By DaisyMae VanValkenburgh-Haftel, VETS Email Marketing Manager + HubSpot Administrator

When a veteran is in crisis, they need support that shows up now – compassion that takes action, not just intention. They need help getting to the next step. They need someone who won’t walk away.

At the same time, if we want fewer veterans to reach that point tomorrow, we can’t rely on isolated wins or individual breakthroughs. We have to transform the system.

That’s why VETS invests in both treatment access and research. It’s not either/or – it’s a “Now + Next” approach designed to meet urgent needs while advancing long-term change.

  • Now: Help veterans access safe, medically supervised psychedelic-assisted therapies

where legal, with real support wrapped around them.

  • Next: Build veteran-specific evidence through rigorous research, so these therapies can become a regulated, clinically available option.
  • Scale: Push policy forward, so access isn’t limited to the few who can navigate cost, logistics, and red tape.

This is what systems thinking looks like when the stakes are real. And for veterans and their families, the stakes are real every single day. 

The “Now”: Because Every Minute Counts

Let’s start with the obvious truth: veterans are seeking options today.

Right now, many psychedelic-assisted therapies are still restricted in the United States. That means for some veterans, the safest, legal access points are outside the U.S., through vetted third-party clinical facilities. Our Foundational Healing Grant Program exists to bridge that gap.

But “access” is not a grant and a promise.

VETS’ model is built around wrap-around support. That includes preparation and integration coaching, peer support, spouse and family support, workshops, and a community that doesn’t disappear when the treatment ends. We don’t believe in dropping someone at the door of an experience and hoping for the best. We believe in support before, during, and after.

That’s the Now.

Because when a veteran is looking for hope, the answer can’t be, “Come back later when the system catches up.” Not if we mean what we say about showing up for those who served. 

The “Next”: Because Access Without Evidence Doesn’t Scale

The second truth is quieter, but just as important: what helps people today must be proven if we want it to help people tomorrow.

Research is how promising treatments move from the margins to mainstream care. Research is how we earn clinical acceptance, improve safety, build best practices, and create standards that protect veterans. Research is also how we make sure the veteran experience isn’t treated like an afterthought.

Here’s a reality we talk about openly: veterans with complex histories are often excluded from traditional trials. That means the evidence base can end up incomplete, even when public conversation is loud. VETS supports research designed to close that gap and build a stronger case for regulated clinical pathways.

In other words, the Next is about credibility and proof. Not hype. Not wishful thinking. 

If we want these therapies to become responsibly available, we need data that lawmakers, clinicians, and health systems can stand on. We need veteran-relevant research that answers veteran-relevant questions.

The “Scale”: Because Policy Is the Pathway to Real Access

Now we get to the part that determines whether access remains rare or becomes real.

Even the best research in the world doesn’t automatically create access. And even the strongest personal stories don’t rewrite regulations. 

That’s where advocacy comes in.

VETS’ policy work is nonpartisan, fact-based, and focused on results. We are not chasing headlines. We’re building a pathway where psychedelic-assisted therapies can be accessed in a regulated, medically supervised way with safeguards that protect veterans and their families. 

When we talk about scaling, we’re talking about the hard, unglamorous work of making change durable:

  • Reducing research barriers so studies can actually happen
  • Increasing state and federal funding for veteran-focused trials
  • Expanding regulated therapeutic access with guardrails
  • Making it possible for veterans and families to participate in research without being shut out by costs or logistics
  • Building coalitions so this isn’t one organization pushing a boulder uphill alone

That’s how change becomes structural, not symbolic.

Why “Both” Is the Only Answer

If we only funded treatment access, we’d still be leaving the system untouched. Veterans would keep running into the same walls, and the burden would stay on individuals to find and fund their own way through. If we only funded research, we’d be telling veterans who are looking for options today to wait quietly while the slow gears turn.

VETS refuses to accept either of those realities as “good enough.”

The “Now + Next” Mindset is a feedback loop:

  • Access teaches us what veterans are facing in real life
  • Research turns questions into evidence
  • Advocacy turns evidence into policy
  • Policy expands access, safety and responsibility

And then the loop gets stronger.

That is how we move from “a small percentage of veterans can get help” to “veterans can access advanced care options without leaving the country, draining savings, or navigating a maze alone.”

What You Can Do Right Now

If this matters to you, you don’t have to be an expert to make an impact. 

You can choose a lane and step in:

  • Support the Now: Help fund treatment access and wrap-around support for veterans and families.
  • Support the Next: Help fund veteran-focused research that strengthens the clinical case and improves safety.
  • Support the Scale: Raise your voice, stay informed, and back policy efforts that expand regulated access and research funding.

This year, we’re leaning hard into advocacy and access because the moment demands it. Veterans deserve more. They deserve a system that works.

We’re never out of the fight. And we’re building the future while we show up for today.