A non-profit organization
UpHold Our Troops wants to positively influence the mental health crisis in our military with the healing power of psilocybin. UpHold Our Troops provides scholarship support for those veterans, active military and family members who would like to become psilocybin facilitators.
In fostering a growth mindset and always-on learning, we will equip our veterans to address the challenges they are likely to encounter in the civilian world.
We uphold the highest standards of teaching and skill-building with a view to shaping psilocybin journey awareness, understanding, transformation, and peace.
Our goal is that those who have served and believe in the power of psychedelic medicine for healing trauma will be able to strongly connect with their brothers and sisters who have served and are struggling and can continue to serve them through facilitation.
It is not about getting high. It is about getting healed to ensure the benefits of veteran interventions catalyze deeper societal change that reach the largest number of people.
971-470-8090
mary@clinicalcognitivetraining.com
Suicide Prevention Hotline: Text 988 or call 1-800-273-TALK
PTSD AND VETERANS
Estimates of PTSD prevalence rates among returning service members vary widely across wars and eras.
In one major study of 60,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, 13.5% of deployed and nondeployed veterans screened positive for PTSD,12 while other studies show the rate to be as high as 20% to 30%.5,13 As many as 500,000 U.S. troops who served in these wars over the past 13 years have been diagnosed with PTSD.14
It is not clear if PTSD is more common in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans than in those of previous conflicts, but the current wars present a unique set of circumstances that contribute heavily to mental health problems. According to Paula P. Schnurr, PhD, Executive Director of the VA National Center for PTSD, the urban-style warfare tactics in Afghanistan and Iraq, marked by guerrilla attacks, roadside improvised explosive devices, and the uncertain distinction between safe zones and battle zones, may trigger more post-traumatic stress in surviving military members than conventional fighting.15
971-470-8090
mary@clinicalcognitivetraining.com
DEPRESSION & SEXUAL TRAUMA
Complicating the diagnosis and assessment of PTSD in military veteran are the high rates of other mental health trauma.
Depression is the most common other condition with PTSD in veterans. Results from a large national survey show that major depressive disorder (MDD) is nearly three to five times more likely to emerge in those with PTSD.Approximately 22% of screened female veterans reported military sexual trauma (MST), a term adopted by the VA to refer to sexual assault or repeated threatening sexual harassment that occurred while the veteran was in the military.32
No obligation discovery Call971-470-8090
mary@clinicalcognitivetraining.com
ALCOHOL USE DISORDER -SUBSTANCE ABUSE DISORDER
Other common disorders coexisting with PTSD in military veterans include anxiety and substance abuse or dependence.18–20
The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, conducted in the 1980s, found that 74% of Vietnam veterans with PTSD had a comorbid substance use disorder (SUD).21 In one study of recent veterans, 63% of those who met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorders (AUDs) or drug use disorders had co-occurring PTSD, while the PTSD prevalence among those who met criteria for both AUDs and drug use disorders (e.g., alcohol dependence and cocaine abuse) was 76%.22
PTSD is associated with physical pain symptoms, as well. For veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, chronic pain continues to be one of the most frequently reported symptoms.25,26 Approximately 15% to 35% of patients with chronic pain also have PTSD.27
971-470-8090
mary@clinicalcognitivetraining.com
Meet Our Staff and Board Members
John Richardson
John Richardson is an Executive Vice President and a disabled military veteran. He is well known in the medical space for building successful sales teams focused on training, ethics, and relationship-based sales. He works as a consultant with many physicians, providers, nurse practitioners, and nurses throughout the country to help achieve their practice goals.
He believes in alternative healing opportunities, especially in the mental health space, for those who have not found peace with traditional western medicine methods.
Mary Nielsen
Mary Nielsen originated the idea of Uphold Our Troops while watching a CNN program on the war in Afghanistan, where she learned about the staggering suicide statistics of our military veterans.
Mary Nielsen is the entrepreneurial founder of Clinical Cognitive Facilitator Training. Mary is the Executive Director and founder of Spectrum Advanced Aesthetics Institute (www.spectrumlasertraining.com), the OG of Fearless Beauties (www.fearlessbeauties.org) and an author of several textbooks. She believes in the empowerment found in education and in supporting complementary methods for enacting the highest level of healing, including psychedelic facilitator training.
Mary serves on the Advisory Board for Private Career Schools in Oregon.
Call Us for More Information:971-470-8090
If you are active military, a veteran, or family member, we'd love to sponsor a scholarship for you to become a certified psilocybin facilitator.
971-470-8090
mary@clinicalcognitivetraining.com
Opportunities
Here are some ways to get involved!
Donate to the Scholarship Fund
One Day of Tuition for a Veteran
Modern Recovery: Veterans & Psychedelic-assisted Therapy
Meet Some of Our Partners
Thank You to Our Sponsors
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