Honoring Veterans: Recognizing Service and Supporting Trauma Informed Workplaces

As we pause this Veterans Day to honor the courage, sacrifice, and dedication of those who have served, it is also important to consider an often overlooked dimension of service: the invisible wounds of combat and the challenges of transitioning into civilian and workplace life. At Silver Linings International, we believe that true appreciation for veterans includes creating workplaces that recognize trauma, support resilience, and foster growth.

Many veterans return from service having witnessed life threatening events, endured sustained stress, or navigated environments of high risk. These experiences can leave lasting effects, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In the workplace, trauma can influence not only performance but also relationships, engagement, and overall well being. Recognizing this is crucial. Trauma informed practices are not just for clinical settings; they are essential for healthy, productive organizational culture. Employees who feel psychologically safe, understood, and supported are more likely to engage, collaborate, and contribute meaningfully.

Veterans bring remarkable strengths to the workplace including resilience, discipline, mission focus, and teamwork. At the same time, the adjustment to civilian work life can be challenging. Triggers, hypervigilance, or responses shaped by service may emerge, sometimes creating misunderstandings if employers are unprepared. Trauma informed principles including safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and choice offer a framework to bridge this gap. Trauma does not disappear when a uniform is changed, but with the right environment, the strengths veterans bring can flourish. Workplaces that embed these principles into leadership practices and organizational culture can retain talent, reduce burnout, and help all employees, veterans included, thrive.

At Silver Linings International, we support organizations in creating trauma informed environments. Our Trauma Informed Supervisors course equips managers to recognize signs of trauma, respond appropriately, and build psychologically safe teams. Psychologically Safe Workplaces helps organizations design and sustain environments where employees feel safe to bring their full selves to work, innovate, and engage confidently.

This Veterans Day, organizations can take concrete steps to honor service beyond words. Acknowledging veterans’ lived experiences, designing onboarding and support programs that account for trauma, training leaders in trauma informed supervision, fostering avenues for choice and voice, and encouraging peer connection are all ways to create a meaningful, supportive environment. Organizations that measure, adjust, and iterate on these efforts ensure that their commitment is not just symbolic but genuinely transformative.

This Veterans Day, let us commit to more than gratitude; let us commit to action, supporting veterans and all employees in workplaces where they are valued, heard, and empowered.