(September was Suicide Prevention Month. October 28 will be National First Responders Day and, of course, November 11 is Veterans Day. This article is dedicated to honoring the Service, dedication, and sacrifices of these brave men and women.)
Throughout history, fighting men and women have lived with the terrible physical and mental scars of war.
However, it was not until the end of the Vietnam War that the serious, long-term consequences of traumatic stress of war on the mental health of active-duty service members and Veterans began to be seriously studied and understood.
Perhaps a turning point in understanding and defining the psychological costs of war was the 1988 National Vietnam Veterans’ Readjustment Study (NVVRS) designed to “provide information about the incidence, prevalence, and effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related post-war psychological problems among Vietnam veterans…”
Since then, numerous additional research studies have shown that veterans of the post-9/11 conflicts (“Persian Gulf” and Iraq/Afghanistan wars) experienced at disturbing rates mental health disorders, PTSD, and traumatic brain injury (TBI),labelled the “signature injury” of those conflicts.
Such traumatic war stress has led to a dramatic increase in depression, anxiety and personality disorders, drug and alcohol abuse.
However, nothing says more about the mental health crisis among our veterans than the staggering number of veterans who take their own lives.
A 2012 VA “Suicide Data Report” revealed that 22 veterans did exactly that – took their own lives – every day. That is one veteran committing suicide every 65 minutes!
While such suicide rates remained unacceptably high during the last two decades, the promising news is that they began to fall in 2020 through 2022.
According to the most recent (2024) VA National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, in 2022, there were, on average, 17.6 Veteran suicides per day.
But whether 17.6, 22, or even fewer veteran suicides a day, it is an unacceptable statistic.
The mental health crisis among Veterans remains “a serious national concern,” according to the VA, “with over 1.7 million veterans receiving mental health services at VA facilities in 2024”
Expansive and excellent as the VA mental health services are, there remains an urgent need for additional complementary and supportive services.
Numerous organizations, community outreach and support groups, service networks, and nonprofits have stepped up to provide additional and much-needed mental health therapy and counselling, crisis intervention services and peer support, or to connect veterans with the help they direly need.
One such organization is The Battle Within (TBW), an Olathe, Kansas-based nonprofit that not only provides mental health services to Veterans, but also to First Responders, including firefighters, frontline medical and law enforcement personnel affected by service-related trauma and PTSD.
Its mission is simple, yet powerful: “To promote mental health in the lives of people who have continually been thrust into extraordinary circumstances.”
Founded in 2018 by more than 100 Veterans, First Responders (people who “have been there”), and community members, The Battle Within provides Veterans and First Responders with the mental and behavioral health care and support they need after going through traumatic events.
Its Executive Director, Justin Hoover, a Purple Heart recipient himself, came home from the battlefields of Iraq with mental health issues and channeled his personal experiences into “empowering veterans and first responders to navigate their mental health journeys,” through The Battle Within.
He was assisted in this journey by a psychotherapist named Adam Magers, also a combat veteran and now a Clinical Manager at TBW and author of “Odysseus and The Oar: Healing after War & Military Service,” a book that can be “understood as a map to veterans’ healing and transformation process after war and military service…”
Magers is also the architect behind the curriculum for “Revenant Journey,” one of the two flagship programs of the organization.

The “Journey” is a 5-day intensive group therapy program designed to help Veterans and First Responders suffering from PTSD understand the traumas they have endured in service, to provide an introduction to tools that set the stage for healing, and to develop a community of support…”a collective effort where we wrap our arms around each other, hold hands, and work together to climb out of the depths of pain and trauma.”
The Revenant Journey is aptly described as a “jump start” to the therapy process.
The other major program, “Frontline Therapy Network,” helps select the proper therapy and therapists from a vetted, nation-wide psychotherapy referral network of more than 100 licensed mental health professionals. Through therapy sessions, Veterans and First Responders can begin traumas treatment and start their journey toward mental wellness. After “graduation,” Veterans and First Responders are connected with long-term care options, designed to complete the journey to recovery.
Whether called loyal pets, devoted military working dogs, ferocious four-legged warriors or gentle therapy, comfort and service dogs, these creatures are very close to my heart.
That is why I find the third TBW program, Dogs 4 Valor, so interesting.
Dogs 4 Valor is a 6 to 9-month service-dog training and certification program in the Olathe-Kansas City area that pairs retired Veterans and First Responders with service dogs to help manage anxiety, depression, PTSD triggers and other daily-life challenges. The program nurtures a deep and trusting relationship and understanding between each handler and their dog and helps participants regain their confidence and improve their quality of life by encouraging them to engage in social activities and feel comfortable in public spaces.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Heather O’Brien (below), who “brought home with her anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder” after a tour of duty at a dangerous internment camp in Iraq, is — along with her lab-poodle mix Albus — a 2023 graduate of the Dogs 4 Valor program.

In an interview O’Brien tells AP News that she can now go out in public again, even going on vacation. “Things that I never would have thought I would do really, probably ever again,” she says.
Since 2018, The Battle Within has served more than 1,000 Veterans and First Responders.
BTW receives numerous laudatory comments from program participants. There is perhaps no more powerful testimonial than one from a Revenant Journey graduate: “…It saved my life, my marriage and my faith,” writes a 50-year-old Veteran and Law Enforcement Officer.
If you or someone you know wants to learn more about this commendable organization, please visit The Battle Within at https://www.thebattlewithin.org
If you’re a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, call 988 for immediate help and press 1 or Text 838255