Building a Home for Respect: Panel 2: The Role of Families within the Invictus Community
The IGF Conversation is designed to promote the sharing of best practice on a range of relevant subjects within the Invictus community through a combination of either online webinars and/or in person symposia. This iteration of the IGF Conversation is entitled ‘The Invictus Community: Enabling a Home for Respect’ and draws on the central theme of Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023, emphasising the common ground between the military and their respective societies and how they can both support and learn from each other.
The event was moderated by well-known German TV sports commentator and presenter Franziska Schenk who has been working for the German TV Channels ARD and MDR since her retirement from professional speed skating.
Panel 2: The Role of Families within the Invictus Community
- Families continue to play a critical role in the recovery and rehabilitation of Invictus Games competitors. In this panel, we want to recognise those often-overlooked family members who have significantly contributed in a variety of different ways to their loved one's recovery journey. This can include all components and generations of the family unit from grandparent to parent, and right down through to children.
- Tish Stropes, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Fisher House Foundation, delves deeper into recognising the lived experiences within the Invictus Community and uncovers the possible changing dynamics within a family once a member undergoes such a life-changing injury. She explores specific personal challenges faced by members of our community and provides a space where others can listen and learn from one another.
- Tish is joined by Head of the Human Factors Research Group from the Dutch National Police and Department of Defense, CMDR Wendy Dorrestijn to explore the findings of her research on families from The Invictus Games The Hague 2020, as well as US veterans and husband and wife, Garrett and Joey Kuwada to touch on their own lived experiences.
- Former Team Captain from Team Germany at the Invictus Games Sydney 2018 and now IG23 Ambassador Stefan Huss, along with his wife Evelyn, also join the panel. The couple touch on their own unique experiences and how sport, in particular the Invictus Games, contributed to Stefan’s recovery journey.