THE WAR
WITHIN
Alex Reinoso
PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
Jim Davis
Young was talk, work, medication and a dog. She found a
sympathetic counselor at the
VA outpatient clinic in Lowell,
Mass. “They believed in me,”
says Young, “and they remind
me that I’m human, that it’s
okay to have bad days and good
days, that there are things I
can’t control.”
Through a veterans service or-
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ganization, The Mission Continues, she was awarded a
26-week fellowship that pays
her to work with veterans at
the Northeast Outreach Center which offers food, shelter,
counseling and other services
to New England veterans. “I like
being around other veterans; a
lot of them don’t have anybody
else, and I get that,” she says.
Another non-profit organization, Patriot Rovers, provided
her with a service dog, a yellow
lab named Josh, who helps remind her to take her medication
and guards her own personal
space in crowds. She takes
medication to help her sleep.
As she began to heal, Natasha enrolled in full-time
coursework at Northern Essex
Community College for an associates degree in counseling
and social work; a four-year
college is next.
“My dream job is to work for
the VA, with women suffering
from military sexual trauma,”
she said.
In September, 2011, she married Robert Alicea, a young man
she’s known since childhood
and who has remained a close
friend through all her trials.