Offering Presentations That Serve Your Needs

Journey to Normal, Inc. has presented in a variety of settings, from national conferences to informal talks with local civic organizations. We tailor our work to your audience and their backgrounds.

These talks include professional development sessions and roundtable conversations with civilian and military/Veteran audiences. Our goals include education about the experience of Veterans and their families, and cultivation of community dialogue on how we all play a role in bridging the military-civilian gap. In the process we have found many great partners, and we are looking for more.

A Speaker With a Passion for Veteran Stories

JTN director, JulieHera DeStefano, has devoted years to interviewing service members and Veterans, and to conveying that story for civilians and other Veterans. In those interviews, Veterans share many of their most personal stories about the struggles of reintegration and about the things that they want others to know. Their intention is to help all of us achieve a deeper understanding, and we carry that intention forward by sharing their stories and facilitating discussion around them.

Connecting With All Audiences

When we present to civilian settings, audience members often talk about how the event has “opened a door” on something they did not understand before. Consistently they speak of how valuable the experience was in broadening their appreciation for Veterans’ sense of service and commitment. We also present to Veterans and current military service members. In those cases, the presentations are more about initiating conversation about personal experience and making connections. Veteran audiences frequently tell us that the film speaks to things they have personally felt, and it provides a touchstone for them to discuss their own story.

Informing and Empowering

A Shift in Thinking

We all know that we want to make a positive impact on the lives of Veterans and their families, but how? The first step is understanding how service is often not what civilians think – and understanding that it is not just about Veterans but about their families, too.

Turning Knowledge Into Action

The JTN team has a goal: to empower you to turn understanding into action. That can mean doing your job differently when working with Veterans, or reaching out to a Veteran family in your neighborhood. In our presentations, we work with you to translate what you have learned into effective action.

Sparking Honest Conversations

Storytelling has its own benefit. It helps Veterans to process their experiences, both during deployment and reintegration. This same principle applies to our community conversations. When Veterans and their families work with JTN, they are able to open about things that they have held in, processing what is often challenging to put into words.

Does your organization want to host a community conversation on Veterans? Do you want to approach your local library or school?

Contact us, and we can work with you to present one of our films and a speaker to spark the conversation about Veterans that you wish to have.

Let’s Talk