Female U.S. military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have found support and a “common bond” while spending time with their Israeli counterparts though a pioneering recovery program, NBC reported on Sunday.

Kamilla Miguel, a veteran who enlisted at the age of 17 and served in Afghanistan, found it difficult to reintegrate into civilian society after five years of active duty. “Anyone can go to a shrink, but my shrink didn’t serve,” Miguel recalled. “What is she going to know, does she really understand what I’m going through?”

Miguel, now 27, recently visited Israel with Heroes to Heroes, a New Jersey-based group that seeks to help veterans find emotional and spiritual healing by matching them with counterparts from the Israel Defense Forces who are facing similar issues. She was part of a group of ten U.S. veterans that toured religious and historical sites, planted trees in honor of fallen comrades, and connected with IDF veterans at a rehabilitation center in Tel Aviv called Bet Halochem (House of the Warrior).

While Heroes to Heroes is non-denominational, trip participants were also offered a chance to get baptized in the Jordan River.

Miguel said she was moved by her experience and the bond she witnessed between the female IDF veterans. “I wish all of us had that in the States, not just this little group,” she said. “I mean — all the women in the U.S. should feel how they feel with each other, with this common bond and connection, it’s amazing.”

Heroes to Heroes was founded by Judy Schaeffer, the daughter of an American World War II veteran. After visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2009, Schaeffer committed herself “to do something to help.” Having felt the “spiritual power” of the Holy Land when she visited as a teenager, she founded Heroes to Heroes to try and impart that healing experience onto others.

“With veteran suicides occurring at an alarming rate (22/day), Heroes To Heroes addresses the issue in an extremely effective way by combining spirituality with peer support through non-denominational trips to Israel,” the organization explains on its website. “These trips allow for deep emotional bonding with other American veterans suffering with many of the same issues as well as with Israeli veterans suffering in the same way.”

[Photo: NBC ]