HEALTH & WELLNESS PROGRAMS
MOTORSPORTS THERAPY
Our flagship program, which started as a few veterans getting together and turning wrenches, racing, and enjoying each other’s camaraderie, has transformed into a science backed treatment modality for TBI and PTS. Backed by fellow veterans as well as medical professionals, RFH’s pursuit of therapy for our nation’s veterans is unique compared to the current standard of care.
The most prevalent type of care experienced by veterans is the plain white doctor’s office followed by prescription meds and a very cookie-cutter approach to wellness that often leaves the veterans lost and in many cases, a worse place than where they started. Here, we have combined the elements of what we all have been trained and bred to respect (community, mission, & purpose) into an environment that utilizes motorsports as a both a medium and treatment modality in a holistic and functional approach to caring for veterans.
THE MOTORSPORTS THERAPY
PROGRAM
THE NEED
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) plays a major role in the challenges that many veterans of the military experience. Numerous studies have established the frequent occurrence of PTSD among individuals exposed to traumas including wars, disasters, terrorist attacks, accidents, and interpersonal violence. The high prevalence of PTSD among deployed servicemen of current wars (e.g., 24% of US reservists of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, one year after homecoming) continues to be worrisome. Many veterans that RFH serves experience Chronic PTSD. Chronic PTSD is often much longer and epidemiological studies show that the average duration of Chronic PTSD episodes are more than seven years long. This longer form of PTSD is often comorbid with other disorders and difficult to treat.
The US Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that the scientific evidence on treatment modalities for PTSD was “below the level of certainty that would be desired for such a common and serious disorder”. The IOM has identified but one treatment component of CBT – Exposure Therapy – to have convincing evidence behind it. The evidence for other treatment modalities, including pharmacological therapies has been found to be inadequate. There are many different types of Exposure Therapy that work for different veterans.
This is where RFH is particularly focused as we have developed the Motorsports Therapy Program to allow veterans to accomplish exposure therapy in a controlled environment that parallels the adrenaline rush and focus that they had in uniform, without the same level of risk to life and limb.
MOTORSPORTS THERAPY
RUNDOWN
The Motorsports Therapy Program (MTP) is our flagship program and the one which integrates with all of our other programs. As briefly discussed earlier, this program was borne out of Mike Evock’s experience when he had just transitioned from the military and was profoundly depressed. He was not sleeping and was having dark thoughts that scared him and his family. What Mike found was that by going back to something he did in his youth, racing, he was able to regain the adrenaline rush and focus that he had when he was operational in the Special Forces. He found that through this intensive experience, he was exposed to a level of excitement and engagement that closely paralleled his uniformed experience. He then was able to start to sleep at night and find solace. But it was more than that. He was now engaging with a community of drivers, many of whom were veterans, to build cars and keep them on the track. In essence, recreating the bonds of camaraderie that he had in the Green Berets. It was from this personal experience that he started the MTP.
Today the MTP program has multiple discrete elements that veterans can partake in:
Driving Experience for groups of veterans by hosting them for a three-day course of study at our Headquarters at Virginia International Raceway.
- RFH Veteran Sponsorship: RFH provides partial sponsorship (as available) to help veterans build and drive their own cars. This element is at no cost to the veteran from RFH. RFH provides some materials as well as access to donated materials and funds; however, the veteran must put in sweat equity and their own resources as well.
- Building teams of veterans to work on a veteran’s car. This builds a sense of community and is critical to enhancing the safety net for veterans living in depression. This element is at no cost to the veteran.
- Training veterans on race car fabrication and automotive work in general at our shop in Alton, VA. This element is at no cost, including housing, to the veteran.
- Opportunities to engage with the community for veteran drivers. This is critical to helping our fellow warriors raise awareness of the issues facing the veteran community.