Jen Satterly spent a decade as a filmmaker and photographer, 3 years of which saw her embedded with the Navy SEALS and U.S. Army Special Forces where she filmed highly realistic training missions. During this time, Jen witnessed a serious lack of resources to aid the struggles that many special operators faced with respect to Post Traumatic Stress. While working to capture the intense environments created to simulate real SpecOps missions, Jen met and married Tom Satterly, a retired Delta Force Command Sgt. Major and became a Certified Health Coach in her determination to help Tom in his battle with PTS and TBI. In doing so she found her passion for helping other Special Operators and their families with similar challenges, and together Jen and Tom founded the All Secure Foundation to help Special Operations Combat Warriors and their families heal from the invisible wounds of war. Jen is also the author “Arsenal of Hope: Tactics for Taking on PTSD Together.”
In this episode of The Alpha Human Podcast, we welcome Jen back to the show to discuss her new book and her battle to help veterans suffering from the effects of PTSD and TBI. Jen and Lawrence Rosenberg explore the harrowing plight of combat vets who along with their families suffer from the unseen scars of war, as well as the shocking statistics surrounding veteran suicide and the tragic fact that 45,000 soldiers have taken their own lives in the last 6 years alone.
We also discuss Jen’s own battle with PTSD. As a child, Jen was bullied mercilessly in school, and along the way, although she retreated from the world for many years in her early youth, she grew up seeking to help take care of the wounded souls in her life. We also talk about Jen’s rise in the world of advertising, and her role as an entrepreneur in starting her own ad agency and film studio where she won a contract to embed with Special Operations units, filming large-scale and dangerous Realistic Military Training exercises. During the course of filming RMTs, Jen witnessed first hand the effects of PTSD on the soldiers and veterans she worked with including the issues faced by the love of her life Retired Sgt. Major Tom Satterly who she met while working with the Special Operations Community.
Additionally, we learn about the challenges Jen and Tom have fought hard to conquer, from Complex PTSD, TBI, and Suicidal Ideation to Jen’s Secondary Post Complex PTSD and how they have held on and made it through against the odds. We also explore Jen’s new book Arsenal of Hope, a tough and honest account of the struggles she encountered and the lessons learned in her fight to heal Tom, as well as many others within the Special Operations community that count on her and her foundation, All Secure, for insight, advice, and a willingness to listen and understand the psychological struggles that plague so many of our country’s toughest warriors.
We also delve into the anger that plagues so many combat vets and their families, as well as the roots of PTS including concepts such as moral injury and survivor’s guilt, along with the techniques that Jen and Tom have used both in their own lives, as well as for many in the Special Operations community, to help ameliorate the anguish and suffering experienced from the mental wounds left untreated. This includes the crucial element of nutrition in the healing process, the cathartic nature of sharing your story and experiences, as well as why acknowledging and even naming the different personalities that manifest when PTSD is triggered are powerful tools that assist many in their battle to lead a healthy and productive life.
Ultimately, Jen and Tom are on a mission to raise awareness as to the plight of PTSD as well as to inform those who are suffering as to the strategies and tools that have made a significant difference in their lives. Beyond that, both this episode of the podcast, and Jen’s book, “Arsenal of Hope,” highlights another theme, that is the story of a little girl who was forced to shrink away from the world and make her self small and unnoticed to survive the trauma of her childhood, yet how in helping others and in pursuing her desire to make a difference, Jen became a success in business, helped heal her family, and is helping to save the lives of thousands of America’s greatest heroes.
Links:
https://allsecurefoundation.org
Purchase Arsenal of Hope: Tactics for Taking on PTSD, Together from the All Secure Foundation 100% of proceeds directly supports all secure foundation warriors and warrior families: https://bit.ly/3dhumv4
https://www.facebook.com/AllSecureFoundation