http://media.npr.org/images/ap//AP_News_Wire:_Latest_Headlines/1_Chaplains_Post_Traumatic_Stress.sff_300.jpgCarrie Doehring, an associated professor of pastoral care is pictured in a classroom at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011, where she teaches chaplains to respond to the stress of deployments amid two protracted wars. Doehring helped develop the one-year program for the Air Force, which wanted another way for its chaplains to respond to the stress of deployments amid two protracted wars. Chaplains Try A New Path To Deal With PTSDby The Associated Press
DENVER January 30, 2011, 12:59 am ET
A Colorado theology school is teaching Air Force chaplains to consider the religious beliefs of servicemen and women to better help them cope with post-traumatic stress.
The goal is to build trust so a chaplain can encourage service members to draw on their individual concepts of God and spirituality, said Carrie Doehring, an associate professor of pastoral care at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
Doehring helped develop the one-year program for the Air Force, which wanted another way for its chaplains to respond to the stress of deployments amid two protracted wars.
Doehring said she believes it's the only program of its kind in the country.
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Some military organizations, including the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., have been accused of tolerating unwanted proselytizing by conservative Christians. That wasn't a factor in the Air Force's decision to support Iliff's program, said Abner Valenzuela, a chaplain and a major in the Air Force Office of the Chief of Chaplains.