Bonds strengthened during military couples retreat

The Highground facilitated a memorable military couples retreat on Oct. 18-20. Operation Re-Connect invites veterans and their spouses or partners to get away from their daily routines to enjoy each other while they explore their relationship, strengthen their friendship, increase affection and improve communication. This peaceful yet purposeful weekend is at no cost to them except for transportation to and from the retreat. A generous sponsorship from the Marshfield Elks Lodge 665 in 2023 helped make the 2024 retreat a success.

The three-day weekend consisted of guided relationship-enhancing exercises from peer support facilitators and a topic expert. Cathleen Holm, a licensed psychotherapist experienced with military couples counseling, guided two of the relationship-enhancing exercises. With her incredibly supportive, light-hearted, and yet, no-nonsense style, Holm validated struggles, provided antidotes to relationship saboteurs and allowed the couples to tackle serious discussions from a different perspective. With the mixture of couples who have been together through the veteran’s active duty/deployments and couples who united after duty/deployments, the after-dinner conversations were memorable. Providing a supportive environment for which veterans could share their military stories and spouses/partners could share their experiences and feelings contributed to viewing their relationships from different perspectives.

With overwhelmingly positive reviews from the participants, The Highground is looking ahead to the next Operation Re-Connect scheduled for Oct. 17-19, 2025.

For more information, call 715-743-4224, visit The Highground’s website at thehighground.us or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/TheHighgroundVeteransMemorial.

The Highground is at W7031 Ridge Road, Neillsville.

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