Before the Medicine™, by Caroline Swan. A Field Manual for Veterans Who Are Over The Loop.

The work before the work. Before any medicine there is preparation: intention, honest screening, nervous-system groundwork, and knowing what you are walking toward and why. Written by a woman veteran for the ones the system never reached, in plain field-manual language.

What is inside

• What tends to surface before, during, and after a ceremony, and how to prepare your mind, body, and relationships first.
• How to vet a facilitator: the red flags, the questions to ask, and when to walk away.
• What the VA and the research community are doing right now, in plain language.
• A track for women veterans, a track for those carrying spiritual questions, and hard talk about what happens if this is not the right move for you right now.
• Crisis resources, screening guidance, and a resources section that points to community and integration support.

101 pages, 6 by 9 inches. Start here, then continue with After the Armor™, the integration framework for what comes after, and keep The Field Journal™ beside both.

Veterans and military families: use code VETERAN20 for 20 percent off at checkout.

About the author

Caroline Swan is a disabled Army combat veteran, a single mother, and a Memaw. She came home one hundred percent combat service-connected, carrying combat trauma, PTSD, MST, and moral injury, and spent close to two decades inside a system that was quicker to medicate her than to listen. She wrote the guide she went looking for and could not find. You do not have to walk into that room without a plan.

Format: Digital ebook (PDF), instant download by email after purchase. Nothing ships. Paperback edition coming.

Education and personal development, not medical advice, psychotherapy, or mental-health counseling. Nothing here encourages any illegal activity; preparation includes understanding the law where you live. If you are in crisis, dial 988 and press 1, or text 838255, the Veterans Crisis Line.