THE STORY IS THE COACHING.

I served. I gave it everything. And when it was over, nobody handed me a map.

The structure that held my life together disappeared overnight. The mission was gone. The adrenaline dropped. And the civilian world didn't speak my language — and didn't try to learn it.

I was diagnosed with PTSD, severe anxiety, severe depression, and suicidal ideation. I made choices I'm not proud of. I ended up incarcerated.

I'm not hiding that. I'm leading with it. Because if you've been there — or somewhere close — I need you to know that I have been there too. And I came out the other side.

I spent one full year in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy through the Seattle VA. Not because someone made me. Because I wanted to understand my own mind.

CBT didn't fix me. It gave me tools to hear myself — to catch the distortions, question the automatic thoughts, and stop letting my past run my present. That's what I pass on.

I became a Wisconsin certified peer specialist and worked at R&R House through Mental Health America of Wisconsin, supporting people navigating recovery and reentry. I volunteered on the veteran crisis hotline.

Then I built HILT. Because I kept meeting veterans who needed what I needed — not another program, not a diagnosis, not someone trying to fix them. Someone who'd been there. Someone who'd listen.