It’s PTSD Month, but Let’s Talk About Posttraumatic GROWTH Instead

Mandy Pifer—who lost her first responder fiance in an ISIS-related shooting in 2015—said it best, referring to PTSD recovery: “You have to know Posttraumatic Growth exists in order for it to happen. You have to know it’s okay for good things to happen after really bad things.”

June is PTSD Awareness Month. I often wonder why we choose to spend a full month raising awareness about a subject that everyone is already aware of. 

For far too long we have focused exclusively on the negative impacts of trauma and struggle. This narrative is dominated by ideas of dysfunction, disorder and diagnosis. This language can feel debilitating—a label too heavy to carry. The result: we are left feeling permanently diminished and damaged, a victim to the worst experiences of our life.

At Boulder Crest, we train Veterans and active-serving military service members to thrive in the aftermath of trauma using the science of Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). Last year, in an effort to balance the story we tell about struggle and trauma, we led the charge to have June 13th designated Posttraumatic Growth Day.

PTG is the centuries-old idea that struggle can be a catalyst for profound growth and transformation. It’s the hero’s journey from Star Wars and every blockbuster from your childhood. It’s cited in ancient literature and religious texts. It’s the oldest idea you’ve never heard of. And in 1995, it became a scientific framework thanks to the work of Dr. Richard Tedeschi and Dr. Lawrence Calhoun.

I’m proud to lead an organization that is the home of PTG. We are committed—as evidenced by the 100,000 service members, Veterans, first responders and mental health professionals we have trained over the last 11 years—to balancing this narrative. And enabling the members of the remarkable communities we serve to live great lives. Lives filled with passion, purpose, connection, growth and service. 

We feel it’s time to shift the conversation and shine a light on the possibility of growth in the aftermath of trauma. We must give people the permission and the training needed to transform their struggle into lifelong growth. 

We’ve witnessed the transformative impact our Warrior PATHH & Struggle Well programs have shown on our graduates. We’re on a mission to expand this work, changing the way society thinks, feels and acts when it comes to struggle. We want to show people there is another path—teach them to “Struggle Well.”

The mission has kicked off a movement to write our own stories: of hope, of agency, of growth. To “Choose Growth.”

That is why on June 13th, the second-ever National Posttraumatic Growth Day, we are launching the Choose Growth Initiative. Our goal: to ensure that as many people have heard of PTG as have heard of PTSD. And we cannot do this alone—we need your help and your megaphone. 

Visit choosegrowth.org to learn more about the effort, or bouldercrest.org to learn about Warrior PATHH, our free, PTG-based program that trains Veterans to thrive in the aftermath of trauma.