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Norwich University President was honored with the “Resilient Warrior Award” during a National Veterans Summit in Washington, DC for his leadership in exploring the use of Transcendental Meditation in building resilient warriors

“The disturbing prevalence of PTSD among returning troops underlines the need for more effective resilience training among our cadets.” — Norwich University President Richard W. Schneider, RADM USCGR (Ret.)

Washington, DC (PRWEB) May 03, 2012

Dr. Richard W. Schneider, RADM USCGR (Ret.), the 23rd President of Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., received the inaugural “Resilient Warrior Award” for 2012 during a national summit on “Resilience, the Brain and Meditation,” held on Thursday, May 3, at the Army and Navy Club in Washington D.C.

The award was presented to President Schneider by veterans of four wars who direct Operation Warrior Wellness, a division of the David Lynch Foundation 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which has provided Transcendental Meditation (TM) scholarships for more than 250,000 at-risk youth and veterans and their families who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The award cites Schneider for “leading and training a new generation of resilient warriors who will safeguard America and secure the peace with honor and integrity.”

Under Schneider’s leadership, Norwich University recently completed the initial phase of a long-term, longitudinal, randomized controlled trial with 60 cadets, investigating the effects of TM on psychological distress and resilience. Key results of the first nine-week period included reduced perceived stress, improved constructive thinking, decreased state anxiety, increased behavioral coping, reduced depression and improved dispositional resilience.

“Norwich is proud to be in partnership with the David Lynch Foundation and the Educational Foundation of America for providing the resources for this wonderful effort,” Schneider said.

“The disturbing prevalence of PTSD among returning troops underlines the need for more effective resilience training among our cadets. Based on existing data and preliminary results of ongoing trials at Norwich, I believe the Transcendental Meditation technique represents an essential tool to promote resilience in cadets.”

Ed Schloeman, CMS (Ret.), national co-chair of Operation Warrior Wellness, praised President Schneider for “equipping his cadets with the most important of tools—one that will help them overcome stress and promote resilience throughout their life in the military—throughout their life. He is a great educator, a wise man, and a true leader.”

After receiving the news of the award, Schneider said: “I am honored to accept this award on behalf of all those who have worked so hard on this project to experiment with providing our future soldiers, sailors, and airmen the tools necessary to become more resilient, even better warriors, and better human beings.”

Other speakers at the Summit included W. Scott Gould, the US Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Administration, and Norman Rosenthal, M.D., clinical professor of psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical School and author of a breakthrough research study, which found a 50% reduction in the symptoms of PTSD among veterans who practice TM.

Reported in newstimes.com. Related articles: Washington Post: Does Transcendental Meditation help veterans with PTSD? | POLITICO: Coping with PTSD | Washington Post: VA testing whether meditation can help treat PTSD |

Tags: David Lynch Foundation, Dr. Norman Rosenthal, Norwich University, Operation Warrior Wellness, PTSD, resilience, Resilient Warrior Award, Richard W. Schneider, TM, Transcendental Meditation, Veterans Administration

This entry was posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:27 am and is filed under Articles, David Lynch Foundation, Education, Health, Peace. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.