Film Screening: Love After War

Thursday 11 May 2023 - 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Crystal Ballroom A
Discussion with Director Dr. Mitchell Tepper 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

LOVE AFTER WAR: Saving Love, Saving Lives is a moving 57 minute documentary that introduces viewers to injured and wounded veterans and their partners who candidly share how they won the battle to restore emotional closeness and physical intimacy after surviving catastrophic combat-related injuries. The inspiring film also features insights from experts in the field of sexuality and disability.

“This is an excellent film that brings attention to a topic many of us rarely consider-the relationships and sexuality of veterans…If you are a provider that works with veterans, a veteran or if your partner is a veteran, this is an important resource to expand your appreciation of military service on sexuality.”

Marcalee Alexander, MD
Past President Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals

The Story of Injured Veterans and Their Romantic Partners Who are Winning the Battle for Love

  • Over 600,000 men and women who have served our country since 9/11 are living with post-traumatic stress and/or traumatic brain injury. Thousands of others have sustained catastrophic physical disabilities.
  • People who return from deployment with a serious mental or physical disability experience more marital stress and divorce than their non-disabled peers.

  • Furthermore, failed intimate relationships contribute significantly to suicide, intimate partner violence, child abuse, substance abuse, and homelessness.

Love After War

  • Shows real life examples of disabled veterans reclaiming healthy, fulfilling relationships despite their injuries.
  • Provides a voice bringing a vital issue into the national conversation.
  • Serves as an educational tool for the medical providers whom our veterans rely on for their care.
  • Will be the nucleus of a community and a portal to resources for those in need of help.

Meet The Filmmaker

Dr. Mitchell Tepper, Executive Director, Director, Producer, and Writer, is a sexologist who has been living a full life with spinal cord injury for over 40 years. He has long been personally and professionally dedicated to ending the silence around sexuality and disabilities. Dr. Tepper has been working with wounded veterans since speaking at the Road to Recovery Conference for wounded veterans in 2006. Through spearheading the Wounded Troops and Partners: Supporting Intimate Relationships Conference in Washington DC in 2008, he was successful in getting the issue of sexual health and intimacy for wounded warriors on the national radar. He assisted the Bob Woodruff Foundation in organizing their High Impact Collaboration Conference, From Injury to Intimacy, in 2014. He has been instrumental in the implementation of couple’s retreats within the VA system and in training members of the Sexual Health and Intimacy Workgroup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Tepper has published peer reviewed articles in medical and sexual health journals on comprehensive sexual health care for catastrophically injured warriors.