Mann graduate helping veterans transition

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The front cover of Edward J. Crenshaw's book "The P.E.R.C.V.E.D. Principles."

Updated: November 9, 2011 5:12PM

Edward J. Crenshaw of Gary said he saw a lot while serving as a Navy hospital corpsman from 1983-87.

But what he overheard while working with military veterans in 2006, as CEO and founder of DESTIN Enterprises, struck a nerve.

“There was a veteran going through an interview, and he had a traumatic brain injury,” Crenshaw said. “The interviewer kept trying to interview the veteran and, in the end, he told someone the veteran was ‘damaged goods.’

“In another situation, an interviewer asked a veteran about his employment background and, after the veteran repeatedly brought up his military duties, the interviewer said, ‘I want to know about your real job.’ ”

Crenshaw, a 1983 Horace Mann High School graduate, now living in Columbia, Md. He said instances like that inspired him to establish the Preparing Employers to Reintegrate Combat Exposed Veterans with Disabilities program.

P.E.R.C.E.V.D is operated by DESTIN Enterprises and gives employers and educational institutions a program to promote diversity and cultural awareness. The goal is transitioning veterans and people with hidden physical and combat-related injuries into jobs.

Crenshaw partnered with Army veteran and psychiatrist Dr. Cynthia Washington, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, to develop a diversity training program that would debunk misconceptions regarding post-traumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury and more.

Crenshaw travels nationwide as a lecturer, consultant and trainer of the P.E.R.C.E.V.D program.

“The biggest reactions I get when holding these workshops are from the spouses and families of military veterans going through post-war traumas and trying to get back into society,” he said. “The families are always appreciative.”

Crenshaw has written a book about the program called “The P.E.R.C.E.V.D Principles.” The soft-cover version is published under Steeltown Publishing, which was created by Crenshaw and fellow Gary native and lifelong friend Steven LaBroi, who is vice president of sales for DESTIN Enterprises.

LaBroi, a 1983 Roosevelt alumnus, lives in Washington, D.C., and is founder of the Washington D.C.-Baltimore chapter of the National Sales Network.

“We ran into each other awhile back and talked and decided to work together,” LaBroi said. “We formed Steeltown Publishing as a tribute to our hometown.”

Both hope to return to Gary to do P.E.R.C.E.V.D workshops in the near future.

“The P.E.R.C.E.V.D Principles,” $19.95, is available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, for Kindle and at www.steeltownpublishing.com. More information is available on the The P.E.R.C.E.V.D Principles page on Facebook.