Warrior PATHH in the Pacific Northwest

Post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety leave a mark on people that others don’t always see. At Warrior PATHH in the PNW, we see it, we understand it, and we know how to transform those struggles into strength. Warrior PATHH was created for the hundreds of thousands of warriors and first responders who are fighting a different battle on the home front; the fight to find a life worth living. The effect of traumatic stress on combat veterans and first responders is the catalyst for Warrior PATHH.

The Warrior PATHH training program was created to assist the nearly 3 million service members who deployed to or supported combats zones (many of whom deployed multiple times) since September 11, 2001. Lamentably, we have lost even more of our warriors to suicide than we have on those battlefields, and the suicide rate among veterans remains close to double that of the non-veteran adult population in our country. Our first responder community is unfortunately no different. An estimated 30 percent of first responders suffer from post-traumatic stress, and annually more than twice as many from that community die by suicide than in the line of duty. Aggravating those circumstances, studies consistently show that conventional treatments such as talk therapy and pharmaceuticals are either ineffective, inaccessible, or both. Considering the significance of that information, it is reasonable to ask what it might mean for our combat veterans and first responders to instead live their lives as the best possible versions of themselves. What could it really mean for them personally? What would it mean to their mothers and fathers or their spouses and children? Who could they be for our communities, for our local governments, for our world? What if…

The Permission To Start Dreaming Foundation has brought Warrior PATHH training to our community here in the Pacific Northwest, in partnership with the Avalon Network. Our partnership with them has served to magnify our strength and resolve in providing support for our veterans and first responders, both advancing our reach and accelerating our progress potential significantly. We now offer PATHH programs in the PNW for both male and female combat veterans, active-duty personnel, and first responders – and no clinical diagnosis of any kind is required to attend. Warrior PATHH is designed to harness the power of the first responder’s training and field experience, and the veteran’s military training and combat experience, to enable our warriors to unlock their remarkable potential at home. Once that potential is unlocked, the positive ripple effects through their families and our communities are profound. Our commitment to this training is pinned upon our knowledge that trauma does not need to diminish vitality or cause our veterans and first responders to live a diminished life.

Warrior PATHH (Progressive & Alternative Training Helping Heroes) is our nation’s first non-clinical, peer-to-peer program designed to cultivate and facilitate Posttraumatic Growth (PTG). PTG occurs when a person turns adversity, trauma, or other challenges into positive psychological change. That is a shift that enables an individual to stop simply surviving and instead begin to THRIVE – not in spite of, but because of their life experiences.

This transformative, lifelong, posttraumatic growth training program focuses on post-9/11 combat veterans and first responders struggling with traumatic stress symptoms (some of the collateral damage associated with a life dedicated to service, including post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and other challenges associated with trauma), giving them the training necessary to make peace with the past, live in the present, and plan for a great future. Throughout the program, students learn proven techniques to regulate thoughts, feeling, and actions, work to connect head and heart, and realize the opportunity to make peace with past traumatic experiences. This individual development enables our warriors to transform times of deep struggle into profound strength and lifelong growth.

Warrior PATHH begins with a 7-day on-site initiation and is followed by 90 days of continued training, which is delivered and supported by our network of instructors through our online platform. All Warrior PATHH instructors have personally walked this road from struggle to strength, which allows the blended team of combat veterans and first responders to leverage their own training and personal experiences to guide PATHH attendees in the journey toward the life they deserve to live.

Where many mainstream mental health approaches fail, Warrior PATHH works for a number of reasons:

Our team of trained combat veterans and first responders lead participants through and intensive, immersive, seven-day in person training followed by months of continuing remote education, support, and accountability. A thorough, cross-network, 18-month program assessment on Warrior PATHH shows:

Warrior PATHH programs are available for both men and women who are post-9/11 combat veterans (active-duty or veteran) and first responders. To be eligible to attend PATHH training, applicants MUST be an active, retired, or separated combat veteran -or- an active, retired, or separated certified first responder.

No clinical diagnosis or prior mental health care is required to attend.

-For training eligibility, we define a combat veteran as anyone who has served in any of the five major branches of service and was deployed to, or supported, a combat zone. Being a recipient of a Combat Action Ribbon, Combat Infantry/Combat Action Badge is not required; however, each applicant for Warrior PATHH must be able to provide documentation of service and/or support that denotes areas of service in a combat zone.

– For training eligibility, we define a first responder as anyone who has received certification and has actively served their community as a police officer, sheriff’s deputy, firefighter, EMS, corrections officer, health care worker, or any federal law enforcement or intelligence agency personnel.

Disclaimer: Warrior PATHH is a peer-based training program that relies on a variety of educational and experiential activities for the purpose of teaching life skills, increasing community integration and involvement, and promoting physical, emotional, relational, financial, and spiritual health. Warrior PATHH is not an outpatient or residential clinical treatment program and does not offer any health care services including, but not limited to, use of licensed healthcare professionals in the delivery of programs or supervision of staff. Warrior PATHH does not involve the provision of health care of any kind including, but not limited to, individual, group, or family counseling or psychotherapy, pharmacological management, or medical interventions. Warrior PATHH is not offered as a substitute or replacement for health care services, which may be ongoing or needed at any time by program participants.

Boulder Crest’s Warrior PATHH program is delivered at seven locations across the country — at our facilities in Arizona and Virginia, and nationally with our Mobile Training Team; and in partnership with GratitudeAmerica (Florida), Camp Southern Ground (Georgia), Travis Mills Foundation (Maine), Big Red Barn Retreat (South Carolina), Sheep Dog Impact Assistance (Arkansas beginning in March 2021), and Warrior PATHH in the PNW (Washington State beginning in August 2021)

January 2023

Warrior PATHH 020 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

January 6-13

January 2023 (Women’s Session)

Warrior PATHH 021 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

January 20-26

March 2023

Warrior PATHH 022 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA)

March 05-11

Warrior PATHH 023 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA)

March 31-April 06

April 2023

Warrior PATHH 024 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

April 28-May 04

May 2023

Warrior PATHH 025 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

May 19-25

June 2023 (Women’s Session)

Warrior PATHH 026 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

June 02-08

September 2023 

Warrior PATHH 027 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

September 29-October 05

October 2023 (Women’s Session)

Warrior PATHH 028 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

October 13-19

October 2023

Warrior PATHH 029 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

October 27- November 02

November 2023

Warrior PATHH 030 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

November 13-19

December 2023

Warrior PATHH 031 (Pilgrim Firs Camp & Conference Center, Port Orchard WA):

December 01-07

Questions? Please contact our team at [email protected]

We are committed to bringing hope and healing to our first responders, military members, veterans and their families dealing with post-traumatic stress and combat trauma.

If you are in a crisis and need to talk right away, or you are concerned about somebody else, there is always someone to listen and help.