Aquatic therapy helps Veterans in San Diego heal from PTSD

SAN DIEGO (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - It's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month, and in San Diego, some Veterans are finding healing through an unconventional therapy approach.

Healing Wave Aquatics uses a 97-degree pool for trauma-informed aquatic therapy for service members trying to cope with PTSD.

It combines massage, stretching, twisting, and moving the body side-to-side using acupressure. It's a blend of verbal and nonverbal therapeutic techniques.

"We are told just to push it down and move forward, and it's really hard for a lot of Veterans to talk about it and to do talk therapy, and with Healing Waves, what we're doing here, it allows you to get to a place where you can get comfortable with yourself and get to a point where you come to terms with the PTSD and the demons that you have with you going with you."

Justin Earp, patient

The goal is to change the patient's physiology to alter how they think and feel.

In traditional mental health therapy, patients talk about past experiences with a therapist, but this approach focuses on tools to help veterans feel safe in their bodies in the present moment.