In 2012, on average, 22 military veterans were committing suicide in the U.S. every day. Warriors for Warriors was created as an organization that focuses on effectively preventing the suicides of U.S. military service members, and treating veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) from combat and military sexual trauma, illness and injury from combat, and addiction. We help both active duty military and veterans by using acupuncture treatment, holistic PTS wellness counseling, and True Warriorship, mindfulness, and martial arts training to restore their holistic health and optimize performance and holistic readiness based on the principles of Kosho Shorei Ryu. Since 2012, Warriors for Warriors has offered over 10,000 free acupuncture treatments, 500+ classes/retreats, and saved at least 44 veterans’ lives from suicide.

Kosho Shorei Ryu is an 800-year-old art from Japanese warrior monks and healers which has cultivated deep and broad experience in the treatment of warriors suffering from the same physical and mental/emotional problems included in the mission of Warriors for Warriors. The 23rd-generation headmaster of this system and Executive Director of Warriors for Warriors devised a way to use these teaching to help veterans get the help they needed in order to truly heal. Between acupuncture, counseling, mindfulness and wellness classes, martial arts training, and our special events, we encourage veterans to ask for help. Warriors for Warriors gives veterans a place to heal, train, and reconnected with that warrior camaraderie they so often miss.

For our first seven years, WfW provided veterans with free acupuncture through our Community Acupuncture for Veterans program (CAV). Veterans would come from far and wide to receive these treatments every other Monday afternoon as a group. They received treatments for anything from physical pain, injuries from combat, to PTS(D) and suicidal ideation. Each veteran was able to share a bit of their story. This created camaraderie among the veterans as they realized that it didn’t matter if they were in Vietnam, World War II, Iraq, Afghanistan, and any other conflicts, their struggles were often the same:

nightmares
insomnia
flashbacks
anxiety
fear
anger
guilt
physical pain from injuries
struggles of returning from deployment and reintegrating

Our treatments helped all of it.

Because of Covid, Warriors for Warriors upped our game in order to continue to help our veterans with even greater needs. Though we had to stop our CAV events, we continued to help veterans throughout the pandemic through more comprehensive individualized care, saving many more veterans from suicide in the process. We increased the quality of care for our veterans and, just between 2020 and 2023, 10 veterans told us, unsolicited, that they would have committed suicide if not for our continued work.

Now that Covid is dissipating, we have been opening our doors to more creative ideas in order to bring back the important aspect of camaraderie in a way that also protects our veterans from the exposure to Covid. Starting in 2022, we developed Bi-annual Combat Veterans PTS(D) Decompression weekend retreats. They are a great success in many ways, giving the veterans the treatments they need often for the first time, mindfulness and pain-relieving tools, discussion groups, and great fun with great food. These events help veterans work with PTS(D) on their own much more effectively, and have directly resulted in the prevention of at least two veteran suicides

Practitioner of Acupuncture and Asian Medicine for over 30 years, specializing in treating military and veterans suffering from suicidal ideation, PTS, TBI, anxiety, depression, anger, hyper-vigilance, insomnia, substance/addiction, and chronic pain.

Wordwide Headmaster of Kosho Shorei Shin Kai, organization teaching 800 year old art of Kosho Shorei Ryu

Teacher and Senior Black Belt, Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu Kiyama Kai, 1200 old art of elite samurai warriors.

Co-Founder, C.H.E.A.T. D.E.A.T.H. Advanced Combatives Program

Senior Kosho Shorei Meditation and Internal Arts Teacher