He’s been to war. When veterans talk, Steve Akers understands.
Akers will always understand. He can no longer listen, though. After almost three decades of listening to recollections of combat and its aftermath, the 61-year-old Everett man is retired as a mental health counselor.
“I’m saturated. It’s compassion fatigue,” said Akers, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. Until last year, he worked at his own downtown Everett counseling office. His wife, Laurie Akers, also a counselor, carries on his mission at Akers Counseling.
Steve Akers spent his career reaching out to veterans of all ages. Many came to him through his contact with the Veterans Health Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
No longer working directly with clients, Akers shares his professional expertise and the hard-earned experience of his own battles with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Monday evening, he’ll be at Mount Vernon’s Skagit Valley Hospital to address a meeting of therapists interested in volunteering with the Soldiers Project NW, which aims to provide free, confidential counseling for active duty military members, veterans and their families.
With a masters degree in social work from the University of Washington, he’ll be a consultant with the Soldiers Project, which is active in several cities around the country.
Raised in Blackfoot, Idaho, Akers was in Vietnam in 1968 with the Idaho Army National Guard’s 116th Combat Engineers Battalion. That same battalion has been twice to Iraq, he said.
He sees similarities between Vietnam veterans and those who’ve served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but war today comes with new issues.
“One difference, now they’re really advanced in technology, with phones and e-mail,” Akers said. While that can help military members stay in touch with loved ones back home, it also allows for saving images, and also for immediate bad news from home.
What once might have been a mental picture, replayed again and again, can now be a photograph on a cell phone.
“A guy asked me if I wanted to see pictures of him blowing a guy up. It’s brutal, brutal war,” Akers said. “People I have talked with are really questioning their own souls. I would not dare say they are more damaged than other veterans, but modern warfare is different.”
Repeated tours to Iraq and Afghanistan are heavy burdens for military families.
“We were in Vietnam for a year. Now we’ve got people on two, three, four tours of duty. The divorce rate is incredible. As long as they’re in the military, they have the ability to handle it. Once they step out of the military, the support system is gone,” Akers said. “It really has taken a great toll, not just on one generation.”
He’s had clients call him while driving, unable to move and convinced that there’s something dangerous on the road. “I have guys who don’t know where they are,” Akers said.
Unlike during the Vietnam era, Akers sees an outpouring of goodwill for U.S. troops from the public. “People want to do things for you — make cookies,” he said.
Trisha Pearce, a psychiatric nurse at Skagit Valley Hospital, has been instrumental in bringing the Soldiers Project to Western Washington. More than 100 licensed therapists have attended a series of meetings this year, and seven are now serving clients in the south Puget Sound region. The hope is to launch the program in the north Sound area.
“It’s a very different war, with all the National Guard people,” Pearce said.
Akers doesn’t hide his anger over policies that have again sent Americans to war. He’s furious about the government’s treatment of some veterans upon their return.
“That anger became so powerful, it was time to quit,” he said.
He’s not without hope, mostly because of the strength of veterans he’s seen.
“One of the beautiful things, there are a lot of people as resilient as heck. They do recover,” Akers said.
It’s just that he can’t listen, not anymore. “The emotions of doing this, I don’t hide from my emotions anymore,” Akers said. “If I need to cry, I cry.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Soldiers Project
The Soldiers Project is a private, nonprofit group of volunteer licensed mental health professionals who provide free, confidential counseling to military service members, veterans and their families. Information: www.thesoldiersproject.org.
Retired Everett counselor Steve Akers will speak at a meeting for therapists interested in volunteering for the Soldiers Project NW from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday at Skagit Valley Hospital’s Cascade Conference Room, 1415 E. Kincaid St. in Mount Vernon. Information: 206-290-1035.
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