Dallas-based therapist Jeremy Fusco, LCSW, understands why some veterans could benefit from counseling — because he, too, is a veteran who benefited from counseling. After 12 years in the Air Force, Fusco medically retired and found that trying to navigate his next chapter of life was more than challenging.

“When I retired, I experienced a loss of identity,” Fusco says. “I had set a goal of 20 years of military service, but my injuries required an earlier retirement, and that made me angry.”

Fusco says he tried rationalizing his way out of things and making excuses, until he finally realized that he couldn’t magically wish things away. Once he started embracing the idea of therapy, it impacted him so much it would become a key focus of his life moving forward.

Fusco always had a passion for helping others, and after experiencing the life-changing benefits of therapy, he decided to pursue his Masters in Social Work at the University of Southern California. “It was a tough program to get into,” Fusco says, “but I knew this was my next chapter, so I embraced it.”

After completing the program, Fusco’s new career took him to Louisiana, where he worked at the Veterans Administration Hospital counseling combat veterans' families and serving as an advocate for LGBTQ veterans.

“When veterans realized I also was a veteran, they found it easy to open up to me so we could discuss and address their challenges,” Fusco says.

He later moved to Dallas and began providing counseling services at Dallas' V.A. Hospital before opening up his private practice, Mind Above. The therapy practice addresses mental-health needs, including PTSD, trauma, anxiety, depression, military/veterans, moods, distress and more. In addition to Mind Above, Fusco serves as the Dallas County Veterans Court’s clinical liaison as part of Judge Dominique Collins' team.

“Judge Collins offers such a well-rounded program for the Veterans Court participants,” he says. “There are so many underlying factors that can lead to veterans committing nonviolent offenses. [Judge Collins] has put in place a comprehensive program that includes a focus on mental health and those struggles are often at the foundation of what makes adjusting to civilian life even more difficult.”

Why should veterans seek therapy?

According to Fusco, what holds true for veterans often applies to anyone when it comes to realizing it may be time to seek therapy. “The basic mental health challenges veterans face can already feel overwhelming,” he says.

Adding in the current factors of the COVID-19 pandemic, Fusco adds that the challenges can feel like way too much. “The pandemic can magnify a number of raw emotions as veterans are trying to navigate a new normal and are forced to lead much more isolated lives.”

Fusco suggests veterans or others experiencing any of the following feelings, emotions or experiences may want to consider therapy support:

• It’s difficult to come to terms with yourself
• You’re experiencing hopelessness
• You feel like you’re in limbo trying to find your purpose
• Impostor Syndrome: when you feel like a failure because you’re in unknown territory
• Avoidance or a tendency to “hold back”
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Major life transitions (shifting from military to civilian life or self-isolating to remain safe during the COVID-19 pandemic)
• You’ve suddenly lost your job and are struggling to find meaningful employment

A few other symptoms or situations to look for include:

• Feeling despondent
• Feeling distracted
• Overwhelmed by day-to-day tasks
• Pulling away to protect other people and/or becoming impenetrable
• Parents who suddenly became teachers during the pandemic, while also worrying about their employment and financial status

“A lot of times, people don’t make self-care a priority,” Fusco says. “When it comes to examining our lives and trying to figure out our future, we often tell ourselves to ‘suck it up’ and just deal with it. Life often changes our focus and paths, but if we embrace vulnerability and learn to own our own ‘stuff’, pretty profound things can happen.”

Fusco says instead of his therapy practice seeing a reduction in clients during the pandemic, he’s scheduling even more appointments, usually via options like tele-med or by phone.

“I may even get a call from a client who is taking his or her lunch break in their car eating a sandwich, [because] sometimes that’s the only time that works for them to get the help they need,” Fusco says. He adds that he frequently sees veterans who may not qualify for care in the VA system but because of the pandemic, he has often waived insurance copays because mental health needs are too critical to ignore.

As an extension of his commitment to providing mental-health treatment to veterans, Fusco created Set Ready, a nonprofit organization that provides a social network and services for active military, veterans and military spouses and families, including mentorship and “credible, meaningful and researched approaches” to meet their needs. Fusco’s site says the organization provides real models, not simply role models, who serve as mentors providing honest feedback and support.

“There should never be any shame in treating mental health,” Fusco says, because taking care of the mind is as important as seeking treatment for any other part of the body.

For more information on Fusco’s practice, visit www.MindAbove.app.