The Wayfinders Wellness Retreat Centre continues to strive to develop programming to assisting those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Operational Stress Injuries (OSI).

On Mar. 27, they held a series of workshops involving several of their providers. It included everything from First Nations land-based therapy to yoga, painting, and sound therapy, to working with horses.

Wayfinder president Paul Wagman says it was a pilot for their educational-based programming lead by newly-named program director Troy Treit.

"We're trying to establish our identity and what we're going to offer continually," Wagman explains. "That's the intention of doing everything in the pilot program phase and getting feedback. We've done a lot of research on the actual demographics of PTSD and OSI.

"We've looked at that information and we've adopted a model which is responsive to that. People say there is a lot of helpful things--yoga, physical fitness, meditation--and so we try to have those as some of our core wellness programs."

He believes it's important to do it in the public eye to help engage the community, and let responders know of the value of their programs.

"It's been very successful in attracting people to wellness, not just for the responders, but everybody in the community."

Removing the stigmatism of dealing with PTSF and OSI is also top of mind so to encourage people to take that first step in reaching out. And, it's working.

"We found a huge response in the number of people joining our community, following us to get that support, motivation, and the tips and tricks to wellness, but more importantly we've also engaged with the community."

They now have 120 volunteers, most from the Cochrane area. 

Fireside chatA fireside chat is one of the First Nations land-based therapies offered at the pilot with the assistance of Gerald Ojauger.

For 13 years, Treit was a firefighter in the Edmonton area. He participated in Save a Warrior stateside and sought to bring similar support to Canada.  When introduced to Wayfinders, he found the perfect fit.

"You don't need to feel lost, and you can come here to heal," says Treit. "This is a safe place, and you can open up here, and you can share that vulnerability and get to your heart and be at that place of peace."

"You don't have to carry that trauma and that shame and guilt anymore. You can let go and start to move on from it and connect with a community of healing and walk this path together. It's incredible being able to instill that, start sharing that with others, and to be a part of that."

For the pilot, he developed a survey to learn what people sought to help them on their journey.

"One of the biggest things I found they were going through was the fear of reaching out. You can become so disconnected from your spirit that you don't even realize you are attached to your ego, and you're struggling."

He believes instilling trust is the first major step.

"There are methods like horse facilitated wellness so that people can learn to connect with the horse, and art therapy so that they can learn to be a child again and colour from their heart and not worry about it. And then there are the tools of meditation and land-use healing that teach you to overcome your mind and face the fears everyone is dealing with head-on."

He says by coming from the known world into the unknown world, then back again, trauma builds over a lifetime.

"You have to stripe away those traumas, and those things you've gone through at the job, from childhood,  from things you've seen in a lifetime, and then move towards a place of peace."

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