Aboutface-USA

About-Face USA is headquartered in Forsyth County, Georgia, located 35 miles North of Atlanta. 

AboutFace‐USA is a veteran-led community charity organization that aims to fight mental health stigma and encourages and empowers veterans and their family members to turn their lives around for the better.  AboutFace‐USA provides a safe location for social and business interactions, and a variety of veteran support services, activities, and resources geared toward mental wellness.  At our Veteran Resource and Community Center, veterans can learn coping skills, improve their relationships and their outlook on their future. Since 2009, AboutFace‐USA has been implementing innovative services. One is Project GROW (Gardening, Recreation/Rehabilitation, Outreach, and Wellness), a horticulture program where participants experience positive growth, alongside the produce which is cared-for by participants in the unique indoor aeroponic vertical farm.   

Additionally, we have provided behavioral health support for veteran and family members through clinical behavioral health specialists as well as veteran-peer support counseling in group and individual settings. We also offer financial coaching, which we find helps tremendously with mental wellness. We have an online behavioral health leadership coach, and an online holistic healing expert leading self-focused holistic healing classes. We plan to offer a Telehealth Program, where we can increase our capabilities by providing evidence-based clinical therapies online. Importantly, it seems to be the combination of programs and the number of program leaders tending to the veterans needs that brings them back for a chance at long term recovery.  

We aim to partner with community stakeholders within veterans' communities to promote community, help-seeking behaviors, and resource awareness. We provide training on enhancing self-awareness, problem-solving, job-skills training, coping skills, and family/community relationship-building programs. 

Our Project GROW  programs enable weekly activities, education, and vocational skills development while promoting whole health wellness and using learned skills based on mindfulness and evidence-based behavioral therapy/stress-management techniques. Our indoor aeroponic farm is ideal for focusing on the future, healthy eating and nutritional needs, and vocational possibilities. We offer a safe location for social and business interactions to help veterans build trust, find strength and resilience, and encourage their community involvement. 

As part of our outreach, we conduct mental health awareness presentations and attend veteran events to fight help-seeking stigma and promote community connectivity (and to learn about community needs, and seek out struggling veterans with homelessness, suicidal ideation, financial and mental health concerns).  Outreach includes presentations at not just veteran service organizations, but at schools, nonprofit and business networking groups, rotary clubs, women’s clubs, chamber of commerce groups, and even churches. Social media and attending community events are additional outreach methods.   

For whole health wellness, we incorporate all these pieces, focusing on one’s self - physically, mentally and socially.  We include nutritional wellness, peer and clinical therapies, financial literacy coaching, holistic healing, and leadership coaching.