Latest / The Nick & Nick Podcast / Beth Kramer w/ AT EASE USA
Transcript
- Nick Prososki: welcome to the Nick and Nick Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Royalty Roofing and Siding. Crown home and your commercial property and then wrap it with royalty. Today we have a guest on the podcast. She's the executive director of At Ease USA. ⁓ USA, right? That's exactly right. Her name ⁓ is Beth Kramer. Correct. So thank you for joining us on the Nick and Nick podcast today. Looking forward to this conversation. We had a mutual connection through Taylor. Taylor Nissen with Green Gill Marketing. Yes. Yes. Yes. She's she's ⁓ has volunteered to do some marketing ⁓ activities for us. And as a small nonprofit, as you can imagine, we don't have a huge budget. And so we are always incredibly grateful for anyone who wants to help. Yeah, good for her helping out. Shout out. Yes, exactly. But yeah, why don't you tell us a little bit about the organization at Ease USA and I you got some events coming up that we want to feature. ⁓ so give us a little bit about the mission. So at Ease was founded in two thousand and nine to help ⁓ active duty veterans and their families. Okay, stop. I know. I got a kid. I got a kid. Thank you. He's on the Abraham Lincoln. He's an air rescue swimmer. Wow, that's impressive. He's over there in harm's way. All right, so that now I my ears are perked up here, so this hits a little different. Well, we are we were established to help military connected families with trauma. Okay. And so ⁓ it could be post-traumatic stress, ⁓ suicidal ideations, you know, suicide prevention is our mission. Okay. And Frankly, I think we do it pretty darn good. So that's the objective of the whole organization is to eliminate PTSD. Okay. Yep. And prevent suicide. Yeah, that's awesome. And so we do that through a three-prong approach. Mental health therapy is the biggest. Okay. ⁓ that's Yeah, I've seen all the providers on your website. Yes. Is that what their credentials are? Mental health therapy or they are. So we have a we have a preferred provider network. Yes. They are all evidence-based, trauma-informed therapists. Okay. We have fifty-four therapists across the state. They go as far as North Platte. Across Nebraska. Fifty-four therapists that are in your network. That are in our network. Okay. And they all have to have trauma ⁓ informed training. Yep. And they all have to offer telehealth. Okay. State like Nebraska, if you are in Beamer, you're not gonna drive the three hours or two and a half hours to North Platte to go talk to a therapist about your problems. Right. So everyone has to offer telehealth. Okay. ⁓ but we have those folks, and of course the bulk of our folks are Omaha Lincoln because that's where the greatest population is. Okay. But we have quite a few ⁓ veterans across the state that they just you get outside of Lincoln and it just is harder and harder to find. We can't find medical care, let alone mental health care. Right. So ⁓ therapy is our biggest pot, if you will. We offer peer support. Okay. And we have a peer support specialist in Omaha who focuses on ⁓ incarcerated veterans and works with veterans in our Sarpee County Veterans Treatment Court. Okay. A lot of vets, they are involved with the justice system because of their trauma. Yep. Whatever that might be, it's because the trauma has has ⁓ triggered it. Yeah. in the last 10 days I hired a second peer support specialist to h to focus on Lincoln. Okay. And so he is down in Lancaster County and he is working with the community. And so ⁓ their role is to offer mentoring, peer support and groups and case management for folks. Touch base with our with our veterans once a month and make sure that they're doing okay. Right. ⁓ so that's our peer support. Okay, that's number two, right? That's number two. Okay. We also do offer a virtual peer support group for ⁓ women who have experienced trauma. Maybe it's ⁓ military sexual trauma, maybe it's ⁓ so it could it be the spouse of a vet or would it be have to be the vet themselves? This peer support gro this virtual peer support group is for female veterans only. Okay. It is it is as you can imagine, it's a tough subject. And we try to really keep it as a close-knit group. However, we do offer a peer support group for family members. ⁓ it is spouses and caregivers. Okay. And we even have someone on the East Coast who has joined that. ⁓ you know, w if you have a loved one in your family that has post-traumatic stress or is having issues with ⁓ suicide, it impacts the entire family. For sure. We have we have clients as young as eight years old. And we still have a lot of ⁓ Vietnam vets that are mid seventies. our largest group ⁓ our demographic would be the twenty-five to forty-four year olds. Okay. But those, you know, those kids, the kiddos are, hey, something's wrong with mom or dad. What did I do? I don't understand. Right. You add that trauma with the moving from place to place ⁓ because of the military life. Yep. And it just makes it very challenging for a lot of those kids. Compounds that. So that's our second ⁓ prong. The peers. And then the other is our wellness wellness program. Yes, I looked at that. So that is relatively new for us. You know, no one wants to say, Hey, I need to talk to a therapy therapist every week and I need to go in and rip the band-aid off. No one wants to do that. No and a lot of people don't even want to admit that they have an issue. Okay. You know, it's not those invisible wounds are the worst. Right. If we can have them come to a yoga class, if we can have them do equine therapy that we do in conjunction with ⁓ hetra, shout out to them. To who? Hetra. What is it? Hetra is ⁓ equine stuff? Okay. It's horse stuff out and they are out in Valley. Okay. And I can't tell you what it stands for. Okay. Don't need to know that, but it's horse stuff. But it's horse stuff, so I also know about goat stuff. We know some people that do the goat thing and they have people come out to their goat. ⁓ They goat yoga, they do goat therapy. ⁓ I think I might want that name. So, but you know, you've got folks who might come to Equine Therapy. Okay. You've got people who might do a creative arts ⁓ class with us because journaling or or art in general can be very therapeutic. Yeah, for sure. ⁓ we do also offer financial wellness classes. A lot of folks in the military ⁓ they might go straight from high school into the military. And I'm gonna date myself just a little bit. ⁓ but in high school, when I was a kid, I now sound like my grandfather. ⁓ when I was a kid, we spent a s a section of a math class on how do you write a check, how do you balance a budget, how do you do, you know, X, Y, or Z. They don't do that anymore. And so some of these ⁓ folks are getting out of high school, going straight into the military, and they don't have that that need. You know, they go to the commissary or they go, you know, wherever they go. And then they get out and they're like, I I don't even know what a savings account is or I don't know how to invest my money. Right. So we do offer, ⁓ we try quarterly to offer a financial wellness class. Okay. Because financial stability is also one of the hugest stressors in a person's life. Right. So if we can help reduce that in in a military connected family, then That makes a huge difference too. You're obviously passionate about this. I am. Where did that passion zeal come from for the veterans specifically and the military families and so my father was a Vietnam vet. Okay. but I have always just, you know, I've always y when you see the Fourth of July and the patriotic stuff. The patriotic stuff and the planes flying over, and and then when you learn about how we've treated folks on the backside ⁓ and the amount of help that they need that they they shouldn't you know we don't replace the VA. The VA has lots to offer ⁓ but a lot of people don't want to go the VA. So we've we bridge that gap. And and there are some shortfalls that there shouldn't be. And so when I I started working for At ES in 2010 and I've watched and seen So almost from the inception then. Correct. Okay. And I've and and again, I love the VI. I think they do they do a good job. Right. But not everyone is served to the best of that individual's abilities. I get it. And so I I just think that there are organizations such as at Ease that can fill that gap that should fill that gap. And having watched people go through our program, ⁓ Not only successfully, but we've got folks who ⁓ I was with a vet today and she is just really struggling. And you know, if I can help, then I want to be there to help. Right. ⁓ I'm not a therapist, right? But I will connect them to the right person, I will get them where they need to be and get them the help that they deserve. Right. That's awesome. How d how would a veteran come and do they apply for the what is it? Do they apply to be a part of your organization? Another four words to qualify for therapy. Do you work with other organizations that refer them to you? How does that work? Great question. We have anyone can get on our website. Okay. And if you go into mental health therapy, if that's what you're looking for, you just complete a there's a a registration form for lack of a better description. ⁓ that registration form goes straight to my clinical director and myself. ⁓ and then you will get the individual then get an email that says, Thank you for registering. Please fill out the ⁓ attached questionnaire. Okay. That gives my clinical director a baseline on okay, this maybe this person speaks Spanish. We have a therapist who is fluent in Spanish that can that we can match him with. By filling out the registration and the assessments beforehand, when my clinical director calls that individual. She can say, okay, I've I've looked through all of your documentation. You I've got a couple suggestions of therapists for you. Okay. ⁓ anyone can sign up for any of our wellness programs that are military connected. Okay. ⁓ we just ask, ⁓ because we are a small nonprofit and we have a very specific mission, that we have some kind of military ID or proof of connection to the military. Absolutely. ⁓ but other than that, anyone can sign up for any of our wellness programs. If someone wants peer support, same thing. Just sign up and we will give you a call from a real person. As a chiropractor, a retired chiropractor now, ⁓ the military vets didn't have any chiropractic benefits and it was always something that we were fighting for and pushing for and this is awesome to to give this demographic of people that have been underserved the opportunity to you know, the access to this care that you guys are providing. H is that an insurance-based model? How is that financially Yeah, it's a great question. ⁓ therapy is $175 an hour. Okay. We have a sliding scale fee based on income. Okay. It begins at five dollars a session and it goes up to fifty dollars a session. ⁓ wow. ⁓ anything over that we pay for. And it is paid for by private dollars. ⁓ wow. I do a lot of fundraising, a lot of grant writing. Okay. ⁓ again, I I really believe that our military folks deserve this care. And, you know, sometimes it might be three to six months before you can get into a VA therapist. ⁓ we get everybody in the in with a therapist within ten days. Ten business days. Better be better. I better ten business days as long as we can get ⁓ connected and their schedules work. ⁓ you know, our we want to make sure that there isn't Time for anything to happen in between. And if someone needs help or if they're in crisis, they need help now. Right. Not in three to six months. We are 100% confidential. So all of our therapy is confidential and we do not have to share it with anyone. ⁓ I will say we have, we're very excited when you speak about funding. ⁓ we have a Staff Sergeant Fox grant that helps us with our that's a Department of Veterans Affairs grant. Okay. It is for outreach. Towards suicide prevention, peer support, and ⁓ some of our wellness programs. And so if someone is willing, they are not required, but if someone is willing to participate in this program, that helps our funding of that program or of that individual. Awesome. ⁓ so that's great. But we do ⁓ it's a lot of fundraising. we just don't want any potential clients to have to give up. gas money to get to the to work or you know I have to choose this week between my medications and my therapy ⁓ because that mental health is is so important. Right. I would love to hear maybe without using a name, maybe just a testimony or some or a story of somebody that you seen this system that you guys have in place at work and how it has impacted or changed somebody's life. So we have I've got two great stories. And yes, please. And in fact, if if people go to our website, www.atdiesusa.org. Let's go. ⁓ we have a Vietnam vet who was going through vet court and our peer support specialist, Art Williams, was working with him. And he has had just a really rough time. ⁓ was in theater. in Vietnam and has struggled just with mental health issues since then. Again, was involved with vet court because of his ⁓ trauma. Yes. He has been he's had some issues. He likes to ride motorcycles and he's got one. He was recently in an accident and just kind of some setbacks. He was one of the first people to to graduate from veterans treatment court. Okay. And what is that? ⁓ so Douglas Sarpe Lancaster and there's a treatment court in Grand Island for Buffalo County. ⁓ it is a it is a ⁓ court that allows people if they have ⁓ relatively low infractions or charges against them. Okay. They can legally legally You're not talking about disability. No, no, no. This is legal issue. You can apply to be part of the Veterans Treatment Court. Okay. They are fantastic courts that give people another a second chance. Okay. So you can apply to be part of it and you have it there is a process where you go through these different steps and you you kind of graduate through the through the program. When you graduate at the end, there is a ceremony and your charges are either reduced or expunged altogether. ⁓ wow. It is a fantastic program that truly gives people a second chance. This gentleman had gone through that court. He had just kind of st he's he had struggled for a long, long time. He's a Vietnam vet. And he graduated. We were so proud of him when he graduated. And he will tell you that he would not have done it without Addees' help. Right. ⁓ my clinical director went to his well, we both went to his graduation and he had another ⁓ honor that was giving. given to him recently and she went to that and he's just he's an amazing guy. ⁓ amazing story and sad, but just he's truly an amazing guy. Right. We had a younger vet. I would say he's ⁓ he just retired from the Air Force. Okay. He and his wife go to yoga. They were going to yoga together. It was he told me that it was his way of having an hour to decompress And spend that time Bonding with his wife. I I'm trying to connecting, thank you. That's what I'm looking for. Connecting better with his wife. And then they we get a babysitter for their kids. Sounds like a heck of a deal to me. Let me join the Exactly. He is ⁓ he is retired and he is getting ready to graduate. He is going to be a therapist because of his experience with Atdies. ⁓ wow. And I am incredibly optimistic that he'll come to Come with the I know, yes. ⁓ we'd love to have him because he's got that military experience. Yeah, been there, done that, been through it. Yep. ⁓ can speak the language. That's exactly right. Right. So the other thing that you talked about the ⁓ Fox grant. I also wanna what is the training software that you talk about on the the services provided? We got counseling, we got wellness, we got the Fox grant. I didn't quite understand what the you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I know exactly. Okay, help me with that. In twenty fifteen, Addi's ⁓ worked with Dr. Yerbar Hem out of Tel Aviv University in Israel. Okay. And we reached out and he was testing this software. It's a computer program that retrains the brain. And I can tell you, again, I'm not a therapist in the in the 50,000 foot level. But you look at images and you are encouraged as you go through these images to choose the image that is less stressful. Okay. So it Have you done it? Have you done the training? I have done it. Okay. Give me an example. I test it. So you'll have ⁓ you'll have a very angry face next to a very calm, happy face. Okay. And you you use the mouse or and you click the it it tests response times. Okay. And so the faster you respond to the ⁓ happy face, right? Then it it starts to train your brain that way. Gotcha. And so So you're rewiring the nervous system. ⁓ So we funded the tri the trials. We ⁓ used our So at ease, you say we you guys did that? That's a proposition too. We raised one point one million dollars to for that specifically? For this specifically. and that software is now Being used by Barham in Israel on the troops in Israel. ⁓ And he's also used it. ⁓ there was a story that he used it on civilians in Israel after the October 7th ⁓ attack. And so it's it's been very successful. At one point during the trials, Barhem is in the field and you can hear gunfire. You know, Dr. Badur Brak is telling us about this gunfire she's hearing in the background, but he's sitting there with his iPad doing this. Software training. That's awesome. ⁓ it takes it's very unintrusive. You can come into the office, get it a computer, you do it ⁓ about twenty minutes, t to thirty minutes once a week for about eight to ten weeks. Okay. And ⁓ what's the fee associated with that? How does that point? How does that work? I know it's a moving, it's a sliding scale or whatever. No, we don't have a fee for that. Okay. ⁓ it is something if someone's willing to do and try. Yeah. They don't again, they don't have to have a discussion with anyone in the room about what happened. You know, our the the a therapist has to be there. Right. ⁓ but they will g you know, just a little preliminary discussion and get them set up and how to use it. ⁓ KMTV, when we f first finished the trials, came and did a story on us, and we had a gentleman, he was out of Clive or Des Moines proper. He drove to Omaha. ⁓ for eight. Once a week. Okay. To do the software. Okay. ⁓ said he had tried everywhere ⁓ to to try different different therapies, and that's what helped him. Wow. And so KMTV, as I mentioned, did that story on on him. And boy, to have the commitment to drive to Omaha once a week just to do this twenty to thirty minute therapy was huge. Right. Okay. Now you have an event coming up. You got a few ev talk to us about the you have a few events throughout the year, but one's coming up. And then I also want to talk about Taylor talked about the 12 strong soldier presentations. I don't know if those are the same events, the 5K and that or two different things, but can you cover what you guys have going on in terms of these are fundraising opportunities for people to get engaged with the community? Well, our first event ⁓ well it's not our first. We've already had two events this year, but we have an event coming up on June twenty seventh. Okay. It's our Forge Ahead 5K. Forge Ahead 5K, got it. It is at Walnut Creek Recreation Center ⁓ in Papillion. How many years have you done it? This is twenty-two. This is fourth year. It is really an awareness piece. It is $30. You get a t-shirt. Okay. it is just to bring awareness, not only to add ees, but June is PTSD Awareness Month. And so we do it in honor of PTSD Awareness Month. And this year we are offering people to ⁓ The opportunity to create a yard sign with a loved one on it. Okay. And so we'll put those along the route. It would have their photo, name, and rank. Okay. And then they can take the sign home with them. Okay. And put it in their yard if they want. That's cool. So that's new this year. The sign is new this year. So then do you pay for that sign or is that included in your No it's pay it the t the sign is twenty five dollars. Okay, gotcha. And then ⁓ and then the registration, and then you come out, you walk, you run, you bring your ⁓ kids in the wagon, you bring your dog. It is a very if you want to be competitive, you can be. I've got a couple that are I got a couple. We had a couple of our ⁓ kids last year. The two brothers ran and they were very competitive against each other. Okay. ⁓ so that's June twenty seventh. And how have you seen the participation over the years in that particular event and then what is your anticipation this year? Well for the five K in terms of goals. I d we'd love to have more people. I think ⁓ always right. Doesn't matter how many And we s it's you know, it kinda webs and flows and and I think, you know, I hope if we've got sixty to seventy five people this year that raises awareness, that would be fantastic. So So we're coming up. If you want to do a five K at Walnut Grove. At Walnut Creek. Walnut Grove. There's a difference. ⁓ yeah. Don't send them there. You gotta send them to Papillion. Okay, for the at Ease USA five K. Yep. Okay. So that's coming up. Thirty dollars, help us raise awareness. What's the date again? June twenty-seventh. Got it. Okay. Then the other ⁓ Are you doing it? I will get it I'm working it and I will walk the signs around. There you go, that counts. I I'll take it. Okay. ⁓ but last year I did have it was kind of funny. ⁓ one of our board members, last year, the year before, she got about halfway through and said, gave me a call and said, Beth, you can go ahead and pack up. She's got a she had a two-year-old, I think, two or three year old, and she's like, We keep getting stopped and we're picking flowers and we're picking up it's okay. You c you came out and you raised awareness, right? Is there a before or after congregation or anything? Both. And we have medals for first, second, third place. I get medals. I put the Addy's logo on ⁓ Okay. ⁓ we have f first, second, and third place men and women's division, not just overall. Okay. ⁓ so it's fun. It's you know, rain or shine. ⁓ We just make it work and it's it's a good time. And Walnut Creek is pretty flat. ⁓ that helps. Which helps. We did it one year at Walnut Grove. And ⁓ that's a cross country. That was not as fun. Right. ⁓ but then the other event we have come up is November third or fourth, excuse me. ⁓ Will Summers is a former special oper well, he's not former, he still is a special operations ⁓ So this is what Taylor was talking about? This is what Taylor was talking about. He and his team of eleven other guys went into Afghanistan. Was he a SEAL? Is is he a seal? ⁓ special operations. Yeah, just special ops could be. Okay, it could be Green Beret, yep. Green Beret. Went into Afghanistan, the twelve of them did before the US military went in. Okay. And they went in on horseback. Excuse me. And so I I know. I It's amazing. So the movie Twelve Strong is about his story. Okay. So everyone go see the movie and then come to our luncheon. Twelve strong. Twelve strong. Okay. And because nowadays you look at how wars are being fought and they ain't being fought on horseback. No, they're not. And this they just they went in and it was like I said, it was a special operation that they went in before the US troops got there and started ⁓ laying the groundwork for the Americans to arrive. And horses were all they had, given the terrain. And so he and some of his buddies also ⁓ started a bourbon company called Horse Soldier Bourbon. Okay. So we are going to do a separate event the night before. Okay. And Will is going to have his bourbons there. And we are gonna do a bourbon tasting the night before. Okay. For anyone who isn't into ⁓ lunch, if you will. Okay, they're more into the bourbon lunch. That's exactly right. So Will will Will Will. ⁓ Will will speak at the ⁓ bourbon tasting the night before. Okay. And he'll sign some bottles and it'll be kind of fun. Yeah. ⁓ but he's gonna speak at the luncheon. And then Heath Mello, who is the president and CEO of the Omaha Chamber, is going to be our honorary chair for the event. Okay. And then how many years have you been doing this luncheon? So this this luncheon is actually how I got started. Okay, this would be the main fundraiser for the organization, I'm assuming. This is our main fundraiser. The first luncheon was in Two thousand and nine. Okay. Senator Chuck Hagel was the speaker. Uh-huh. And I was brought on to help with the two thousand and ten event. ⁓ okay. And that's how I I got the rest is history. ⁓ we did not do a luncheon in twenty twenty, just right COVID, no one could meet. But ⁓ we've done it one every year since then. That's awesome. Yeah. Okay, it's at ease USA. That's okay. So you're is there other chapters in different parts of the country or different regions, or is Are we at the hub and we're gonna expand out? What's the what's the overhaul? Okay. We are at the hub. We have ⁓ all of Nebraska and Western, the four counties in Western Iowa. Okay. ⁓ we have received multiple calls from the Atlanta, Georgia area and Longview, Texas area about starting the starting an Atties chapter, if you will. ⁓ but I have to be cognizant of the dollars that are donated to us are meant to be local. Right. And so, you know, I my comment is if you guys can start raising some money, I'll come out and show you how this works. But this isn't something that I'm willing to raise money for outside of somewhere else. Yeah, somewhere else. So it makes sense. ⁓ my goal is to is to serve those Nebraska and Iowa veterans and we do a lot with the N Nebraska National Guard and the reserves. So it's military connected. The other thing I should mention in ⁓ twenty twenty with the with COVID and the impact that it had on those medical professionals. ⁓ a dear friend of mine ⁓ completed suicide and I went to the board and said can we include healthcare workers? I did see that. I was wondering how they how they found their way in there. That's how they found their way in and and so we still it's not the our main population. I think about two percent of our clients are frontline healthcare workers. ⁓ but that's again another profession where if you are a nurse or a doctor, you probably don't want to go to the hospital to say, Hey, I'm having issues with trauma. Right. You probably, you know, you want that to be confidential. ⁓ and so we do have ⁓ like I said, about two percent of our clients are are frontline healthcare workers. That's awesome. Yeah. Sounds like you guys are making an impact in the community. We're trying. Do you link arms with other community partners in terms of yep veteran based organizations or whatever? We do. We are actually, ⁓ so we are on the Governor's Task Force Task Force for Suicide Prevention. Okay. There is the Omaha Area Veterans Alliance that we're part of. But part of that peer support is if someone is, let's say someone is transitioning out of jail. Yes. They're just you know, they're left on the corner and said, okay, good luck. Right. So our peer support specialist not only is there to mentor and offer that kind of guidance but okay if you get out and you are you're having issues with groceries okay let's connect you for to get that food security. You can't pay your rent, let's connect you over to some veteran housing. We are we try really hard to not reinvent the wheel but to make those connections. Yeah. ⁓ because our goal is to have a warm handoff. And we have relationships with a lot of organizations here in town that are military focused. I'm not gonna start a fishing group because I know that there's a a military veteran led fishing group out there. I'm gonna send my vet who may like to fish. Right. I'm gonna send that vet to that group. ⁓ there's no reason to duplicate efforts. No. That's awesome. Well thank you so much for being on the podcast. Well thanks for having me. Sounds like you guys are making a huge impact in the in that community. So it's awesome service to provide. Yeah. And they deserve it. It's people who truly deserve it and the families who are also trying to navigate the issues that surround that as well. Remind our audience one more time about the five K. When is it? Where is it? Five K is June twenty seventh at Walnut Creek Recreation Area. Eight AM registration, nine AM race starts. And if you are a fast walker, you'll be done by ten AM. And how do they register? Do they register online at the At East USA website? Correct. Under the events tab. It'll be have the event. And so will the luncheon will be under the events tab. Well, thanks for being with us, Beth. Thank you. Nice to meet you. ⁓ it was nice to meet you. It's been awesome. Thanks again, Royalty Roofing Insiding. Please smash that subscribe button if you enjoy the content of the this podcast. We'll see you next time.