Riverton’s Soldier’s House A Headquarters Of Help For Veterans

Iraq war veteran Mike Clancy looks back on the help he goit from The Soldier’s House of Fremont County with a grateful heart.

He credits it for saving his marriage.

Former Wyoming National Guard officer Cameron Roberson said his conversations with the home’s cofounder and licensed psychotherapist Charlie Wilson this year really helped remove the stress from his life.

“Charlie’s level of experience and professionalism, his understanding is far superior to any other counselor I’ve seen in the VA system,” he said.

The little 800-square-foot farmhouse on the corner of East Jackson Avenue and North 12th Street in Riverton continues to operate as an HQ for compassion, mental health triage, and a connection to resources for veterans in the Fremont County region.

It began with a man and his wife who saw a need in their community and acted on it.

Wilson, 66, said he first came to Lander to work in the NOLS leadership program in 1988 and had his own guiding business before going back to college for a master’s degree to become a marriage and family therapist. 

One thing that stood out for him is that Wyoming has a higher veteran population density than many other states.

“I've been practicing psychotherapy in the Lander, Riverton area since about 2000 and the two things I notice is there's a lot of trauma, a lot of childhood trauma, and there's a lot of veterans, the two not necessarily connected at all,” Wilson said. 

“I pretty much have never dealt with a family that didn’t have a service member in it somewhere along the line,” he added.

The Veteran’s Administration reports that the percentage of veterans in Wyoming is No. 2 in the nation at 9.4%. For comparison, Alaska tops the list at 10.1% and Virginia is 9.2%. Colorado comes in at 7.2% and Florida 7.4%.

In Fremont County, where the soldier’s home sits, there is a population density of 8.08% to 9.74%. 

Those include the older Vietnam veterans who are mostly male and the younger Persian Gulf, Iraq, Afghanistan veterans both male and female, Wilson said.

“The primary thing we do is we combat isolation,” Wilson said. “We want veterans to feel understood, feel accepted, and feel comfortable. What I primarily do is psychotherapy with individuals, couples, and sometimes families.”

PTS And Isolation

Typically that counseling need arises after a service member returns from deployments, military careers, and are back in their marriage and household trying to adjust to life in a rural setting and in isolation, he said.

Wilson said he’s found that veterans with post traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms move to rural areas of the country to get away from bridges, crowds and things would trigger and add stress to their lives.

The seed for The Soldier’s House began in 2011 when he was on the board for the local Habitat for Humanity and learned about a house that a Realtor wanted moved off a property. 

Habitat didn’t want it. Wilson had the idea to make it a place where he could counsel veterans.

Through his and wife Jennifer’s investment and the help of others the house was moved to a lot in Riverton, renovated, and began with his and other volunteers' efforts to meet the needs of the veterans around them.

Wilson said he never served in the military and wanted the facility to operate in a way that served those who did.

“We encourage the community to either kind of learn about veterans’ issues or offer services that they’re willing to donate to support veterans, whatever they are needing,” he said. “A lot of times what we do is end up more responding.”

Wilson said the “House” label does not infer that it is a place where veterans live. 

Typically, its been open when he is there counseling or in more recent years when a veteran’s Alcohol Anonymous group holds weekly meetings, or a special event is happening.

Move To Nonprofit

Prior to the COVID pandemic, operations were funded by donations and from his own pocket.

“We never did any fundraising until after COVID,” he said. The pandemic meant they had to shut down and they lost some volunteer practitioners. 

"Due to the hit cause by the pandemic, he and his wife formed a nonprofit 501c3 and brought on a board.

This year will be their third joining the Lander Challenge for Charities fundraiser as a means to help fund operations.

Wilson said their three-fold focus involves housing insecurity, mental health, and food insecurity. Services in addition to counseling, currently include volunteers providing acupuncture treatments and craniosacral therapy meant to help with pain and stress issues.

On the housing side, the county has several older veterans with homes in need of repair and they can’t afford the fixes or do the work themselves, Wilson said.

“That creates a really lovely opportunity to sort of get a crew together and show up at a person’s house and do a project,” he said. “We’ve roofed houses, sided houses, put in some access stuff, bathroom stuff, so that’s house security.”

For veterans in need of housing, The Soldier’s House typically connects the veteran with a resource that can help such as the local branch for Volunteers of America that often assists with grant funding for a housing need.

His wife started a Thanksgiving meal tradition after talking with a local Vietnam vet a few years ago and learning he was just going to get a turkey leg from a local market for his celebration and go home.

Food Security

Now the facility has teamed up with Wyoming First Lady Jennie Gordon’s Wyoming Hunger Initiative and opened a food pantry as well as started growing vegetables in a lot next to The Soldier’s House.

“We just put those vegetables out (on) a stand for veterans to come and get,” Wilson said. 

They have also collaborated with area hunting groups that donate wild game that has been processed. A local business donated freezers and now that is also part of the charity’s offerings. 

For Clancy, who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Wyoming National Guard, Wilson and The Soldier’s House has been a real resource for dealing with his PTSD and helping his relationship with his wife.    

He started counseling with Wilson and then his wife joined some sessions.

“I can honestly say Charlie was integral in saving my marriage,” Clancy said. “I felt like I could trust Charlie; that there was a high level of confidentiality there, and (he) was very approachable, listened very well and was an unbiased person that could say, ‘Hey, think about this,’ or have some good points of instruction on how to improve.”

Roberson, 40, who works as a teacher in alternative education, said earlier in the school year he had traumatic life events occur that caused a “pretty severe stress response” that started affecting this teaching role.

He went to the Veteran’s Administration to see if he could obtain counseling, but the process was going to take three months before he could actually talk to someone in person. 

A social worker gave him Wilson’s card and suggested he reach out for some supplemental support.

'Let’s Help You Out'

“I called Charlie and he said, ‘Yep, let’s help you out,’” Roberson said. 0

After two months of counseling Roberson said he received the support he needed and was greatly helped. He did get an appointment to the VA and noticed the difference right away.

At the VA meeting, the counselor was looking at the computer screen, reading off questions, and typing responses. 

Roberson said that didn’t make the “human connection” he needed or was looking for.

He said Wilson’s approach of trying to understand and help the person and not necessarily come up with a diagnosis worked for him, because Wilson just wanted him to be his “best self.”

“I think that was a lot better approach than what I saw from the VA,” Roberson said.

Wilson said he typically sees about four to six clients a week and is grateful for the support that he’s witnessed from the community.

The nonprofit continues to evolve and some ideas for the future — if the funds ever allow — include possibly launching events where veterans can learn fly fishing and maybe spend an evening understanding how to tie flies.

Cycling is another interest, and Wilson would someday like to see The Solider’s House have bikes that veterans can check out and the nonprofit can possibly find a volunteer to teach bike mechanic classes.

Wilson believes it's all about staying focused on their core mission.

“Just the sort of things that get veterans doing stuff, eating healthy, and getting their needs met,” he said.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.