One Veteran at a time: Finding healing, restoring hope, and preventing suicide

Following 30 years of service and seven deployments in the Marine Corps — including combat in the Battle of Fallujah during the Iraq War — Master Gunnery Sergeant (MGySgt) and Silver Star recipient Ismael Sagredo faced ongoing challenges at home.

“There isn’t a day where I don’t reflect back on something I experienced,” Ismael says. “Something will always trigger it. I kept a lot of things bottled up for the longest time.”

Ismael’s wife saw that he continued to struggle as he returned to civilian life. At her insistence, he sought help to heal the invisible wounds of his service by turning to Home Base, a national program founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation. It provides world-class direct clinical care, wellness, education, and research — all at no out-of-pocket cost to Veterans of all eras, Service Members, Military Families, and Families of the Fallen.

Finding the right supports

Ismael began Home Base’s Intensive Clinical Program, a two-week program for Veterans, Service Members, their Families, and Families of the Fallen that combines two years of evidence-based therapy with complementary and alternative medicine. The program includes daily individual treatment, therapy skills groups, stress-reduction and resiliency training, support and education for a loved one, and other comprehensive care.

Steadily, Ismael began to find exactly what he needed: hope and healing.

“The military is black and white,” he says. “There is no gray. If there is, we eliminate it. Home Base is going to help you with the gray. You can function, open up, and take care of yourself.”

Life-changing experience

Louis Chow, PhD, senior director of network development for Home Base, says, “There may be a lot of unfortunate misinformation that folks cannot recover from some injuries like post-traumatic stress. Through Home Base and our partnerships, we make sure Service Members are getting gold-standard, evidence-based treatments.”

Today, Ismael is thriving in civilian life with the help of the tools and support he received at Home Base. Looking back, he calls his experience “life changing.”

Every day, more than 22 Veterans die by suicide. Since 2009, Home Base has served more than 65,000 Service Members, Veterans, and Family Members, providing world-class clinical care, wellness programs, research for new treatments, and overall support at no cost to participants or their families. "At Home Base, we believe that healing is possible and every life is worth fighting for," Chow says. "Through the generosity of our Grateful Nation, Veterans like Ismael can find the treatment, hope, and support they need to move forward."