Healing from PTSD with Play Therapy By Cynthia Weiss, Wounded Warrior Project For years, Jonathan “J” Dagen found life anything but joyful. An Army veteran who survived combat, homelessness, and years of emotional pain, J struggled daily trying to find peace. He never imagined a friendly voice on the phone and a pre-packaged LEGO® kit would lead him out of the darkness.
During one deployment, J and his unit befriended a group of local Iraqi children. “The kids had a ball, so we’d play soccer with them. There was one young girl … she would always come over and I’d give her treats. I was always smiling with the kid.” He didn’t know her name, so he lovingly called her “crumb snatcher.” One day, shots rang out and mortar rounds hit their location. J hit the ground without thinking – his training kicking in immediately. When the dust cleared, he found the little girl had died in the blast. More than 20 years later, J still clearly recalls his thoughts as he covered her with a poncho. “When I got up from the ground, and I saw they had hit her, I cried. I had no power. I couldn’t do anything to stop it,” he said. J recalls a deep sense of guilt. But he pushed his feelings down, telling himself to get through and get home to his soon-to-be wife Miriam.
But they did. As J clicked each piece of colorful plastic into place, he found something unexpected: a reason to keep going. J’s journey proves that sometimes what you need to thrive is some faith, a friendly voice, and a bit of creativity. A Smile He Couldn’t Forget J joined the Army at age 19, excited about the future. A few years later, after 9/11, he deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he focused on recovering and salvaging equipment and parts. While his position didn’t directly involve combat, he was very close to the impacts of war. “I didn’t know what to expect when I got over there. I only knew what the movies showed. But there’s nothing cinematic about it,” said J, who relied on humor with his unit to cope. “We needed some levity with the things we saw.” 8
WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / August 2025
Embarrassed to Ask for Help When he returned to the States, J was excited for the future. “Miriam and I were getting married, and I was excited to go to college and get a good job,” he said. But memories of the little girl in Iraq haunted him day and night. “I’d see visions of her everywhere, not just in my dreams,” said J, who often awoke screaming from nightmares. J dismissed his wife whenever she tried to talk to him about his experiences. “I was embarrassed to talk about things even though I knew something was wrong.” For years, J struggled to cope with the trauma he’d experienced. He connected with a few local veteran programs and tried counseling, but nothing seemed to work long-term. As he lost multiple jobs, J’s self-esteem plummeted. “I felt like a failure,” he said.