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help Veterans, but to change how we view mental health as a nation. We are certainly on the right track, but we still have a long way to go.
“Every day I wake up and it’s something new and it’s a ride,” states Rieman, “I’m clean and I’m sober, I’ve done a lot of work, because you can’t think clearly when you’re loaded. I’m aware now, and I know if I’m having a bad day what I need to do. I had to re-learn what emotions meant, and I went to a lot of therapy to do it. There was also a spiritual component to the process, which included gratitude training. There were so many things.”
Currently, Rieman remains employed with Veterans Bridge Home, where he has taken on a more senior role in the organization. In addition to his ability to help other Veterans struggling with the transition from military to civilian life, he’s realized the power of his own experience in helping move the conversation about Veterans’ suicide and suicide prevention forward. And, he emphasizes that an important part of that process is that helping other Veterans helps him to continue to help himself. “I love being there for them,” he states about his work with Veterans Bridge Home, “this is the most rewarding thing of anything I’ve done, and this is probably the proudest time of my life.” And, in a world where staying alive in and of itself is a struggle, Rieman’s ability to say something is the proudest time of his life is significant.
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i George W. Bush, State of the Union Address (Jan. 23, 2007), available at https://www.c-span.org/video/?c888871/clip-state-union-address.
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