Sam J Peterson shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Sam J, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about your customers?
We work with a lot of veterans and first responders. One of the things that continues to surprise me is the dark side of the military value of ” Selfless Service.” Often, we see our patients becoming very resistant to self-care. The old adage that you need to put your mask on first before helping others gets ignored by those of us who have had this value stamped onto our souls by the organizations we have been a part of.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, my name is Sam J Peterson. I am a Former Army Bomb squad team leader and the founder of multiple mental health programs for veterans and first responders that center around more effective care for invisible wounds like PTSD and Brain Injuries.
Mind Spa is an outpatient clinic that utilizes cutting-edge treatments to address the root causes of mental health conditions and Brain injuries. Using a combination of ketamine infusion therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and culturally competent talk therapy, we strive to heal and rewire the brain. The patients we serve often see full symptom remission from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and TBI within 14-17 days, which is pretty unheard of in the mental health space.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My relationship with my father has been one that was incredibly formative…. for all the wrong reasons. My Dad had a serious traumatic brain injury before I was born. He fell off a three-story roof and landed on a concrete driveway. The only reason he survived the fall was the wooden step that his head hit at the bottom. I grew up with the emotional equivalent of an angry teenager as a parent. I was never listened to, acknowledged, or shown value for my accomplishments, and it drove me to prove the world … and my dad wrong.
For the most part, my anger towards my father and lack of self-confidence were maladaptive. It took me most of my 20’s to unlearn the toxic lessons that my father taught me about myself.
When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
From a young age, I have had a mantra: “negative input to positive output.” I have used pain and anger as fuel for a very long time. I didn’t really have the ability to use my pain to be truly powerful until I sat down with a therapist and did the work to overcome my father’s voice in my head.
It wasn’t until I helped to develop an intranasal stem cell treatment that cured my dad’s brain injury at 52 that I began to step into my power. That was a huge moment.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I think the biggest lie that the mental health industry tells itself is that people with PTSD and Brain injuries don’t get better, that they don’t recover. It’s kind of baked into our culture at this point, and it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Because the truth is, when you treat the root cause of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and TBI, people can not only recover very quickly, but they can stay better for a long period of time.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
We are collecting data on our treatment outcomes, and it is going to take at LEAST 10 years to change the way that mental health is treated in this country. I believe that we can do it though, its just a matter of doing good work for a long enough peroid of time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mindspadenver.com
- Instagram: @mindspadenver
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-peterson-mba/
- Facebook: @mindspadenver
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