FARMINGTON — “Bringing Worlds Together,” a free conference for veterans, their families and health professionals, will take place at the University of Maine Farmington campus from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15.

Hosted by Tri-County Mental Health Services with support from the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area, Americorps Vista and community volunteers, the conference will offer 20 workshops on topics ranging from legal issues and re-integrating into family and community life to traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, as well as two keynote speakers.

Anne Freund, PhD, author of “Taming the Fire Within: Life after War,” is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been practicing since 1989. Freund began conducting PTSD support groups in 2005, shortly after arriving at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Matthew Pennington, solider, speaker and filmmaker, joined the Army at age 17. He served for six years with three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghani­stan. At age  23, Pennington’s humvee was hit by IED in Iraq. He was honorably discharged as a sergeant and received the Maine Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

Now living in Maine, he made his acting debut starring in the short film, “A Marine’s Guide to Fishing.” The film portrays an injured veteran’s transition back into the workplace while coping with his loss one year later.

“The conference is all about community, as far as I’m concerned. Whether we support the wars or not, we have to realize that the soldiers returning from them are not just going to slip comfortably back into their old lives without some assistance from their fellow citizens. They have been changed in ways that defy understanding for those who have not gone through the same passage themselves,” said Doug Rawlings of Chesterville, a Vietnam veteran, Tri-County board member and one of the conference organizers.

The most important aspect, Rawlings said, is community outreach. “It will be a forum for a community to gather and to show that we all care about one another and that we all must work together to heal from these wars.”

For the past year, Tri-County Mental Health Services has expanded its efforts beyond providing treatment services to veterans by doing active outreach and building connections among veteran service organizations.

“Our goal is to remove barriers and strengthen the supports available to vets and family members across Maine,” said TCMHS Executive Director Catherine Ryder.

The agency is host to Jerry DeWitt, another Vietnam era veteran working as a Vista Volunteer, who is a driving force in the outreach and conference planning. “This conference will show the many paths each of us might take to find our way back home from service life to civilian life,” he said.

For more information and to register, visit www.tcmhs.org or call DeWitt at 783-9141, ext. 228. Travel expense scholarships are available through Veterans For Peace. Contact Doug Rawlings at 778-7292 or rawlings@maine.edu.

Tri-County Mental Health Services serves Androscoggin, Northern Cumberland, Franklin, Oxford and York counties. For more information, visit www.tcmhs.org or call 1-888-304-HOPE(4673).

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