Tomah VA Medical Center

Trainers share how to assist in Small Group settings.

Forty-nine VA professionals from 18 VA medical centers took part in a three-day training hosted by the Tomah VA Medical Center on Taking Charge of My Life and Health (TCMLH), a group-based program focused on having Veteran participants to become more proactive in their own healthcare.

"The Tomah VA is excited to host the first of these training sessions here in Wisconsin," said Tomah VA Medical Center Director Victoria Brahm. "Through Whole Health, we are changing the environment and culture to one that empowers the Veteran to take charge of their health and define what is important to them.  Whole Health approaches patient care from a biopsychosocial perspective that takes into account all needs of our Veteran patients and offers customized treatment approaches.”

Whole Health is a bold and innovative approach to health care that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health, healing, well-being, and live their fullest life.

“Tomah VA is the first flagship site, of 18 sites, to host this training. It has been a great opportunity to expand our Veteran staff and volunteers understanding of our Whole Health transformation, and help other facilities on their journey,” said Jessica Hennessey, Tomah VAMC Whole Health Program Manager. “The training that we are doing is to train facilitators and is peer-to-peer led. We also cover The Taking Charge of My Health and Life curriculum and group facilitation skills.” 

As a means for Veterans to choose which areas of health they may want to enhance based on what matters to them, the peer facilitators will lead a 9-week program. The focus is on effective group facilitation skills and exposure to the curriculum through practice and feedback.

“I think the important thing for Veterans to know is that the time is right for them to start to decide for themselves what matters to them for their health and to start setting some goals for themselves as opposed to having a doctor or nurse, or any kind of clinician telling them what to do,” said Andrea Young, Field Implementation Team Consultant for the Office of Patient Center Care and Cultural Transformation Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISN) 5 in Pennsylvania.

Even though Young was a presenter at the event, she was there to learn more.

“This is my second time having access to this material and this program so I am learning a lot more the second time around. I’m also learning how to become a facilitator so that I can teach this course that we are going to be offering throughout the nation,” she said.

The training included Veterans interested in assisting other Veterans. They can effectively and respectfully communicate with other Veterans and are interested in promoting health and in learning and improving their own facilitation skills. Additionally, they respect the unique journeys of other Veterans. Clinical staff who may be providing mentoring and supervision for the Veteran facilitators also participated.

Adam Zananski, Whole Health Coordinator VA Hudson Valley in New York, had clear expectations of the training. “My expectation was to kind of observe the process and to kind of see how it was set up, how it was carried out to see how I am going to structure it at my facility,” said Zananski, a Navy Veteran. “I’ve taken away how to facilitate these groups and to get people to really identify what really matters to them and how to facilitate them making their own decision on how they can change or improve on areas they want to improve on.” 

For some, the training was a refresher course as they are currently implementing Whole Health at their facilities. It included topics such as “Introduction of Participant and Practices for Effective Learning” “Mindful Awareness Practice”, “Planning-Goal Setting, Action Steps, Barriers, and Accountability” and “Personal Health Inventory”.

“I already knew a lot about the Whole Health process but what I really gather was how to facilitate the small groups and work the Veteran slowly, positively and effectively through looking at their goals and looking at what is important in their life,” said Rene Jacob, South Texas Veterans Health Care System (San Antonio, Texas) Health Promotion Disease Prevention (HPDP) Program Manager, a 30- year Army Veteran. “We just started. I will take this back and be the first one to teach these groups.” 

Others are planning on implementing the information shared during the training upon their return to their facility and the Veterans they serve.

 “We are doing Whole Health orientation groups so now we are going to take it to the next level. We offer tai chi. We offer acupuncture. We have chiropractors, and we also have a guitar class for beginners,” said Lillian Gerhart, Iron Mountain VA Hospital Telehealth Nurse Manager. “It is a very important step for individuals to take charge of their life and health.”  

Tomah VA currently offers a variety of Whole Health resources including: Whole Health Coaching, Yoga, Battlefield Acupuncture, Tai Chi, Chiropractic, Aquatic Therapy, Mindfulness, Healing Touch, Guided Imagery, Emotional Freedom Technique (tapping), pain education, Chaplain services, and Food and Nutrition classes.  

“We as an organization are truly committed to making the transformation to totally patient centered care. This Whole Health integrated approach, to dealing with our Veterans is going to allow us to meet them at the point of their need using the strengths of their decisions and choices to enhance their experience with us,” Carl Maddox, a Marine Corps Veteran and Tomah VA Housekeeping Aide. “I am a Veteran who used the VA in the 70s and it’s amazing to me how incredible how the VA has been about changing its approach and being more welcoming as an organization,” he said. “The push to involve a variety of therapeutic interventions from multiple sources driven by the Veteran’s desire to improve their life as a whole is really the only way to deliver medicine. It is proven that our old model wasn’t working and this model has the greatest chance because it is directed by the person who needs the services. You can’t make me well if I am not involved in the process.”


Lillian Gerhart, Iron Mountain (Mich.) VA Hospital Telehealth Nurse Manager; Andrea Young, VISN 5 Field Implementation Team Consultant (OPCC&CT); Carl Maddox, Tomah VAMC Housekeeping Aide; Eric Brown, Erie (Penn.) Peer Support Specialist; Rene Jacob, South Texas (San Antonio) Veterans Health Care System (HPDP) Program Manager and Adam Zananski, Whole Health Coordinator VA Hudson Valley (NY).