Resources

Arm yourself with knowledge

Every tool here was chosen for one reason: to help the fight...to inspire, find, and cultivate the "spiritual resilience" in us. Browse by category, or start wherever you are.

Need immediate support?

Call 988, press 1 · Text 838255·Veterans Crisis LineText HOME to 741741·Crisis Text LineCall 800-950-6264 · Text "NAMI" to 62640 · or email·NAMI HelpLine

New & recent releases — veteran authors

Veteran author

In Sha Allah, If God Wills It

Ron Farina

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Veteran authorPurple Heart ×2 · Silver Star

Faded Green

Daniel M. Eddinger

"The soul can find no answer for war."

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Veteran author

The Things War Leaves Behind

Dr. Matthew Kelsey, Psy.D.

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Resilience is not coming home unchanged. It is finding a way to build a meaningful life with the parts of war that came home with you.

— Dr. Matthew Kelsey, Psy.D., The Things War Leaves Behind

Listen to Dr. Kelsey

Finding CalmGuide

Understanding what anxiety is actually telling you

NAMI explains that anxiety isn't always the enemy — it becomes a disorder when persistent, excessive fear prevents everyday functioning. Learn the difference between normal anxiety and anxiety disorders, including GAD, panic disorder, and social anxiety.

5 min readRead →

Finding CalmTool

NIMH: Anxiety disorders — signs, symptoms, and treatment

The National Institute of Mental Health covers what anxiety disorders look like, why they develop, and what treatments actually work — including CBT, medication, and stress-management strategies like breathing exercises.

3 min readRead →

Carrying LossGuide

SAMHSA: Coping with bereavement and grief

SAMHSA affirms that grief is deeply personal — shaped by the nature of the loss, cultural background, and how each person copes. Covers what grief looks like, Prolonged Grief Disorder, and pathways toward support and professional care.

7 min readRead →

Carrying LossArticle

National Institute on Aging: Coping with grief and loss

The NIA addresses how grief resurfaces, what normal mourning looks like across time, and practical steps for sitting with loss — including when to seek professional help.

6 min readRead →

Tending to YourselfGuide

SAMHSA: Taking care of yourself while supporting others

SAMHSA makes clear that self-care isn't indulgent — it's what keeps you functional when you're carrying weight for others. Practical guidance on protecting your own mental health while showing up for people you love.

5 min readRead →

Tending to YourselfTool

NAMI: Living with a mental health condition

NAMI's guide to daily life with a mental health condition covers the small, repeatable practices — routines, relationships, work, housing — that keep people grounded even on the hardest days.

4 min readRead →

When You Need Help NowResource

SAMHSA: Crisis help — suicide, mental health, drug and alcohol

SAMHSA's crisis page is direct: call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 1-800-662-4357 for SAMHSA's 24/7 National Helpline. Real numbers, real people, available right now.

2 min readRead →

When You Need Help NowGuide

SAMHSA: How to talk to someone about getting help

SAMHSA gives you the words and approach for one of the hardest conversations — how to reach someone who is struggling without pushing them away, and what to do if they resist help.

6 min readRead →

Knowing Your StrengthArticle

NIMH: Trauma, PTSD, and the path beyond it

NIMH's PTSD resource covers what happens in the brain and body after trauma — and how treatment, including EMDR and CPT, helps people not just survive but rebuild a stronger sense of self.

8 min readRead →

Knowing Your StrengthGuide

NAMI: Understanding your diagnosis and moving forward

NAMI addresses the disorienting experience of a mental health diagnosis — and how understanding what you're facing is the first step toward reclaiming who you are and where you're going.

7 min readRead →

Finding CalmArticle

Managing stress when anxiety runs beneath the surface

NAMI's guide to managing stress addresses the exhausting cycle of high-functioning anxiety — identifying triggers, building coping strategies, and knowing when to ask for more support.

6 min readRead →

Knowing Your StrengthTool

Writing your resilience story

A guided journaling practice to help you see the thread of strength running through your hardest chapters. Expressive writing — putting your experience into words — is one of the most researched tools for processing trauma and rebuilding a sense of self. NIMH recommends it as part of caring for your mental health. Learning from people who've been there is part of it too — your story of struggle and survival has value.

10 min exerciseRead →

Knowing Your StrengthTool

NAMI Peer-to-Peer: Learning from people who've been there

NAMI's Peer-to-Peer program is built on the power of lived experience — the idea that your story of struggle and survival has value, and that sharing it is part of healing.

5 min readRead →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

A psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor's account of finding meaning amid unimaginable suffering. Frankl's logotherapy — the belief that meaning is the primary human drive — has shaped resilience science and mental health practice for generations.

165 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges, 3rd Edition

Steven M. Southwick, MD, Dennis S. Charney, MD & Jonathan M. DePierro, PhD

Veteran author

The fully revised and expanded third edition — updated to address collective trauma in a post-pandemic world, with new research on frontline healthcare responders during COVID-19 and the unique resilience demands they faced. Co-authored with Jonathan DePierro, whose work with first responders and healthcare workers deepened the science. Drawing on interviews with POWs, Special Forces soldiers, trauma survivors, and pandemic frontline workers to identify what resilience truly requires. Essential for clinicians, veterans, and anyone committed to understanding human endurance.

272 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges, 2nd Edition

Steven M. Southwick, MD & Dennis S. Charney, MD

Veteran author

The landmark second edition — updated and expanded in the wake of 9/11 and its aftermath. Drawing on interviews with POWs, Special Forces soldiers, and trauma survivors, Southwick and Charney deepened their identification of ten key resilience factors to reflect a nation grappling with collective trauma. Practical, honest, and deeply human.

272 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges, 1st Edition

Steven M. Southwick, MD & Dennis S. Charney, MD

Veteran author

The groundbreaking first edition — the first scientifically evidence-based research on resilience ever published. Southwick and Charney drew on decades of rigorous study and clinical work with veterans, POWs, Special Forces soldiers, and trauma survivors to identify ten key resilience factors. Practical, honest, and deeply human. A foundational text that changed how science understands the human capacity to endure.

272 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

The Body Keeps the Score

Bessel van der Kolk

A landmark work on how trauma reshapes the body and brain — and the range of approaches that can help people reclaim their lives. Essential reading for anyone touched by trauma.

464 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

In Sha Allah, If God Wills It: The Real-Life Story of an Afghan Combat Interpreter

Ron Farina

Veteran author

The story of Abdul Atah Wahedi — wounded twice serving alongside U.S. Special Forces, hunted by the Taliban, and forced to flee Afghanistan with his family. A testament to courage, loyalty, and the resilience woven into everyday survival.

232 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Sacrifice, The Final Chapter

Ron Farina

Veteran author

An INDIE Publisher's 2025 book award finalist for military nonfiction. Farina — inducted into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame — chronicles the ultimate sacrifices made by service members and the families who carry that weight long after the war ends.

NonfictionFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Honoring Veterans Forever: The Definitive Guide to Writing Veteran Oral Histories

Milton A. Toratti

Veteran author

A practical and deeply respectful guide to capturing the stories of those who served — preserving their voices, their sacrifices, and their humanity for generations to come.

PaperbackFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Closure: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Recovery Mission

Lt. William Keegan Jr. with Bart Davis

A 20-year Port Authority Police Department veteran and Operations Commander at Ground Zero tells the story of nine brutal months of recovery — 1.8 million tons of debris, political pressure, grief, and the unbreakable resolve of the men who saw it through. The New York Times called it "a work whose tone of modest moral authority restores dignity to 'closure' itself."

256 pagesFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

The Things War Leaves Behind: Truth, Healing, and the Long Road Home

Dr. Matthew Kelsey, Psy.D.

Veteran authorCT Veterans Bulletin

A Connecticut veteran and clinical psychologist addresses the invisible wounds of service with profound empathy, professional rigor, and practical insight — bridging clinical psychology and the unique realities of military culture. "The hardest battles often begin long after the deployment ends." As announced by the Connecticut Veterans Bulletin.

PaperbackFind this book →

Books Worth ReadingBook

Faded Green

Daniel M. Eddinger

Veteran author

Faded Green is an accumulation of blank verse poetry that explains situations and circumstances under which a frontline combat soldier experiences war. Written in the aftermath of PTSD, these poems capture what a combat soldier and civilian thinks about what happened to them in a war zone — questions that cannot be answered, only written out. For the front-line combat soldier who has survived war, these poems may be healing.

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Books Worth ReadingBook

Secret War Soldiers: Abandoned but Not Forgotten

Milton A. Toratti

Veteran author

The untold story of soldiers who served in secret — abandoned by the system that sent them, but never forgotten by those who knew them. Toratti brings the same meticulous care and deep respect for service that defines his work preserving veteran voices.

PaperbackFind this book →

Need immediate support?

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please reach out now. You are not alone, and help is available 24/7.

Veterans Crisis Line

Call 988, press 1 · Text 838255

24/7

You don't have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect.

Crisis Text Line

Text HOME to 741741

24/7

NAMI HelpLine

Call 800-950-6264 · Text "NAMI" to 62640 · or email

M–F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET

In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).