Project Healing Waters is an on-campus and off-campus organization that uses fly fishing to help veterans get back to everyday life. Fly fishing is a very involved form of fishing, which includes fishing with a rod and usually a self-made artificial fly. The process of fly fishing is very difficult to master due to the lack of the usual reel.
This organization is purely veteran specific and the ideology behind the organization is to help veterans with disabilities heal through the waters while fishing, which refers back to the name of the initiative.
“The Waters hold no Scars” is the mission statement for this project. Essentially what the mission statement means is that, once the veterans come back from war or their deployment and they participate in this group, the waters they are fishing in are a way for them to let go of everything that has happened to them for a short amount of time and to bond and have fun with people with similar backgrounds. It is a sort of therapy and allows for the veterans to be re-immersed into society and its unpredictability.
One member of the organization said it’s all about being part of the outdoor community and helping these guys.
The initiative behind Project Healing Waters is that fly fishing and tying flies is a form of therapy for veterans suffering from PTSD and physical limitations. This group is all-inclusive for veterans on and off campus, and is a contributor to the outdoor community through trips to help preserve some of the surrounding habitats and national forests in the area. On Oct. 18, the organization will be doing a fence removal for Big Horn sheep in the area and then after will be going to fish the miracle mile. So, in addition to helping the veterans within our community this group also aids in the betterment of our community.
“We make it a point to not make a huge deal about the disabilities, we just go and hang out and have a good time,” a member of the organization, Jared Nichols, said.
In the fall semester of every year, the group spends most of their time teaching veterans how to tie flies and they also host a few fishing trips to apply what the veterans have learned. Tying flies and using their hands in a methodic and consistent way is a contributing factor to why this initiative has so much effectiveness in being therapeutic.
In the spring semester, the organization receives donations for rods and rod parts. Then the group teaches the veterans to build their own rods. Once their rods are built they take several fishing trips to apply all of their skills learned during the course of the year. Then by the end of the year, the veterans can fly fish, which includes skills like tying their own flies, building their own rods and perfecting the craft of fly fishing.
The group hosts meetings every Thursday evening at 7 p.m., where one can learn how to tie flies. The group also plans fishing trips and casting workshops every other week.
