saved my life,” he said, in between holes at the Veteran Memorial Golf Course on a warm, sunny afternoon in September. “It’s amazing. I’m able to be calm, peaceful, no anxiety.”
Gianessi was part of a group of Veterans participating in the annual RevelationGolf outing for patients enrolled in Lovell FHCC Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs. Many of the Veterans have been participating in RevelationGolf clinics every Wednesday since the season started, while undergoing treatment for substance abuse, stress disorders, traumatic brain injuries, homelessness, and more.
“We use this to help Veterans with their mental health and provide a therapeutic activity,” said RevelationGolf Executive Director Donna Strum, who co-founded the nonprofit in 2005 with Kathy Williams, associate director. Different groups of Lovell FHCC patients have been participating in RevelationGolf activities since 2008.
RevelationGolf’s programming is based on a medical model, added Strum, a certified clinical therapeutic recreation specialist. Only specially trained PGA and LPGA professionals and clinicians provide instruction to the Veterans on the golf course, she said.
“We have five goals - to decrease anxiety and depression; increase socialization and communication; help refocus traumatic thoughts and focus on good thoughts; set small, manageable goals and reinforce on the course, and teach positive recreation to decrease sedentary activity,” Strum said.
Gianessi learned about Lovell FHCC’s residential treatment services through Lovell FHCC’s Veterans Justice Outreach program, which he found out about through a Veterans Service Organization. His PTSD is the result of his service with the 82nd Airborne in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2006-2008, during what was known as “the surge.”
In addition to golfing, Gianessi is looking forward to continuing equine therapy after he graduates from the residential PTSD program. Lovell FHCC recreation therapists take some of the Veterans in the PTSD program to the BraveHearts Therapeutic Riding & Educational Center in Harvard to participate in equine therapy.
Gianessi said he is counting on Recreation Therapist Ryan Dollins, who accompanied the Veterans on the RevelationGolf outing, to help him find another equine therapy program that helps Veterans near his hometown in central Illinois. Dollins promised he would look into options for Gianessi to help him continue his recovery after he leaves Lovell FHCC.
The wide variety of activities and outings built into the residential treatment programs are what help keep Army Veteran Emil Bux’s thoughts straight. Bux was a tank mechanic in the Army, but he said it was his 22 years on the Chicago police force that caused his PTSD, subsequent alcoholism, and forced him into early retirement.
“Before this, I was home alone with my dog,” Bux said. “This has been great. I am working my way out of it, by getting out, going golfing, going to museums, going to AA meetings. There’s no way without rehabilitation would I have got to the level of care I needed. I never addressed my PTSD.”
For Bux, who said he’s been in treatment at Lovell FHCC for more than 600 days in four different programs, playing golf is “awesome … I have to force myself to totally concentrate. It’s liberating that I can get to that level of concentration after years of my mind going forward and backward and not being able to concentrate.”
Golf is utilized as part of the rehabilitation process to better help those Veterans who may isolate due to their diagnosis, Dollins said. “Golf is a positive outlet for communication and leisure pursuits. It can be played with family, friends or other Veterans, allowing the Veteran an opportunity to open lines of communication, engage in time with peers/family, and enjoy the game of golf.”
Bux started golfing a year ago and now considers it a favorite past time he hopes to continue in the future. He currently resides in one of the Lovell FHCC Transitional Residence homes. He got involved in the Lovell FHCC Veterans Justice Outreach program after a DUI, which led to other treatment programs. He hopes to invite the police officer who arrested him to graduation so he can shake the officer’s hand and thank him.
Alcoholism also is the reason Veteran Lenzell Johnson found himself in residential treatment at Lovell FHCC. Johnson joined the Army at the age of 18 and served in Korea on the DMZ. He asked to get into the Lovell FHCC alcoholism treatment program because he needed to “reset and recharge,” and he decided to stop drinking. “By the grace of God, they said yes … and so far, so good.”
Johnson started working at Lovell FHCC in Nutrition and Food Service, and next up for him is to find housing, possibly by going through the “Bldg. 66” program, the Lovell FHCC Homeless Domiciliary.
As for getting to play golf in the September sun with his fellow Veterans, Johnson said, “I love it. Golf helps feed my competitive juices. I like the comradery, and I get away from my problems for a while.”
Strum summed it up like this: “We want our Veterans to feel cared for, valued, and supported. We want them to feel the benefits of golf and know how this can help with their recovery.”
For more information about RevelationGolf, go to: https://www.revelationgolf.org/AboutUs.htm