Three nonprofits that provide accessible, no-cost mental health support for veterans
Every year in the U.S., more than 6,200 veterans die by suicide. Put another way, that’s approximately 17 veteran lives lost per day. Suicide is, in fact, the twelfth-leading cause of death for all veterans and the second-leading cause of death for veterans under age 45.
Traumas experienced during military service can lead many veterans to struggle with life-threatening episodes of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD,) substance use disorder — or, often, a combination of them.
While veterans have access to mental health services through Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers and facilities, many are also turning to a growing network of nonprofits to find the accessible, no-cost — and veteran-focused — support they need.
K9s for Warriors
Bel Air, Md.-based veteran Bill Lins spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan during his 12-year service with the Marines. He first sought help for PTSD in 2007, soon after returning from deployment, with little lasting effect. In 2014, he again sought mental health counseling but found certain aspects of traditional therapy didn’t work well for him.
“I felt like I would go in and get all spun up and then sent back out in the world to kind of flounder around for a week until I came back in,” Lins explains.
All the while, he could feel himself withdrawing from his family and the activities he had previously enjoyed. “It felt like I had tried everything, and nothing was working,” he says. “I had really gotten to a point where I had given up.”
That all changed in 2022, when Lins was paired with Link, a service dog trained by K9s for Warriors. Following Link’s arrival, Lins was able to re-engage with his family and return to school to finish his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He now works as a clinical social worker supporting others dealing with trauma and PTSD.
“Link is so in tune with everything that I do, that I never feel alone now,” Lins says. “Sometimes, when I’m having an off day, he’ll do subtle things like lay a little closer to me. He’s so locked in that he forces me to pay attention to what’s going on and to take care of myself.”
Since its launch in 2011, Florida-based K9s for Warriors has successfully placed service dogs with more than 1,000 veterans from across the U.S. suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury or military sexual trauma, at no financial cost to the veteran. Most of the dogs are rescued from shelters, and program expenses are covered by individual and corporate donors.
The dogs undergo 16 to 18 months of initial training and, as a final step, veterans and their service dogs receive three weeks of in-person training together. This lets veterans master key commands such as “look,” which prompts the dog to face behind, giving veterans’ piece of mind that their backs are covered.
“You have this dog that’s been rescued, and you have a warrior who’s looking to be rescued. They’re both seeking an opportunity to heal — and there’s a magic that happens between them,” says Dan Clavel, a Navy veteran who oversees the procurement and placement of service dogs at K9s for Warriors.
“Before Link, I felt like a zombie going through the motions of life,” Lins says. “Link has allowed me to enjoy things and thrive in ways that I had given up ever being a possibility for me again.”
The Headstrong Project
As a former cryptologic linguist with the U.S. Air Force attached to the intelligence community, Tahlia Burton dos Santos translated Pashto in real time to identify and subvert threats to military service men and women in Afghanistan. The high-pressure job left a mark.
Burton dos Santos, now a Tampa, Fla. resident, found herself experiencing crippling anxiety at unexpected times, like at the grocery store, or when she was driving.
“My attacks would just creep out of nowhere. And (they) started to impact every area of my life,” she says.
Eventually, a veteran colleague mentioned the availability of free, targeted mental health support for PTSD through The Headstrong Project, and Burton dos Santos felt she had nothing to lose by applying.
“They wasted no time. I was seeing a therapist within two weeks, and she saved my life,” dos Santos says. “She told me, ‘This is going to initially feel hard, but you need to think of it as an investment in your long-term health.’”
Within a month of beginning therapy, Burton dos Santos’s panic attacks stopped. “It felt like I got my life back in so many ways,” she says.
Launched in 2012, The Headstrong Project currently works with a network of roughly 300 clinical providers to provide no-cost therapy to veterans suffering from trauma across a 17-state service area, which continues to grow.
When a veteran reaches out to Headstrong, they can expect to begin therapy within 14 days — far sooner than in most traditional settings.
“We really try to make sure that there are no barriers to access,” says Amy M. Williams, chief clinical officer at The Headstrong Project. “When someone’s really hurting, it’s important that you respond quickly and get them into care as quickly as you can.”
All therapists are trained in one of three therapies shown to be clinically successful in treating PTSD: cognitive processing therapy (CPT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) or prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, Williams says. Veterans receive 30 sessions — typically enough to finish treatment — at no out-of-pocket cost. Therapy can be done in-person or virtually.
“PTSD is actually one of the most treatable disorders out there,” Williams says. “I want veterans who are struggling to know that treatments work, and they can get better.”
The Wounded Warrior Project
Master paratrooper Tonya Oxendine of Tampa, Fla., served 30 years with the U.S. Army and earned the rank of command sergeant major before retiring from military service in 2014.
As much as she loved serving the country, Oxendine’s time in the Army left her with both physical injuries and mental health struggles, she says.
Her PTSD, depression and anxiety reached such heights that she contemplated ending her life by driving off a bridge. “At that moment, though, I thought of my kids, and I turned my car around and drove to the VA for help,” Oxendine says.
While receiving services through the VA, Oxendine learned of additional mental health support available at no cost through the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).
Oxendine’s first exposure to WWP’s mental health services came via Project Odyssey, a 12-week program that includes a five-day adventure-based, mental health retreat for veterans struggling with PTSD.
“Project Odyssey taught me the importance of connection. It taught me the importance of vulnerability and self-care,” Oxendine says. “It was the first time in a long time that I felt seen and understood, and I could see that I was not alone.”
Oxendine next sought intensive, clinical-based treatment via the Warrior Care Network, a partnership between WWP and Emory Healthcare (Atlanta), UCLA Health (Los Angeles), Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) and Rush University Medical Center (Chicago).
Veterans or active-duty service members who were active on or after 9/11 and who are living with PTSD, traumatic brain injury or military sexual trauma are eligible to receive roughly 50 hours of therapy through the two-week, in-person program at no out-of-pocket cost. Program costs are covered through WWP donor support.
“Warriors typically come into the program with a moderate to severe level of post-traumatic stress disorder, and by the end of the two weeks, they’re down to the mild to no symptoms of PTSD,” says Erin Fletcher, director of Warrior Care Network.
“We’re incredibly proud that responses from program completers show they maintain the gains they achieved in treatment for at least one-year post-treatment, which is when we stop surveying formally,” Fletcher adds.
For veterans who aren’t quite sure where to start in seeking mental health support, WWP offers a Mental Health Triage Team that can help steer veterans to free, best-fit services.
“Every day, we see roughly 100 new veterans reaching out for access to our mental health services,” says John Eaton, WWP’s vice president for complex care. “So, the need is there, and it’s growing.”
NORMALIZING SUPPORT
Campaigns such as the Wounded Warrior Project’s #CombatStigma initiative work to destigmatize mental health challenges — and encourage veterans to reach out for targeted mental health support. Find out more about the array of mental health services offered by Wounded Warrior Project at https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/programs/mental-wellness.