Since January 2023 VETS has been active and encouraging support in my journey to be the best version of myself. The level of support that VETS provides continues to be the standard for myself and many other Veterans on their path to a healthy life. The level of financial support needed is not easy, and VETS continued support is a pinnacle for other organizations to place Veterans’ needs first. VETS focuses on the Veteran healing journey from coaching, mentoring, counseling, integration workshops, and any other meaningful modality they can provide. I would not be here today if it was not for VETS and the donations of others helping to fight Veteran suicide and promote healthy and meaningful options to allow Veterans to have a healing journey like no other.
—Mikey McKim, VETS Grant Recipient
The breakthrough was like nothing I’d experienced before. For the first time since leaving the service, I felt that sense of purpose and clarity that had been missing. The treatment allowed me to process my experiences in a way that traditional therapies and medications never could. It wasn’t just about managing symptoms – it was about healing the root cause of my pain…I’m not saying psychedelic-assisted therapy is an instant cure-all. It’s a tool—a powerful one—that can open doors to healing we never knew existed. It gave me the space to reconnect with the sense of camaraderie I’d been missing since leaving the military. More importantly, it gave me hope and a renewed sense of purpose: to live and to help bring others to healing.
—Herb Daniels, VETS Grant Recipient
Being a VETS grant recipient has shown me what unconditional love for myself and others truly looks like. My psychedelic therapy experience laid the foundation for establishing new habits to live a life in better alignment with my spiritual beliefs. The ibogaine experience was the most profound spiritual experience I have ever had - it solidified my beliefs and purpose in life after my military career. The wraparound support provided by VETS has helped me build the skills to live a life that revolves around a practice of compassion, kindness and peace instead of darkness, suicidal thoughts, and destruction.
—Brandon Bryan, VETS Grant Recipient
The amount of healing in our lives since my husband became a VETS grant recipient and traveled to Mexico for psychedelic therapy is nothing short of miraculous. We have both been blessed to embark on this journey of becoming the best version of ourselves thanks to the support of the VETS community. Life did not magically become easy after the experience, but his ibogaine reset and the community & integration support from VETS has given us the skills to navigate the ups and downs of life with healthier habits and peaceful hearts.
—Tracey Bryan, spouse of VETS Grant Recipient
VETS has provided the necessary tools and resources my family and I can use to continue to grow spiritually, emotionally and physically. VETS has opened up doors to alternative healing that truly have a profound impact on the symptoms of PTSD and TBI.
—Todd Berrios, VETS Grant Recipient
After returning home from deployment as a KC-130J pilot in the Marine Corps in 2017, I began suffering from debilitating nerve pain without a known cause. By 2019, the pain had overtaken my body as well as my mind. When I thought I had exhausted all options and thinking I had nothing left in the tank, a fellow Veteran mentioned psychedelic-assisted therapy through VETS. It was through the combination of commitment, plant-based medicine, and therapy that I have been able to heal and finally “return home.”
—Ari Polivy, VETS Grant Recipient
After years of being stuck in ruminations with no forward progress, let alone the goal of happiness, I stumbled upon something that changed my life: psychedelic-assisted therapy. I know it’s controversial, but when traditional treatments failed me, psychedelics like psilocybin offered a new path. Through guided therapy sessions, I confronted the root of my trauma in ways I never could before. I was finally able to be vulnerable in a setting that felt safe, allowing me to embrace parts of myself I had buried for years. For the first time, I felt like I was truly healing—not just masking my symptoms but addressing the core of my pain.
—Joe Hudak, VETS Grant Recipient