Veteran alumna harnessing the power of stories

July 26, 2016 | Kelsie Cleboski

Sometimes a story can save a life.

That’s what University of Houston-Clear Lake alumna T’Liza Kiel believes. She’s a National Guard veteran and Galveston native who understands the power of stories. She and her story are featured in the stage production “Telling: Houston,” and she hopes that by sharing her experiences she can assure other veterans that they are not alone.

Combining her UHCL education, military experience and passion for mental health, Kiel has been empowered to help other veterans recognize when they need help and where they can find it.

“This is important for people to know. If you have that voice and the ability to use it – be that voice,” she said.

Supporting others was a focus for Kiel long before she joined the cast of “Telling: Houston.” She joined the National Guard right out of high school, inspired by the idea that she could serve others and go to college at the same time. As she approached her last semester as an undergraduate at Lamar University, she learned she would be deployed to Iraq.

Kiel, trained as a paralegal, was attached to an infantry unit as a legal aid. Throughout her time in Iraq, she kept her social media posts and messages home lighthearted. From the outside, she seemed fine.

After her return home in 2010, she ignored signs of trauma – unexplainable anger, heavy drinking and jumping in her sleep. When her fiance, now husband, expressed his concerns, she waved them off. She heard reports of other members of her brigade having a difficult time, some even dying by suicide, but she didn’t recognize her own struggle. Kiel felt that, by comparison, her deployment was far less harsh than the experiences of others.

“I didn’t want to look weak,” she recalled.

But ignoring the problem only made it worse. In her darkest hours, she twice attempted to take her own life.

A 2015 poll by The Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation found that 50 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans know a service member who has attempted or died by suicide. By sharing her story, Kiel hopes that she can encourage other veterans to recognize warning signs in themselves or others.

A key stepping stone to discovering her passion for mental health was her education at UHCL. Kiel enrolled in 2011, and she earned a Master of Arts in Sociology in 2013. She began her degree with a focus on minority studies, but in the course Sociology of Mental Health taught by UHCL Assistant Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies Jennifer Arney, Kiel recognized the symptoms and issues she was studying in her own experiences. From then on, all of Kiel’s projects and presentations focused on mental health and veterans.

“I needed to understand what was going on in my unit. I needed to understand what was going on with myself,” she said. “I found myself so passionate about it. It was affecting me and people I was close to.”

Now, as project coordinator with Give an Hour, Kiel works to connect veterans and their families to free mental health services.

Kiel says that her story is difficult to tell. But it’s an important story, just like all the stories in “Telling: Houston.”

“Our stories are probably very similar to hundreds and thousands of veterans who remain silent. These are intense and emotional moments in a person’s life,” she said. “Our stories are real. Veterans and spouses in the audience were able to resonate with them.”

Many veterans are hesitant to share their problems or feelings, Kiel said, so she strives to remove the stigma of seeking help.

“The military life is totally different from civilian life. Transition is not easy. We all react to things differently,” she said. “It was important for me to share that. Your story is your story. How you react doesn’t make you any less of a veteran or a soldier or an airman or seaman.”

One of the key goals of “Telling: Houston,” which is part of The Telling Project, is to help veterans feel less alone. Kiel also advises veterans to be involved in their communities and with other veterans.

Kiel has taken her own advice to heart, not only by working at Give an Hour, but also by volunteering with the Military Veteran Peer Network and The Mission Continues. She’s worked with UHCL’s Capt. Wendell M. Wilson Office of Veteran Services on a number of events and presentations to raise awareness and connect veterans to important resources.

UHCL Coordinator of Veteran Services Trisha Ruiz said Kiel has been an asset to the community.

“T’Liza has been an excellent champion for veterans in the greater Houston area. She leads by example and motivates others to seek help,” she said. “Veterans oftentimes are reluctant to ask for help. However, T’Liza does her best to advocate for veterans who would otherwise not have sought out help.”

And of course, Kiel is busy preparing for more performances of “Telling: Houston,” including a filming of the production to be shared nationally.

Reliving some of the most difficult moments of her life in front of an audience takes its toll, emotionally and physically. But as long as Kiel’s story has the power to save a life, she’ll keep telling it.

For 40 years, UH-Clear Lake has empowered individuals to find their passion and pursue their goals. This #UHCLempowered profile series celebrates the students, alumni, faculty and staff who impact their communities and the world. Follow the #UHCLempowered hashtag on social media to learn more about how the university is changing lives.

To empower the next generation of UHCL students, find out how you can support the university at www.uhcl.edu/giving. For more about the university, visit www.uhcl.edu. Discover more about The Telling Project or future performances of “Telling: Houston,” visit https://thetellingproject.org. For more information on UHCL’s Capt. Wendell M. Wilson Office of Veteran Services, visit www.uhcl.edu/vso.