Listening project aimed to help veterans struggling to adjust post-deployment

By Katie Ussin

A veteran and a civilian in a room together. They don’t know each other, and the non-veteran just listens.

It is the basis of a project aimed to help veterans struggling to readjust to civilian life, and a local woman says it’s saving lives. “No one comes home unscathed. You never get over war,” said retired Army Colonel, and clinical psychologist, Dr. Kathy Platoni of Centerville, in a Public Service Announcement for Listen 2 Veterans.

“It is so important to go beyond just thanking a veteran for their service. What is so much more needed is to really listen to a veteran.” The national project isn’t therapy, but proponents say it’s healing.

Retired Army Col. David Sutherland, who said he struggled after serving in Kuwait, South West Asia and Iraq, is featured in a documentary about the listening sessions entitled “Is Anybody Listening?”

“When I started talking and people started not only listening, but hearing me, I started feeling comfortable in my own skin again,” said Sutherland in the documentary.

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