Honor. Purpose. Discipline. Comradery. Resilience. Sacrifice. Courage.
Willing to lay down their lives for country and fellow men, these virtues light the way of the Warrior. However, there are an estimated 500,000 Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) and more than 22 suicides each day. Exposure to traumatic life-threatening events is a common experience in the line of duty for our service men and women. Upon return, veterans experience loss of connection with their comrades, loss of sense of purpose and disability from their injuries physically and otherwise.
Triggered by memory or circumstance, many veterans relive these traumatic experiences. The constant and chronic exposure to suffering, injury and death can have a devastating and lasting impact on the individual, their immediate family, friends and community. An inability to recover from the exposure results in the complex mix of debilitating symptoms called Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS).
The Courage Foundation’s mission is to foster post-traumatic growth, restore purpose and transform lives through integrative self-awareness, physical health, mental toughness, emotional resilience and spiritual well-being.
CDR. Mark Divine, founder of The Courage Foundation and retired Navy SEAL, has spent his post-Navy career helping people from all walks of life break through barriers to develop resilience and reach peak levels of performance.
His integrated warrior development program has been effective in increasing mental toughness and emotional resiliency in Navy SEAL candidates, professional athletes and entrepreneurs.
These same methodologies are being utilized in our veterans programs. There are reasons why some people are more resistant to stress than others. Emotional resilience including resilience to stress can be developed (Post Traumatic Growth) by a motivated individual. Resilience to stress is associated consistently with at least 6 psychosocial factors: active coping methods, regular physical exercise, a positive outlook, a moral compass, social support, and cognitive flexibility. Our programs provide a framework and tools to develop these factors, and are based on training methods from both eastern and western warrior traditions to develop resilience, mastery and courage.