Bridget C. Cantrell, Ph. D.

Dr. Bridget Cantrell has worked with veterans for nearly thirty-years. She was
appointed the 2008 and 2004 Outstanding Female Non-Veteran for her
service by the Governor’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the
Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2008, she received the
Didi Hirsch Foundation Leadership Award for Erasing the Stigma of Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
She has her Doctorate of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology and is a private
practitioner. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of
Washington. Dr. Cantrell is one of a small number of mental health providers
for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs PTSD Program/ War
Trauma Program. She is credentialed with the VA system, Tri-Care, Tri-West,
Community Care, and a variety of insurance companies, etc.
Her dissertation research entitled “Social Support as a Function of PTSD
within Washington State Vietnam Veteran Populations” was presented to the
Washington State Senate Select Committee for Veterans as part of the
Governor’s Master Plan for the needs of veterans. Her research was used for
planning programs for the King County Veterans Program.
She also works with those veterans who have been sexually abused while
serving in the military. In 2003, she received the Highest Productivity award
for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) PTSD
program.
She is the Founder and CEO of Hearts Toward Home International, a
charitable non-profit organization dedicated to the recovery and reintegration
of trauma survivors. The organization has been given the Best of Bellingham
Award in the Non-profit Charitable Organization category by the U.S. Local
Business Association (USLBA).
Presently, she provides mental health services to military service members
from all branches of the military, reservists, and Guard troops and their
families. This work focuses on treating military personnel who have
experienced combat exposure or trauma, family deployment stress and
readjustment issues after returning home. She assists family members in
supporting themselves and their deployed loved ones.
She also works closely with First Responders, Law Enforcement, Fire Dept,
Border Patrol and first line hospital personnel, etc.
She provides her mental health services to a wide variety of individuals from
many walks of life.
Dr. Cantrell is also involved with veteran advocacy at the Federal and State
level to uphold the rights and ensure proper treatment of veterans. Dr. Cantrell
works with first responders and perspective employers to assure that our
veterans are treated fairly and with the respect they deserve in order to
succeed in the civilian sector. She is also an expert witness for court cases for
our military service members and civilians regarding PTSD. She sits on the
board for several veteran organizations such as The Invictus Foundation.
She has appeared on television news programs to discuss veteran concerns,
including CNN and FoxQ13. Has done many radio programs and has
appeared in several publications.
She is frequently under contract with the Department of Defense to provide
her workshops and lectures to military bases all over the U.S., Japan,
Okinawa and Italy etc. She has lectured at trauma conferences both in the
U.S. and internationally.
She has participated with various community veteran organizations: Combat
Veterans International, Run for the Wall (Rolling Thunder) Memorial Ride and
The Traveling Wall.
Dr. Cantrell is the author of 7 books with the focus on recovery after trauma.
“Turning Your Heart Toward Home,” “Down Range: To Iraq and Back,” “Once
a Warrior: Wired for Life,” “Souls under Siege: The Effects of Multiple Troop
Deployments—and How to Weather the Storm” and “Souls under Siege.”,
“Clandestine Hurt”, and “Still Outside the Wire”
Dr. Cantrell is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA),
Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists (ATSS) and The International
Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS).
Please contact Dr. Cantrell directly to schedule a time when she can work with
you, your unit or organization.