EP:40 U.S. Army Veteran Jason Jarman ~ Healing A Lifetime Of Trauma
- S1E40
- 52:23
- December 19th 2022
Suzi talks with Jason Jarman, US Army Veteran and Program Manager for MVP Seattle about childhood trauma, service and creating his own wellness practices for healing.
Jason's Bio
I was raised in a very chaotic household. My Dad left when I was 7 y/o, leaving my Mom to raise 4 boys on her own. I am the youngest of those 4. Looking back, I realized that I attached to anyone that gave me attention, which made me very vulnerable to childhood sexual abuse. I was molested by two men, with two very different agendas. One groomed me with gifts and vacations that a father would’ve normally done for me. He, honestly, was a good person and never hurt me. Weird to say, but I never felt “used” by J.R. The other man, however, was all about his sick satisfaction. He later was caught and spent the rest of his life in jail where he died from testicular cancer. Poetic justice, I say.
That leads me to getting out of “Dodge” by joining the Army out of high school. I served as an Infantryman in Fairbanks Ak. @ Ft. Wainwright. The Army seemed to embrace me because I embraced it. I fit in and I became someone. Someone that stood out. I set the record for time in the night land navigation test for the Expert Infantry Badge and received an ARCOM for that. I placed 1st in consecutive marksmanship competitions for the 6th Inf. Division for all 3 bases in Alaska. I received another ARCOM for that. I never fired a weapon before the Army, and I was honored to have received the E.I.C. Excellence In Competition badge. A badge rare enough that while wearing it during an inspection the CSM asked what it was. To that my squad leader answered, “That means he can put a round up a tick’s ass from 1,000 meters.” I say this not to brag, but to show that the Army and I just clicked.
I got married and had 3 kids in Alaska. I got out of the Army due to the wife, now ex, talked me into leaving. I came back home to Renton, WA. That’s my hometown. I was working for Boeing until the 9/11 attacks. That is when I was laid off. Instead of going to school and collecting unemployment, I reenlisted as an Infantryman and went to Iraq to fight. I was a good Infantryman and wanted to do my part in this generation’s war.
After discharge, I struggled as most of us do. I didn’t let the VA help me. I turned to the streets for instant gratification. During that time, I lost my wife of 20 plus years to liver failure. This was almost enough to finish me. I didn’t want to be here anymore. I started doing things that were very outrageous to end my life so it would look like an accident to my family. I eventually ended up in a long-term treatment facility where I began to work on myself. I was asked by another veteran, “Jason, did you win any firefights in Iraq by yourself? What makes you think you can win any battles here at home on your own?” That was the moment that I “got it.” I spent a total of 5 months in 2 separate inpatient facilities. I got out and
Music credit to Kalvin Love for the podcast’s theme song “Bee Your Best Self”
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Be Crazy Well
It’s not what’s wrong, it’s what happened! Be Crazy Well, a podcast of Coming Home Well, explores mental and emotional wellbeing from the perspective that "a diagnosis" doesn’t tell the story of what happened to you. Understanding what happened provides the most important intel to plan and execute a new and effective mission to your mental health. Join Suzi and her mental health allies as she disrupts the mental health establishment and starts a mental health evolution! You have to Do Different, to Be Different, so you can create the person you deserve to be and the life you deserve to live. Each podcast will be filled with the newest mental health research, people who walk their mental health talk and wellness practices so we can BE CRAZY WELL.
Suzi is the Clinical Director of Merging Vets and Players (MVP), a national peer to peer support and empowerment organization for combat veterans and retired professional athletes. Located in six major cities and regions, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, and Seattle. Suzi also serves as the Clinical Director for Unbreakable, as well as, she is the Program Manager for Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, providing wild horse gentling retreats as a mental health therapeutic modality for veterans. Prior to MVP, Suzi worked as a Senior PATHH Guide at Boulder Crest Retreat (BCR) in Bluemont, Virginia, a privately funded retreat for combat veterans, their families and first responders. Suzi is one of the co-creators of BCR’s, signature program called PATHH, which stands for Progressive and Alternative Training for Healing Heroes. PATHH is the nation’s first curriculum-based retreat, based on the science of Posttraumatic Growth. PATHH is now offered, at other VSO’s, around the country.
Suzi has also consulted with the Wounded Warrior Project, Save A Warrior, Veteran’s 360 and Guardian Hills. Suzi earned her degree in Clinical and Community Psychology at Antioch University and became certified in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. She created her own equine therapy program called Horse Inspired Growth and Healing (HIGH) where horses teach clients how to practice principled, authentic, behavior.