Healing A Soldier’s Heart
“I use this [film] as often as I can in giving presentations to the community on PTSD — again the images are profound – bring sacred silence and often tears to the audience…”
Lin Daly, Therapist, and Executive Director of Therapeutic Inpatient Facility, Milwaukee, WI
Healing A Soldier’s Heart, follows the courageous journeys of four Vietnam veterans, all suffering from severe PTSD, who return to Vietnam to finally face the demons that have been haunting them for almost forty years. Under the guidance of Dr. Edward Tick, the vets venture back to the actual trauma sites – the places where they fought and killed their former enemies, or saw their own friends and comrades die.
This film provides an unforgettable journey back to Vietnam, through what Dr. Tick calls “their second, this time, willful descent into hell,” and carries viewers into the hearts and minds of the four veterans and their families, as they experience forgiveness and compassion from their former enemies. Through first-time contact with Vietnamese culture and Buddhist-principles of forgiveness and compassion, the four vets are led to a new state of awareness and spiritual peace.
Healing A Soldier’s Heart traces the veterans’ gradual shift from terrorized nightmares, drug abuse and attempted suicides, to their eventual transformations as healed, spiritual warriors and even mentors to PTSD-suffering younger veterans from the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. The film is a profound, intimate story about the long-term, psycho-spiritual effects of war, and of the loss and eventual reconnection of the human soul.
Duration: 1 hour 11 minutes
Produced & Directed by: Stephen Olsson
Edited by: Rhonda Collins, Parisa Soultani, Kristin Tieche
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Press
“When Ed Tick reminds us, We must be willing to walk through hell beside our veterans with our hearts wide open, he has given us one opportunity for a first step through this film. We viewed the DVD with civilians, veterans from all recent wars and conflicts and our heart and soul were touched and strangely moved. We are now organizing a group of vets to go to Viet Nam. The healing has begun and our veterans will take their rightful place in our society.”
– John Schluep, VN era vet, Senior Pastor of First Congregational Church, Tallmadge, Ohio, and Founder of The Warrior’s Journey Home
“I just viewed the film in a rare moment of peace last night. What a beautiful creation! It moved me to tears and inspired me to do more. So many beautiful principles that traditional therapy misses. Thank you so much for sending it, and especially thank you for the healing work that you and your team continue to do for our internally and spiritually wounded. May you continue to be blessed in all your compassionate efforts.”
– Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D. University of Maryland School of Public Health
“As a therapist I have worked with PTSD with a variety of clients. This short film gave me a deeper experience, a visual guide to how deep the wounds are and yet how deep healing can be..the film gives HOPE..that it is never too late to work on ourselves. The loving Vietnamese people, the way the children warmed the hearts of the vets, and the image of the vet walking with the water buffalo paint the spirit of our work – more so than words could ever do. I use this DVD as often as I can in giving presentations to the community on PTSD — again the images are profound – bring sacred silence and often tears to the audience….”
– Lin Daly, Therapist, and Executive Director of Thereaputic Inpatient Facility, Milwaukee, WI