Centennial Hills resident earns grant for work with veterans

Former U.S. Army Col. Jill Chambers first found out in early October that she had been selected to be featured on makers.com .

"When I saw who the household names were, it was pretty cool when I was selected as a non household name," she said.

Makers is an organization that promotes female leaders by telling their stories, and past winners include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook; and fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg .

Chambers, who recently moved to Centennial Hills, was recognized for founding This Able Vet LLC, which works toward reducing the stigma associated with mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, for veterans. You will never hear Chambers call it a disorder, though. Instead, Chambers calls it post-traumatic growth.

She connected with a 19-year-old medic in Boston who, on his first day in Iraq, witnessed the mass casualty of Iraqi civilians. Chambers said the medic told her that an Iraqi father walked into the clinic with his son in his arms, but his son did not have a head . The medic also told her he was having trouble sleeping.

"He said, 'But I don't feel like I have a disorder. I just need some help,' " Chambers said.

Chambers was awarded a $10,000 grant by Makers for her projects . She said she plans to use some of the grant on the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival, which she got involved with through her new husband, country singer Michael Peterson.

Elizabeth Mackey, director of the festival, said Chambers has worked with the event for the last three years.

Mackey said the event, run by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, is considering using the grant from Chambers to create a therapeutic arts scholarship so veterans who have not won a national arts award have the opportunity to attend the event and participate in the visual arts workshops. The next festival is planned for Oct. 21-27 in Reno.

Chambers also plans to use some of the grant at the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families to address the non pharmaceutical ways to assist veterans, she said.

Chambers retired from the U.S. Army after 28 years of active service, and her last four positions were at the Pentagon. She was at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, when it was struck by a hijacked plane, and she suffered from long-term stress, too. She has been to Iraq six times in the last 18 months.

"Who knew I had some PTS challenges ? I was too busy to worry about me," she said. "I didn't have time to think about why am I having all these nightmares ."

Chambers was sleeping only three to four hours a night, she said.

She might not have recognized her own stress symptoms, but she saw it in others and wanted to start an upper-level conversation about the challenges. In 2007, Chambers served as special assistant to the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to conduct a study on PTSD. She spent 18 months traveling the country to learn, firsthand, about the challenges facing wounded veterans, which is when she met the medic in Boston.

"I went back to Admiral (Michael) Mullen and said, 'We're not talking about this, and somebody needs to,' " Chambers said. "This is not new news; it's just something the military didn't want to talk about."

The goal, she said, is to give soldiers a tool to recognize and address their stress. She said she wants them to have techniques to know that "they're not losing their mind if they can't sleep."

Chambers and Peterson moved to Centennial Hills in December and married on Jan. 1. She said she hopes not only to change the conversation about stress in the military but also for employers that are in the position to hire veterans. She said she even had an employer asking if he can catch PTSD by hiring a veteran.

"Have some understanding about what you're talking about," she said. "The story is veterans bring so much to the table . Why aren't you hiring a veteran?"

Belleruth Naparstek, founder of Health Journeys and a clinical social worker, said Chambers helped her communicate with military leaders about guided imagery.

"She's the best of what the Army produces . It's never about her," Naparstek said. "There are a lot of service members who need a lot of help . They don't even know what they don't know. It's of critical importance that we figure this stuff out fast."

For more information on This Able Vet, visit michaelpetersononline.com/thisablevet .

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter Laura Phelps at lphelps@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.