I am a client served who became a volunteer. Pam Hays, the founder of this non profit has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met. She truly wants to make an impact in the community there is no doubt about that. I am the wife of a veteran with ptsd and it has been a very rough road. When a soldier comes back from war they are not taught how to handle the emotional scars, nightmares, or how to transition back to civilian life after being literally shot at for a year or more. My husband was very angry all the time and it made our home life very unpleasant. It was like I was walking on eggshells trying not to say the wrong thing that would set him off. We have considered divorce on more than one occasion but I never wanted that. I was trying to figure out how to help my husband, for better or in this case for worse, while he was taking out his problems on me and blaming me for things I had no control over. He did not trust any of the counselors we had previously tried out, but he trusted Pam. He could tell she truly cared about him and wanted to help him get out of his dark place and have a better life. In our group sessions, my husband as well as the other veterans referred to her as a second mother. I am so glad we found The Arms Forces as it played a huge role in getting my husband on the right track mentally. We are in a much better place than we were a couple years ago and I know if I ever need anything Pam is just a phone call away. I cannot wait to see what else she has up her sleeves to continue reducing the stigma and helping make the community aware of what life is really like with ptsd and/or tbi.
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- EIN 27-0889821
- PO Box 981 Pamela E Hays Maumee OH 43537 USA
- http://www.thearmsforces.org
- thearmsforces
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Nonprofit Overview
Causes: Health, Health Support
Mission: The Arms Forces provides a caring heart and listening ear that helps educate, empower and facilitate change for veterans who have a traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress or other invisible wounds. We build partnerships with our veterans, families, service providers and their communities to inspire hope and remove stigma so challenges can be addressed and lives transformed. The Arms Forces mission was developed using the real experiences and needs expressed by veterans who have TBI, PTS and other invisible wounds. Together, civilian and veteran, we work to open the doors to successful life integration for our country’s veterans and their families.
Results: Though we believe that even one life changed in a positive way is a reflection on the passion and purpose we have for our mission and the lives of our veterans and families, The Arms Forces has been able to have significant successes such judicial decisions, assisting homeless, directly influential in stopping veterans suicide, lowering stigma in communities, opening doors to services from other providers for veterans, create a greater understanding about TBI with service providers from government, social services, communities through educational events, speeches, trainings and nonprofit culture, media relationships. Those with invisible wounds don't measure their lives by no challenges, they measure the quality of their lives by how they got through a single day and how they stayed alive, kept hope in their heart, felt motivated to take another step the next day and to keep moving forward to find that place where they are "at home" in their spirit.
