Coming home is supposed to be the easy part. But for many of our nation’s 21.8 million veterans, when the war stops, a new battle begins. During the next five years, more than 1 million veterans will transition from military to civilian life, with one in three suffering from the “invisible wounds of war,” including PTSD, traumatic brain injury and related mental health conditions associated with their military service.

Support of the Road Home Program: The National Center of Excellence for Veterans and Their Families at Rush makes a life-changing difference for those who have served our country.

The Road Home Program connects veterans and their loved ones with the specialized mental health care, peer-to-peer outreach, counseling and resources they need to transition from military to civilian life — regardless of their ability to pay. The program develops world-class treatments and programming through its participation in the Warrior Care Network® — a first-of-its-kind partnership between the Wounded Warrior Project® and four academic medical centers in the U.S. What’s more, Rush University Medical Center is the world-renowned network’s Midwest hub.

Since opening in 2014, the Road Home Program has served more than 2,800 veterans and their families, from Chicago and around the country, with mental health services. Additionally, more than half of the veterans who complete the center’s innovative three-week intensive outpatient program experience such substantial improvement, they no longer meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD. 

The program also complements the many other important psychiatric and outreach services to veterans already offered by local Veterans Administration medical centers. The care, provided at no cost to the veteran and their family, helps fill in the gaps in mental health care currently not provided by VA, or to those veterans who are not eligible or prefer to not receive care through the VA.