Veteran’s Portrait Project –Recognition + Healing on Remembrance Day
Veteran’s Portrait Project honouring all Veterans November 11, 2013 in New Westminster during the celebration of Remembrance day with Veteran’s and civilians. Jason and Carlos’s display of 45 Veteran soldiers of WWII, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and other peace keeping tours.
Who: Carlos Taylhardat, Principal of Art of Headshot Photography
What: 3rd annual Veteran Portrait Project
When: Monday, November 11, 2013
Time: 12 noon – 3pm, following the parade that starts at 10 am
Where: Royal Westminster Regiment, 530 Queens Ave, New Westminster, BC, Canada
Why: Honouring all Veterans to commemorate their extraordinary bravery and service
Carlos Taylhardat’s father was a war veteran from Venezuela, and have suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and since his passing, Carlos initiated the Veteran Portrait Project as a tribute to show respect and gratitude for the men and women who put their lives on the line to protect their fellow Canadians. Carlos says: “often times, these incredible veterans are forgotten by society, and are left to deal with tremendous hardship due to PTSD and other psychological, emotional or physical disability lingering upon their return from duty.”
There have been a lot of stories now coming to light about the lack of infrastructural support our government and military has established to provide to our veterans on this front. Carlos through his three years of conducting the veteran’s portrait project have heard some incredible jaw dropping tales from his subjects about the horror they have witnessed. One veteran he has photographed was Doug Setter, who toured Yugoslavia, now a personal trainer and author. The CBC and New West Newsleader have interviewed him about his leading the Josh Fueston Memorial Swim for soldiers who died from PTSD and an article in the province.
Harmony integration founder, and transformational leader Satyen Raja, has commented how he has seen veterans who has seen the worst suffer from PTSD and get stuck on life and not able to move for years till they have a breakthrough with harmony integration. Satyen says: “Emotional and Physical Trauma has a deep imprint into your well being. It clogs up seeing people and opportunities with “clear eyes” and a clear heart. The main problem with Trauma is it stays in our cells, thoughts, feelings and body sensations, lurking in the background, holding up the potential for real happiness and peace of mind. There is a powerful, modern solution to this and it’s called Harmony Integration. It’s a radically fast, effective and thorough way to remove the trauma right at its root, and leaves you feeling free of the disharmony. In a short session trauma can disappear fully, and what you will be left with is a sense of moving forward positively. This is the next step for your healing and mental health.”
Here is what one of Satyen’s client Sarah Arnold, Physician at USPHS Gaithersburg, Maryland had to say: “ Tens of thousands of Service Members have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In 2005, I became one of them. The mental trauma started long before my combat deployments. I was exposed to a lot of mental trauma from medical training, and from my tours as a Navy physician before the war started.
When I would think back to all I was exposed to and was just expected to “compartmentalize” everything in my mind, my nightmares, mood swings, and hyper-vigilance began to make sense. Unfortunately, living with these symptoms makes life very difficult for me and anyone else who has to deal with me. Things that are just normal sights and sounds to everyone else trigger very bad memories for me and make it hard for me relax and act normal, or even just enjoy myself.
Since 2005, I have had 4 different jobs, have transferred from the Navy to the U.S. Public Health Service, have moved 5 times, lived in 3 different states, so I’ve been in and out of therapy (mostly cognitive behavioral therapy) for the depression that eventually developed and the PTSD I had. While I found therapy helpful, I also felt that by the time I would be able to open up to the therapist and get to the heart of an issue, my hour would be up, and I would have to go home emotionally all worked up, feeling very alone. It’s like having some wound that was scabbed over for years, cognitive behavioral therapy would pick at this scab slowly over a long period of time, then the wound starts to bleed, then, that’s it—time’s up. After a while, I would resist the process because I didn’t want to go home feeling bad, but then the session wouldn’t be as productive.
As I practice the Harmony Integration techniques I learned this month on myself, particularly the trauma release technique and deep PEAT, I can’t believe how much better I feel in a shorter amount of time. It’s as if these bad memories just wanted my attention, they just wanted to be accepted as part of my life instead of resisted and rejected all these years. I can’t change my memories or past experiences, but every day I have a choice as to how I perceive them and how I can integrate them into my life experience.
Unfortunately, not everyone chooses life when haunted by traumatic memories, let alone an innovative technique that can help us deal with mental trauma. Last week, the New York Times had an article on military suicide, which can be found here. I believe the Harmony Integration techniques have helped me move on with my life, and hope others can benefit from them as well. It is never too late to get help for PTSD, you just have find what works best for you. I did, and it has made all the difference.”
About Art of Headshot Photography:
Vancouver’s premier headshot photography studio specializing in business portrait and actor’s headshot. A firm with talented award winning photographers who capture the heart and spirit of a person.
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