“This is a work of love for our fellow brothers in arms” Non-profit offers wilderness experience to veterans, first responders struggling with PTSD

Alaska is home to the most veterans per capita, and it isn’t hard to see why with the vast spaces, the ability to live off grid, and the solitude that only a place like Alaska can offer. Most of the veterans bring discipline, work ethic, courage, and adventure. And often, veterans bring with them Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

PTSD has had many names over the centuries, from shell shock to combat fatigue to war neurosis. But PTSD does not affect only military veterans. As many know, first responders-police, EMTs, firefighters-are also affected by the trauma experienced in their jobs.

Each veteran or first responder experiences PTSD the same, so it is safe to assume that not one treatment or solution will not work for everyone. And while medication, hypnosis, or therapy are some excellent tools, it doesn’t work for everyone. There is a non-profit that hopes to offer an immersive experience for those struggling with PTSD can find peace, adventure and learn wilderness survival skills- Wyldwoodz Adventures.

“We try to provide peer support, daily activities and survival education,” says founder Gwen Grimes. Grimes and partner Nate Harbour Wyldwoodz Adventures was founded to help military veterans and first responders that have been wounded physically, mentally, or emotionally and seeking peace along the road to recovery.

The non-profit started with a cabin build in Eagle, AK that now serves as a retreat

Grimes and Associate Director Nathan Harbour are gearing up for their latest adventure-a 4-month remote cabin build project in Dalteli Lake, on a 5-acre lakefront property at the base of Denali, Accessible only by float plane in the summer and by snowmachines in winter, it is extremely remote with no roads, no trails, no people out there.

Grimes was a police officer up on the Slope before taking a position with the Wasilla Police Department before being medically retired. While she still lived in Wasilla, the sound of sirens going by would trigger a desire for her to jump into action as she had been trained to do. But that was also a struggle:

“I’d hear the sirens go by, I’d wanna go, I need to go. I didn’t like that because I couldn’t go. It was a constant reminder that I was sidelined I couldn’t get away from,” Grimes says Gwen

“After I got hurt, I didn’t know there was any place in the state of Alaska I could turn to, so I just turned to myself, turned inward and went out into the woods myself. I didn’t want to be around people. In that healing process, trying to figure out what I was going to do since I couldn’t police anymore, I ended up opening up the retreat (in Eagle). In that first year, that’s when I was contacted by ‘Naked and Afraid’ and I thought ‘if I can do this, if I can make that happen with my disabled arm then I’ll be fine. So, I went ahead and did that and I realized that this helped me, being out in the woods helped me, I could help others.”

Harbour is a retired military veteran who served over 20 years, serving 2 tours to Iraq. He was a firearms instructor, military police officer, and aircraft mechanic. After his retirement, he moved to the remote community of Eagle Alaska with Grimes. He is an instructor for wilderness survival skills and a peer support advocate at the retreat.

For the trip, Grimes, Harbour and a few veterans and first responders will be setting up a floating dock, a base, gain experience hunting and fishing, setting up a water cache system, set up and plant a garden, with the end goal to build 3 log cabins using hand tools and saws.

“Because it is remote, we have to fly everything in,” said Harbour, who will head out first, then be joined by the others. While the initial trip will only have 3 people, later this summer several other veterans and first responder participants are scheduled to join up.

One of the first responders making the trek to Dalteli is Jeremy Scharlow. He is a medically retired police officer who also served in his department’s SWAT team until an on-duty ambush and shooting ended his career. While he survived, it was the aftermath that proved a greater struggle, He struggled with PTSD and began dealing with suicidal ideation, depression, and turned to alcohol to help numb the pain. When he reached his bottom, Scharlow found Operation Enduring Warrior, and it was through his work with that group that he learned about Wyldwoodz

“Back in October, I was at a ‘Brothers in Blue Bash’ in (Las) Vegas, and they had a PTSD seminar, and I met Gwen and Nate at the same conference. The moment they told me about it, I was in,” Scharlow says. Undeterred by schedules, options, time, Scharlow knew this would be something great.

He signed up for the 4-month adventure to Dalteli Lake to build cabins, remaining in contact with Grimes and Harbour, planning, gathering gear, and preparing for the sojourn.

“Just the idea of what they’re doing was amazing, and to be part of it, I feel very lucky to be out here,” he said.

One of the things Scharlow is hoping to get out of the experience is a little peace “and not looking over his shoulder all the time.”

“I’m going to be out in the woods for 4 months with 2 people, maybe up to 5, and I’m hoping to learn a little peace and not look over my shoulder all the time.” And while the perpetrator who shot him is deceased, Scharlow does worry about the shooter’s father, who has made threats against him. Scharlow is looking forward to getting the opportunity to just breathe without worrying about the possibility of retaliation.

“Coming up here, there’s no chance of being found…so being up here will give me the chance to disappear, to ground, and hopefully take that back to the lower 48.”

“There are just some neat opportunities up there, people can go fishing, hiking, you can go wander around. The Yukon River is on one side and the mountains on the other.”

Whether people just want to come up to their retreat in Eagle or want to help build cabins in Dalteli Lake, the idea is to physically and mentally get away from the chaos, be with a community of peers who can relate, emphasize and safely share their stories in a serene space, with the occasional caribou or bear. Grimes relates a particular story

“I’ve seen it help,” shares Grimes, “we had a kid who came up, had been blown up in Fallujah and broke his back. He came to us, had a lot of problems and had not able to sleep more than 2 or 3 hours,” she says. They kept a relax approach with him, telling him to eat and sleep as much as you want, when you want. “He’d been with us a few days and one morning at breakfast, we asked the others if anyone had seen him, to which they said no. A couple hours later, he finally came down and was surprised that he had slept as long as he had, saying ‘I’ve not been able to do this, this is awesome.’ And he was so happy that he called us a week later asking if he could come up for another week.”

Grimes and Harbour are adamant that they are doing this because of a genuine passion to help others that are suffering PTSD and need a break.

“This is a work of love for our fellow brothers in arms. It’s really important, what we’re doing. We want to help people.”

For more information, visit www.wyldwoodzadventures.com or their Facebook page “Wyldwoodz Wilderness Retreat”