Patriot's Path Mission Minimize

The mission of the Patriot's Path Foundation is: "to prepare veterans for, and assist them with, reintegration with the community as they complete their treatment in the Veterans Affairs Medical System". 

We accomplish this by providing veterans:

          

Veterans we serve struggle with:

  • individual life skills mentoring

  • financial responsibility training

  • job placement assistance

  • safe, affordable residential housing

  • community service activities

  

  • mental health issues

  • post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  • substance abuse issues

  • homeless issues

     
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State of the Foundation Minimize

 

Where We Stand Today 

The Patriot’s Path Foundation is now three years old and most of our programs are in place.  Administratively, the organization is in place and we continue to recruit volunteer staff to handle our growing requirements. The Foundation was incorporated as a nonprofit March 13, 2008, and we have received our 501(c)(3) status from the IRS.


We have opened our office at 155 N. Queen Street in Martinsburg, WV. The office serves as the base for all Foundation operations and as the primary location where veterans participating in our programs interact with Mentors and staff, as well as utilize a wide range of Foundation services.  The facility houses our computer learning center, meeting rooms, counseling space and the Foundation's administrative offices.

We now have a seven member Board of Directors in place, to guide today's operations and provide a vision for our future.

We have expanded our mission and are now helping veterans exiting from the Martinsburg VA Medical Center's Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), GOALS (homeless) and Center for Addiction Treatment programs.

In October 2010, we proudly opened our eighth residential house in the Martinsburg area.  We now provide safe, affordable housing for 26 veterans, who have completed treatment at the VA Medical Center.

As the OIF/OEF operations come to an end, the demand for our residential housing increases.  We are planning to open additional housing during 2011 in order to meet this growing demand.

This has been accomplished to date through the personal efforts of our staff and the individual and corporate financial donations of our supporters.  Now, we need to expand and strengthen our fundraising and recruit even more volunteers, in order to continue building and operating our programs into the future.

It is important that we reach our financial goals, so we can serve the growing number of veterans completing their mental health treatment and preparing to reintegrate into the community. 

  
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Foundation Overview Minimize

The Patriot’s Path Foundation is 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency created specifically to prepare veterans for, and to assist them in, dealing with the challenges of daily life that will confront them after treatment for mental health related issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, homelessness or substance abuse.

The Foundation was started by a group of concerned veterans who recognized how significant these life challenges can be for veterans when they have completed treatment, and are facing reintegration into the community.

Some questions these founding veterans asked themselves were, Where do veterans – many of them homeless – go when treatment is completed? What are the obstacles to their continued recovery? What are the primary causes of failure or relapse? 

“Living life on life’s terms” – dealing with everyday issues and problems such as finding housing, jobs and transportation; managing money; etc. – can be overwhelming to a veteran during the early months and years of recovery. And unfortunately many veterans, unable to cope with these very real issues, fail in their attemp or relapse.

The Patriot’s Path Foundation aims to help recovering veterans successfully re-enter everyday life by providing them individual mentors; safe, affordable transitional housing; help in finding employment; and the basic life skills they need to stay “on the path” to a new way of life.

  
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The Challenge Minimize

How Veterans are Challenged

According to Department of Veterans Affairs’ statistics, over 5,100,000 veterans used VA health care in FY 2008.  Of those, more than 1,100,000 veterans were treated in the VA Mental Health System.  And, a significant number of those veterans entered residential treatment programs for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, homelessness and related mental illnesses.

While in the VA medical system, these veterans received treatment for PTSD or the knowledge and skills to abstain from drug and alcohol abuse. Yet many still lacked the concrete skills necessary to bridge the chasm between completing treatment and successfully re-entering the community.

Due to the length and severity of their illnesses, many veterans lost or never developed the skills to manage the routine but real “everyday” challenges of paying rent, acquiring employment, finding transportation or managing money. These stressors, when not managed properly or constructively, often overwhelm what insights and skills the veterans learned in treatment.

Unfortunately, despite the number of clinical VA resources available after treatment (such as medical support, social work resources, vocational rehabilitation, in-home visits, aftercare and possibly even subsidized housing through grant and per diem programs) many veterans are over-whelmed by the very real, immediate and concrete day-to-day issues and, as a result, fail in thier attempt to regain a normal life or relapse.

In fact, historically, approximately 50 percent of those who complete substance abuse treatment will relapse within the first 90 days.

While it was not their intention to fail or relapse when they entered treatment, many veterans find that the lifestyle after treatment requires them to use skills they never had or to manage stressors they had never encountered before. For many, the immediate consequences of giving up or relapse are less than the cumulative challenges of everyday living!

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Patriot's Path Response Minimize

The Patriot’s Path Foundation is committed to exploring a variety of services that could enhance and extend the mental health services already established within the VA.  By working in conjunction with VA mental health professionals, the Patriot’s Path Foundation hopes to actualize what President Bush called for in his Presidential Commission on Mental Health (2002): creative new solutions through partnerships between government organizations and community-based service groups.

Because of its proximity to Washington, D.C., and its reputation as a national leader in residential mental health treatment, the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., was chosen by the Foundation as the location to implement, examine and validate a program for bridging the gap that exists between completing mental health treatment and successful establishment in the community. 

The Martinsburg VA Medical Center (VAMC) operates one of the largest and most comprehensive mental health treatment programs in the VA medical system, providing residential care to approximately 1,700 veterans each year and outpatient treatment to approximately 250 veterans each week.  These veterans are served through the post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), GOALS (homeless) and Center for Addiction Therapy (substance abuse) programs.

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