No man left behind: This former Navy Seal and entrepreneur is providing free mental health care to veterans

After nine years as a Lieutenant Navy Seal, Pat Dossett is all too familiar with the mental health needs of the veteran community — and he’s doing what he can to help meet them.

Last year, Dossett launched his company Madefor, a wellness platform and program designed to give people the tools they need to manage anxiety and battle burnout before it takes hold. Normally, the consumer-facing platform is available to anyone who’s seeking support for $299 a year, but Dossett recently decided to offer the service free of charge to any U.S. military veteran or active service member.

“I can't overstate how much I was given in my time and service in the uniform — I’d been in and around these communities for most of my adult life,” he says. “A sense of service becomes a part of the fabric of who you are [in the military,] so it was really important to me that we give back to that community as soon as we had the opportunity to.”

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Madefor offers digital solutions through the company’s app like research and online guides, as well as material components clients can order and purchase like guidebooks, Dossett says. The point is to not only get the material to vets, but to have them incorporate it into their lives as soon as possible.

Not only are veterans and their families at a higher risk for mental health strain, but of the 11-20% of veterans who have been diagnosed with PTSD, just 9% have recovered, according to a survey by digital therapeutic service Freespira . And it’s not from a lack of trying: veterans listed transportation challenges and finding nearby providers with PTSD experience as the main barriers to accessing healthcare services.

“The transition is really hard for that community,” Dossett says. “For many it's the first time in their professional careers where they've been outside of the uniform and navigating the challenges of a unique and novel experience.”

Asking for help — and asking for the right kind of help — can be a daunting process, according to Dossett. With Madefor, not only do clients have access to resources from wherever they are, but they also get to set their own pace and choose how rigorously and intensely they want to follow the program.

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Often, Dossett says, veteran clients will get frustrated with the sense that they’ve tried everything that the market and healthcare plans have to offer, and feel like their struggles indicate a personal failure. Creating a system that focuses on incremental lifestyle changes can make a bigger, longer-lasting impact in improving their mental health habits.

“We try to help people realize that the outcomes will take care of themselves,” Dossett says. “You're not a machine, you're not a robot — at some point, you're going to get knocked off course, even if you’re a Navy Seal. It's not that you get knocked down, rather how do you respond when that happens?”