Jamie Lea’s Journey of Healing and Connection Through The Hope Project

Jamie Lea’s Journey of Healing and Connection Through The Hope Project

Jamie Lea’s journey is a heartfelt story of finding healing and support as a veteran spouse. Supporting her husband, Dave, through his struggles with PTSD and TBI has been challenging, but it led them to seek help through Heroic Hearts Project and The Hope Project. The Hope Project supports partners of veterans, offering them the chance to heal alongside their loved ones. Here’s how Jamie Lea found her way to healing, the support she received, and the impact it had on her life.

Supporting a partner with Military Trauma: The Journey Begins

Jamie Lea and Dave’s connection began in childhood, thanks to their fathers who were both helicopter pilots in the army.  They’ve spent most of their lives deeply connected thanks to their close family friendship and shared military background. Their intertwined journeys brought them together romantically and ultimately led them to seek healing after the impacts of Dave’s time in the service became too significant to ignore. “I’ve seen him go through it all,” Jamie Lea shares, reflecting on the long journey they’ve had.

Dave’s struggles with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) led him to look for alternative treatments. He came across Heroic Hearts Project and made the decision to sign up for one of their psychedelic retreat programs specifically designed to support veterans with TBI. Jamie Lea admits she was initially skeptical. “It sounded kind of sketchy, going off to the jungle to do mushrooms with people you’ve never met,” she says. But they both believed in pursuing more natural and preventative measures, so they gave it a chance. Jamie Lea remembers feeling that “if it’s not a bag of pills from the VA, it’s a step in the right direction.”

Jamie Lea’s Experience with The Hope Project

While Dave was on his retreat, Jamie Lea started receiving support and education from The Hope Project.  While the program offered education about psychedelics and how to support a partner going through a retreat program, it more importantly offered her a space to begin attuning to her own experience as a human and to connect with others like her. She found great comfort in a community of women that understood her struggles. “The group provided a way to say, ‘Oh, you too? That’s how I feel,'” Jamie Lea explains. “It changed everything to know I wasn’t alone.” 

When Dave returned, Jamie Lea noticed profound shifts in his outlook on life. She noted how peaceful and present he was following his experience, and also how his newfound stabilization created the space necessary for her own trauma to begin surfacing. It reached a point where she felt ready to offer herself the opportunity to explore healing through psychedelics. 

Through a psilocybin retreat with The Hope Project, Jamie Lea traveled to Mexico with a group of veteran spouses in pursuit of her own transformation. “It was the most beautiful week of my life,” she recalls. The retreat in Mexico offered her a chance to reflect and heal in a supportive environment. “I came in so tired, and wanting to walk away from everything in my life. I just needed something to change,” Jamie Lea says. The experience helped her realize the way she had been confining herself with a sense of obligation. She visualized chains that had been confining her breaking down and realized a new sense of agency and autonomy in her life. “It gave me everything I needed and then some,” she notes.

One of the most surprising outcomes of Jamie Lea’s retreat was that it led to the immediate disappearance of an eating disorder she had struggled with her whole life. Although it wasn’t something she planned to work on, it surfaced during her journey. “It didn’t even occur to me to ask for help with it because it was such a normalized part of my life, but in the middle of the journey, it just popped up,” Jamie Lea shares. She realized she didn’t need to harm herself anymore and has not purged since then. “It’s been a year, and I don’t even feel that temptation anymore,” she says, amazed by this unexpected healing.

Building Connections

Just as healing as the psilocybin itself was the sense of community formed through this intense shared experience. “This program brought me a family,” Jamie Lea says. She formed strong bonds with the other women, taking note of how quickly and easily the group opened up to each other and witnessed each other in true vulnerability. The relationships formed during the retreat continue to offer support and connection to this day. “We can help each other because we’ve been there, and we still talk all the time,” Jamie Lea beams.

Moving Forward

The healing Jamie Lea experienced has had a ripple effect on her life. She and Dave have since moved to Costa Rica, seeking a simpler, more meaningful life. Jamie Lea also made significant changes in her professional life. “I quit my job and started my own company,” she says, highlighting the newfound flexibility she now enjoys. This life change has allowed Jamie Lea to prioritize her well-being and work in an environment that aligns with her values.

In their relationship, Jamie Lea and Dave have found a new level of understanding and communication. “After my retreat, he knew how to show up for me because he had been there.  I was also able to better understand and relate to his new way of being,” she reflects. This common language and shared orientation towards self awareness has shifted the way they interact in their day to day lives. “We don’t let the small stuff get to us anymore. We can say, ‘This is what I need,’ and it’s okay to do so,” Jamie Lea explains, noting that their relationship is as supportive as it’s ever been.

At a personal level, Jamie Lea no longer views work or her relationships as obligations, and she moves through life with a new sense of freedom. “It’s a choice. It’s always been a choice. And I get to choose whether and how I show up every single day.”

A Message to Other Spouses

For other spouses considering this journey, she offers words of encouragement: “I’m still in awe of everything that was created for our benefit. I felt so cared for in every aspect. It’s scary, but it’s worth it. You may not get what you want, but you’ll certainly get what you need.”

If you’re considering whether a psychedelic retreat program is right for you, visit xxxxx to learn more.