Group teaches vets to cope with PTSD through fly fishing
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JACKSON, Tenn. — A nonprofit is teaching West Tennessee veterans how to deal with the aftermath of war with a fishy type of therapy. “It’s so relaxing,” Paul Holcombe said. Holcombe is part of the group Project Healing Waters, which teaches veterans how to deal with the aftermath of war through fly fishing. “This just takes me off into my own world and I forget about everything,” he said. Holcombe said that wasn’t exactly something he set out to do. Medically retired from the U.S. Army, Holcombe has served overseas in Desert Storm, Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq during his 15 years with the military. Holcombe said in the early 2000s he admitted he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. “It just got to where I couldn’t more or less function,” he said. After going through inpatient therapy at the VA Hospital, Holcombe said fishing came to the rescue. “We teach them how to tie flies, how to build their own fly rods and take them fishing,” Ken Swinburne said. Swinburne has worked with the program for several years. Swinburne said a large portion of the veterans’ healing comes from the basics. “In their darkest times when they have real issues with the PTSD, they can just sit there in the house and tie flies, and that takes the concentration of doing that, takes their mind off the other dark thoughts that they’re having.” Holcombe says there are moments when he thinks back to his deployment and relaxes by tying flies for hours on end. There are more than 180 Project Healing Waters groups across the United States, Canada and Australia.
