When veterans seek mental health support, timing and approach can determine whether they stay engaged or walk away. Across much of the country, wait times stretch weeks or longer, and many care models require veterans to relive traumatic experiences in order to heal. When care is finally available, it leaves many veterans feeling worse and still searching for solutions.

Operation Warrior Resolution (OWR), a Florida-based nonprofit serving military veterans and their families, was founded to address that gap. Having recently acquired a property, Warrior Spirit Ranch, the organization is taking a significant step forward towards building a purpose-driven center designed to support long-term healing, connection, and resilience. OWR is expanding a model of care that has already demonstrated measurable success for those who’ve served.

OWR was founded by Army veteran and licensed clinical social worker, Kendra Simpkins Walsh, whose own post-service struggles with depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation shaped the organization’s mission. After finding healing through neuroscience-based and holistic approaches that did not require reliving trauma, Walsh committed to ensuring other veterans would not continue to slip through the cracks.

Since its founding in 2018, OWR has served more than 2,000 veteran families through individualized mental health care, retreats, couples services, and community-based programming. The organization reports an 85–90 percent improvement rate in symptoms of trauma and depression, placing it in the top 10 percent of mental health organizations nationwide. In recognition of its outcomes and impact, OWR was named 2025 Nonprofit of the Year.

These results are driven by OWR’s brain-based approach, which resolves unprocessed trauma without requiring veterans to re-experience painful memories. Just as important in the healing process, is the emphasis on community and bringing veterans together to restore the camaraderie often lost after military service.

As demand increased, veterans began asking for continuity and a place they could return to beyond a single retreat or short-term program. That need became the foundation for Warrior Spirit Ranch.

The vision for the ranch and constructing the Veterans Wellness Center was developed through Walsh’s Personal Leadership Project while participating in the George W. Bush Veterans Leadership Program, which she recently completed. The program challenged fellows to identify systemic gaps facing veterans nationwide and design sustainable solutions. For Walsh, that gap was clear: effective care existed, but veterans needed a permanent place where healing and connection could continue.

At the heart of Warrior Spirit Ranch is a 4,500-square-foot Veterans Wellness Center currently under development. Designed intentionally outside of a clinical setting, the facility integrates outcome-driven care with nature and community. Veterans will access group workshops, private sessions, and integrative services including infrared sauna, cold immersion, acupuncture, chiropractic care, and medical massage—addressing both mental health challenges and chronic physical pain.

The center will also include a fitness space, areas for peer connection, and a yoga studio that opens into the surrounding landscape. Warrior Spirit Ranch is intended to function as a long-term community hub, hosting retreats, ongoing wellness programming, and workforce readiness opportunities.

As construction moves forward, OWR is actively seeking philanthropic partners and mission-aligned donors to help complete the Veterans Wellness Center and ensure its long-term sustainability. Warrior Spirit Ranch is being built not just as a facility, but as a commitment to help thousands more veterans heal, reconnect with purpose, and restore the warrior spirit that endures long after service ends.

For more information, please visit https://www.operationwarriorresolution.org/ or contact Kendra Simpkins Walsh at kendra@operationwarriorresolution.org.