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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2015)
10 CLACKAMAS PRINT • JUNE 3,2015 Arm y veteran Aaron Heliker deals with his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder by training, grooming vand riding horses at Rainier Therapeutic Riding. by Debbie Fox & Lily Shaver x Many young soldiers come home with injuries, men tal images of the past and suicidal tendencies. Aaron Heliker came home from his last tour of Afghanistan a fragm ent of the young man w ho left. Heliker sus tained injuries and suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Heliker was taking 42 pills every day and there was no evidence th a t the pills were providing relief. He and his doctor did not see eye to eye. After his last visit to the doctor, he says, wrote my suicide letter, locked and loaded my 9 mil. I was ready to pull the trigger.” Faced w ith overwhelming physical pain, afraid of becoming close to anyone, and so desperate th a t he could see no hopeful future, Heliker did n ’t w ant to continue living. He was on a suicide watch, arid someone from the battalion would call every 15 minutes. If there was no response, somebody from the battalion would rush over to make sure he was alright. Debbie Fisher, the ow ner o f Rainier Therapeutic Riding, returned his cal, at the very minute he was going to pull the trigger. Fisher offered some reasons w (iy Heliker needed to help her w ith her horses. She went even further than that, the extra mile, and picked him up. Three months into the program, Heliker pre sented Fisher w ith his suicide letter and informed her th a ttie would no longer have a need fo r the letter. This was the start o f the long journey back to being able to cope w ith everyday life. Heliker began riding, training and grooming horses. Three years after starting the program, to start com petition horsemanship. He finished in prize contention after several o f the com petitions. Heliker now has his own horse. “I bought my own horse, a red horse a.k.a. ch e stn u t., don’t care w hat they call it, I refuse to cal, my horse a c h e stn u t” The horse has a red tint, which reminds the soldier of his unit, also called “ Red Horse.” Heliker carried the horsemanship skills that were learned in the equine therapy program with him. Heliker has hopes o f opening his own program near Spokane, Wash, w ithin the next 10 years. Heliker’s story appeared in a number of newspa pers worldwide. Robin Fryday and Peter Rosenbaum contacted Heliker about turning his story into a docu mentary. This is when “Riding My Way Back” was born. “This is a story o f hope,” Heliker explained. It took tw o years of film ing for a 28-m inute d oc umentary. “it’s not about how many awards we win; it’s about how many lives are being saved,” Heliker said. “Twen ty-tw o veterans com m it suicide every day, and the documentary was designed to lower th a t statistic. t ^ e jite £ credits Fisher w ith saving his life. It was a 1ong;|phesome journey back from the depths of de- spair u n tifh e m et Fisher and began equine therapy. Today, Heliker is a student at Clackamas Community College, taking classes in the Collision Repair program. Army Strong Community Centers have tw o Contract Customer Coordinators, Annie Crawford and Kyle Bell, in th e Clackamas C om m unity College Com m unity Center. Areas of support include briefings to groups, benefits and entitlements, education and employment assistance and referrals to helping agencies. There is free dental service being offered w ith participating Aspen Dental locations. For more contact information, contact ASCC at (503) 594-6215. Crawford says, “I am excited about this new service.” Bryan Farrell works in the Veteran’s Center at CCC. “In a sense (my job) entitles helping veterans pursue their education w ith helping them apply for their VA education benefits and the G.l. Bill,” said Farrell. The Veterans Center offers many diverse resources for veterans. Not only do they provide support in pursu ing an education for veterans, but they also provide basics such as a book exchange, food and coffee. The Veterans Center has a link on CCC’s home page for easy access to w hat is going on in the Veterans Center, “if you have a problem we are very active in resolving it or pursuing a resolution,” said Farrell. The Veterans Center is a place for veterans to go to get aid in many different areas. “Veterans are first in our eyes,” said Farrell, “iftthere somehow is a disconnect between the Veterans Cen ter and the school, we make sure that it gets resolved.”
