From Stigma to Strength: The Real Warriors Campaign

When First Sgt. Simon Sandoval’s platoon lost two Marines while deployed in Iraq, the experience gnawed at him.  

He asked himself, “How did everything get so messed up? Was it my fault? Could I have done this differently?”

He started drinking heavily, lost interest in his health, and pulled away from family and friends.

Such invisible wounds can be the hardest to heal, and most difficult to talk about. To help change that, the Psychological Health Center of Excellence launched the web-based Real Warriors Campaign with support from Booz Allen. The campaign’s goal is to reduce the stigma surrounding psychological health within the military community, and encourage help-seeking behavior among service members, veterans, and their families. 

To make them easier to find and use, Real Warriors Campaign brings psychological health resources online, and provides information on how and where to seek care. But before service members will act on that information, many need help overcoming a perceived stigma—the idea that seeking mental health-related assistance will negatively impact their careers.

“Service members want to see and hear from people like themselves, and they want to see success. They don’t just want to be told that seeking care works,” says Katie Duthaler, former deputy project manager for Booz Allen’s work on the Real Warriors Campaign.

To answer that need, the campaign produced a series of online videos—true, inspiring stories of service members who sought care and experienced positive outcomes.

Intensely personal, the videos feature service members discussing the experiences that led them to seek psychological health services. People like Sgt. Sandoval share how the care they received helped them stay on track or even turn their lives around. “The people sharing their profiles through this campaign are proving through example that service members are going on to have successful careers in the military after seeking care. They’re better family members and they’re better warriors for getting the help they needed,” says Katie.

The videos are central to the Real Warriors Campaign’s success, but they’re only one small part of the larger program, which, along with direct engagement tactics, leverages digital strategies to seamlessly integrate web content, social media, (Twitter, Facebook), and free print resources. The campaign’s social media channels alone garner more than 179,000 fans and followers and 4,000 interactions per month.

The intent is to put care resources at the fingertips of service members. Content shared by the campaign includes ways for audiences to seek care or learn about additional support resources, including the Psychological Health Resource Center, the Military Crisis Line, TRICARE, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). But it goes further than that. The campaign also fosters an important virtual connection—a digital community of camaraderie and endless support. With the Real Warriors Campaign, help for veterans, service members, and their families is truly only a click, tap, or phone call away.