Today we’d like to introduce you to Tempa Sherrill.
Tempa is the spouse of Marine Corps and Army Reserves veteran, AJ, who served in Afghanistan during 2008-2009 performing tactical psychological operations. When deployed AJ had also served 18 years as a police officer. When he returned home after being away 15 months, his spouse and three children knew something was wrong. This was not the man that went over to fight for our country. Someone else came home. He only had two weeks of leave before returning to his police duties in Dallas and it took six months for the family to convince him to go to the VA for help.
His psychiatrist seemed to care for his welfare and put him on medication to help relieve his symptoms. Group counseling was offered, but no other counseling was available for the family. Many issues were experienced by the family in this post-war battle including extreme anger, rage, emotional detachment, memory loss, anxiety, and depression. No longer could the family go to dinner, have friends over, or go to a movie.w
After a year-long struggle, the VA was able to get AJ into individual therapy. His anxiety was so overwhelming that group therapy was not an option. He could not bring himself to speak in a group about his experiences. The family tried several community counselors who did not seem to understand the uniqueness of the military culture or deployment experience. Getting help seemed hopeless at times. Tempa and her children had no idea how to deal with this new reality and the loss of the husband and father they once knew. Through her own counseling and struggle, Tempa felt a call for action. She left an 18-year teaching career to pursue her masters in counseling and psychology with the dream of helping veterans and families.
Three years into this process, AJ lost his career as a police officer when his employer found out he had a post traumatic stress diagnosis. He was terminated. This was a huge setback for AJ and the family, but Tempa was more determined than ever to continue her mission. While still a student, she was hired at a local non-profit where she spearheaded the development of a veteran-focused program through collaborations with the clinical director on grants for providing veteran-specific services – a demographic not previously targeted by the organization.
Tempa and AJ lost thousands of dollars of personal income during this time and were financially devastated, but the mission was too important to give up on. After six years of therapy, family healing, and a new career for AJ, he chose to donate his police retirement funds as seed money for the launch of a stand-alone non-profit organization – Stay The Course Veteran Services (STC). This was the realization of Tempa’s dream to exclusively serve Veterans, First Responders, and their families in a safe, culturally competent environment using trauma-informed, evidence-based therapies through individualized combinations of individual, couples, and family counseling sessions. These services address behavioral health and trauma disorders including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Military Sexual Trauma (MST), transitioning challenges, marriage and family issues, substance use, suicide prevention and postvention, and developmental and behavioral health issues in children.
Evidence-based therapies include Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Marriage and Family Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Collaborative Assessment Management of Suicidality (CAMS) and Mindfulness training. As the spouse of not only a veteran but a police officer, she understands first-hand the difficulties public servants experience and the invisible wounds that so often are ignored due to the stigma around asking for help. She is also aware of the trauma that the family members endure, and the importance of inclusion in the process as a crucial element in healing for the family. STC counselors and staff are competent in the military culture through first-hand knowledge, either as a veteran, a spouse, or a direct family member of a veteran. This allows STC to provide services by individuals who have a true understanding of the culture and issues unique to military families.
Since opening its doors in January 2016, Stay The Course has grown to an 8-person staff, of which 4 are veterans, and has served over 625 individual Veterans, First Responders, and family members to date. The services are provided from a truly holistic standpoint, connecting clients with community partners and resources to fill any gaps in their service needs. This may include more obvious needs like housing or employment, benefits or legal resources, or referrals for medical care; or it may encompass often overlooked unmet needs many clients face, like the need for a service dog, or for a low-cost storage unit, or access to an affordable moving company. STC has even assisted a client with finding suitable foster care for her beloved pet cat while she entered a rehabilitation program for addiction treatment. This agency is committed to ensuring clients receive assistance with any struggle they are facing.
Over the past two years, Stay The Course has developed an important community partnership with #22KILL, a non-profit organization that works to raise awareness to the veteran suicide epidemic, as well as provides a variety of programs and resources with a primary focus on suicide prevention through empowerment. #22KILL funds a full-time Stay The Course counselor at their Dallas headquarters, successfully expanding the organization’s reach across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Due to the long-standing success of STC’s collaboration with 22KILL and the cohesive nature of the two organizations’ missions, STC will become a program under 22KILL’s umbrella by early 2018. The services that STC provides serve as the perfect pairing with their outreach efforts to positively impact the veteran suicide epidemic, as well as the mental health and quality of life of both veterans and first responders. STC will continue to operate as a self-sustaining program, and with the continued support of 22KILL, will be positioned to thrive and expand their network until veterans all over the United States have access to affordable services.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Developing a nonprofit program in a community that is overwhelmed with many other nonprofits competing for funding is a difficult journey. Naturally, young organizations are expected to prove their worth along the way before funders will take a chance on investing in them. The most difficult part of this journey for me was connecting to the funding. Also, it takes many long hours to carry out the mission while being understaffed and therefore wearing many hats along the way. These are normal struggles for a new and growing organization, but well worth it for our cause.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Stay The Course – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our mission is to serve veterans, first responders, and families who have sacrificed for our country. We provide guidance, wellness, and healing from invisible wounds.
Stay The Course (STC) is a nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization providing evidence-based therapies to individuals, couples, and families at little or no cost. Counselors are competent in the military and first responder cultures and are veterans or direct family members, therefore providing a meaningful connection for families. In addition to counseling services, clients are linked to other community resources in order to fill gaps in their needs such as financial or housing assistance, employment, and training. This holistic view helps individuals and families get back on course when met with life’s challenges.
Target Audience:
• Veterans from all eras and any discharge status
• First responders
• Family members of veterans and first responders
• Children and adults are eligible for services
It is the philosophy of this agency to treat the whole family and to provide unique combinations of individual, couples, and family therapy to promote healing and recovery from a multitude of issues resulting from invisible wounds.
Goals:
• Overcome the barriers to counseling services that many veterans, first responders, and families experience
• Link clients to other community resources
• Provide education
• Foster hope and healing
We specialize in Trauma-informed care, PTSD, families, suicide prevention, and empowerment. Because our service members have no limits to what they are willing to do for our country, we pledge to provide services to them as long as they need us, therefore we have no session limits. We are most proud to be able to give back to those who have given so much and continue to every day.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The past two years we have partnered very closely with many other service organizations in our quest to provide the best services for our clients. We have discovered that we are all connected in some way in this tribe and can do much more together than we can alone. What has emerged from this effort is the opportunity to officially merge with another nonprofit, 22KILL, who raises awareness of the suicide epidemic of veterans and first responders across the nation.
Our formal partnership will provide education, research, as well as traditional and non-traditional therapies to veterans, first responders, and families. Our goal is to replicate our programs nationally so that we can reach more of those who need help. The merger will become official in early 2018.
Contact Info:
- Address: Fort Worth Office: 2501 Parkview Dr Suite 250,
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
Dallas Office: 13625 Neutron Rd., Dallas, Texas 75244 - Website: www.staythecourse.vet
- Phone: 682-990-6242
- Email: tempa@staythecourse.vet
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/staythecourseveteranservices
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
