April Bowden knows firsthand the struggle of moving forward after the loss of her Soldier spouse in combat. She wants others to have an easier path to their future.
April 5 is Gold Star Spouse and Family Day.
“I’m grateful to have had the Army and other things in my life,” Bowden, who resides in her hometown Florence, said. “I greatly appreciate everyone at Redstone and my support team that I’ve had available to me.”
Staff Sgt. Josh Bowden, her husband since 2007, was on his second deployment to Afghanistan when he died Aug. 31, 2013, from a gunshot wound. The Villa Rica, Georgia, native was 28.
“He was a very odd character because he dressed very conservatively but he loved dark heavy metal and exercising,” Bowden recalled.
Her husband’s death threw her life into disarray. Their son, Kaden, was 5 when Josh died.
“The biggest challenge for me was going back to civilian life afterwards,” Bowden said. “If anybody could learn anything from me, it’s that our support systems are great but I didn’t know how to live life as a civilian myself.
“So, it’s kind of like for about 10 years afterward I was kind of like in this chaotic script. And I’d move to different military bases because I didn’t know what else to do. That’s one thing in the resources, we need to identify and use me to grow better. Because I really struggled with PTSD afterward. And so, I think it would be very valuable to maybe look at our resources for a coaching program to help Gold Star spouses in moving forward to a new life.”
She described her personal struggle to move forward after her loss. “It took God a really long time to take Josh out of my identity. It’s really hard,” she said. “I had to take away all triggers for myself. It was a process. I was really sick. It was like I died with him.
“It was a really big struggle for me. It took a really long time for me to separate my identity from Josh in the Army.”
Bowden, 36, moved back to Florence four years ago from Washington, D.C. She works there for Renaissance Assisted Living. Kaden, 15, is a ninth grader in JROTC at Florence Freshman Center. He plans to take Army ROTC in college. Bowden’s younger son, who was born after Josh’s death, Mason, 9, attends third grade at Weeden Elementary in Florence.
She is taking online courses in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, a mental health treatment technique which involves moving your eyes a specific way while you process traumatic memories. Bowden is a certified energetic allergy healer.
She shared advice for Gold Star spouses and families.
“I would not hold onto the past,” she said. “And be willing to step forward into a new future.”
Editor’s note: April Bowden has a website, Trinityenergyhealing.com. “That’s my passion work and I work mostly on trauma related issues,” she said. “I also work with any Gold Star spouses for free with EAH (energetic allergy healing).”
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