After a career in the military which included multiple combat deployments I found myself struggling to adapt to society after my transition. My identity was wrapped up in being a SEAL and all I knew was the mission and the team and had no idea how my skills could translate. I landed a job as a trader at Goldman Sachs in NYC, a few months after returning from a deployment. The hardest thing I have done in my life was not SEAL training, it was not war, it wasn’t burying my friends but instead it was that transition from the military to civilian life. The world was congratulating me, telling me I made it, I was the 1% but inside I was struggling and didn’t understand why I felt they way I did inside. The purpose and passion I had in the teams was replaced with the pursuit of wealth which was not aligned with my values or the servant warrior I was. I fell into depression for the first time in my life and experienced anxiety attacks amongst other things. I turned to alcohol which compounded the problem and inevitably only pushed me deeper into hurt and darkness. I was mad and angry as I tried to understand what was happening and it seemed no one understood me or what I was going through. After years of working with the Veteran Affairs, speaking with Doctors that didn’t get me, taking various medications I was introduced to psychedelic assisted therapy. I was skeptical at first but after months of reviewing research and seeing lasting transformation with my SEAL Team brothers I opted to take plant medicine and truly believe I am here today because of it. As the co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of the SEAL Future Foundation we monitored our community with wearable technology which allowed us to better serve them before they fell into crisis by monitoring changes in their biometrics. It also allowed us to measure the impact that the various “solutions” had on them from a physiological standpoint. What we saw was significant positive and lasting changes with certain modalities like psychedelics across our community. The current medical system is slow and failing to many that have served our country. The current tools such as SSRIs are misaligned and in some cases compounds the problem and creates new ones. Today I have lost more friends to suicide than I have to my time in service. It’s time for us to advocate for new tools, research new medicines and solutions and truly help heal those, and their families, that have and continue to serve us. We are here today with our freedoms, safe in our communities, because of these men and women. We started this foundation to honor those that are no longer with us and make sure we fight for those that are.

Jonathan D. Wilson