Edward Tick, author, psychotherapist and founder of the organization Soldier’s Heart, will speak on campus today.

Tick will give a presentation at noon on post-traumatic stress disorder and the annual reconciliation trips he leads to Vietnam. He will give a poetry reading from his book “The Giant Tortoise: Journeys in Viet Nam” at 7:30 p.m. Both events will be in the Kiva.

“I was very deeply emotionally affected by the events at Kent State,” Tick said. “It’s a wound to America. To come to Kent State and talk about healing – how much more perfect could it be?”

Author of five books, including “War and the Soul,” Tick is the last poet in the Wick Poetry Center’s fall reading series. The theme of the series is peace and reconciliation, in light of the upcoming 40th anniversary of May 4.

“Edward Tick’s visit . is important in light of our current national awareness of the effects of war and our concern for the care of veterans,” said David Hassler, director of the Wick Poetry Center.

Tick, who spent a week in Fort Hood this past February, said the recent tragedy is a “wake-up” call to our nation.

“Fort Hood is a suffering community,” he said. “I saw some of the conditions . that unfortunately exploded into violence. Severe wounds of the mind, the heart, the body.”

“We need to make extra efforts at healing,” said Tick, who recently returned from his ninth reconciliation trip to Vietnam.

In annual healing trips, Tick takes veterans, along with families, orphans and students, back to the places where they served. There they meet Vietnamese veterans, they grieve and “they embrace each other as long lost brothers and sisters.”

“In two and a half weeks, they get more healing than in the past 40 years,” Tick said. “It’s extraordinary.”

The veterans work together on charity projects for the poor, orphans and others in need and are committed to a peaceful future.

“We’re reversing an ‘eye for an eye,'” Tick said. “The veterans are giving back.”

More information about Tick’s work with Soldier’s Heart can be found at www.soldiersheart.net.

As with all events in the series, Tick’s presentation and reading today are free to the public.

Contact College of Arts and Sciences reporter Lauren Spilar at [email protected].