Woodworking Warriors: How Carpentry with Resilience is Healing the Warrior Class

Have you ever tried to visualize what life can be like for someone living with PTS?

“The best way I can describe it, is it’s like there’s a balloon behind my head,” explains Mark Tuttle*, a retired member of the 75th Ranger Regiment.

“You can’t see it, but it’s there—and it’s THIS close [gestures with fingers separated by millimeters] to exploding. So, I wait. I’m always waiting for that ‘POP.’ Waiting for that one thing, for something bad to happen. You always know it’s there. You know it’s going to happen. You just don’t know when. So, you wait.”

Tuttle served in the Army as a Specialist from 1998 to 2009. His career path in the military was a quick trajectory into the coveted 3rd Ranger Battalion, part of the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. With a multitude of deployments, Tuttle’s time was nothing short of active. Like many, though, he wasn’t fully equipped or prepared for everything he saw and experienced while overseas.

Before he knew it, Tuttle was on his way home, carrying the load of the memories he’d seen with him.

“Naturally, you deny it,” recalls Tuttle, remembering his first thoughts on his diagnosis of PTS. “I think everyone does. You come home to questions, stares, high-anxiety situations, and you think you’ll just handle whatever comes up. Like you used to.”

A lifelong carpenter, Tuttle found it difficult to hold down a job once he was out. His anxiety triggered responses that caused him to show up late to a job site—or not at all. With the overwhelming sense of frustration and failure, Tuttle turned to alcohol for comfort. It was a downward spiral that his wife helplessly watched unfold.

It wasn’t until they were about to lose their home that Tuttle’s wife demanded he get help. “We had family friends who had access to Warriors Heart, and they made a call right in front of me,” Tuttle remembers through tear-filled eyes. “I wasn’t really given any other choice. Go to treatment or lose…everything.”

Warriors Heart—a private treatment facility exclusively for Warriors, providing care for addiction, chemical dependency, and PTS for active military, veterans, law enforcement, and first responders—understands the unique demands of our warriors and works to successfully navigate healing and recovery while in the company of people who personally understand each experience.

Military personnel (both active-duty and veteran), first responders, and law enforcement have very different life experiences from the rest of the population, facing unique physical, emotional, and mental health demands. These exceptional circumstances often lead to issues with Substance Abuse Disorders and chemical dependencies, as they provide temporary relief or self-medication for stress, trauma, and PTS symptoms.

Warriors Heart recognizes the need for a cultural shift to provide these warriors with the support they deserve—without the fear of appearing weak—offering a sanctuary for sick and suffering members of the warrior community to come together under one common goal: to recover from the disease of addiction.

“There are many different forms of PTS,” stated Tom Spooner, Co-Founder of Warriors Heart. “You can’t simply look at someone suffering from trauma and expect to treat them the same. Volunteer PTS, which is most common in Military and First Responders, requires a much different level of care than that of victim PTS. The trauma is different; therefore, the healing must be as well.”

Warriors Heart believes in the healing process of creativity. Understanding the distinctive mindset of those who walk through their doors, the team at Warriors Heart helps train everyone to use the work and effort learned on the battlefield and channel it into a different form of activity—including woodworking, metal shop, culinary skills, and the art studio. For these men and women, hard work is a way of life, and the ability to hone that indisputable ethic into creative mastery allows them to focus and heal at the same time.

A student of woodworking, Tuttle was immediately drawn to the “SHOP” as an elective. One of the original program offerings at Warriors Heart, SHOP (Service, Honor, Opportunity, Purpose) provides these men and women with the opportunity to heal using woodworking and construction activities as a form of therapeutic intervention.

“The physical experience of woodworking can be very grounding,” says Joel Courtney, SHOP manager at Warriors Heart. “It’s a way to connect with the natural world and find calm. Wood is one of the most forgiving things—we can always start over, reassess, or create something entirely different from the same piece. It teaches these Warriors that you can always come back from a slip or mistake.”

Art therapy can be beneficial to people of all ages, including our nation’s Veterans who return home with acute psychological or medical conditions that impair functioning, disrupt relationships, and prevent reentry into society. For Veterans who are receiving care for PTS and other ailments, art therapy has proven to be an effective form of treatment when combined with other methods.

Wood has been seen as healing in many cultures for a long time. Some believed wood had special healing powers. Even though these ideas might not be proven today, working with wood can be very calming.

“Creating something with our hands boosts self-esteem and confidence,” states Joel. “Completing projects gives our Warriors pride and accomplishment. This pride can improve other areas of life. Adding woodworking to recovery can bring mental health benefits.”

The SHOP at Warriors Heart has seen every Warrior walk through its doors. Known for their “Warriors Heart – United States Flags,” Warriors create beautiful pieces of memoriam during their time, showcasing their dedication to recovery and appreciation for the place that helps them reclaim their lives.

One of the most unique aspects of the SHOP is the wood itself. Handpicked from the ranch, the Warriors not only incorporate their new craft and healing into each piece, but lumber from across the property is utilized in the craftsmanship.

“Most of the projects become gifts for loved ones, or former teammates,” states Zach Poteat, Operations Director at Warriors Heart. “Much of the time, we are able to hang them on our own walls. When the Warriors see their creations for all to see, the sense of pride that grows in them is undeniable.”

“While you’re doing this, you’ve got to concentrate—it takes your mind off everything else, and for those couple of hours, you can kind of relax,” notes Tuttle. “Once you start feeling better, it’s like dropping a pebble in the water, and those ripples come back out, and you slowly get back into feeling like you can do something more.”

“It’s not an overnight remedy,” states Joel. “Coming to terms with healing is something that could take people years; but those two hours a day in the SHOP can and have made a huge difference to the well-being of the Warriors who come through.”

Many of our nation’s heroes are faced with fighting a war every day. Whether it’s overseas or in their own backyard, these warriors face evil daily to protect us from harm. Oftentimes, they find themselves fighting a different battle once they return.

The battlefield at home has proven to be a far greater foe than any frontline—domestic or overseas. From the damaging effects of PTS to chemical dependency, those who have fought to defend our country and its people are combating the battle against addiction and depression every day. A torrent of emotions and thoughts, one of the loneliest feelings in the world, doesn’t have to be fought alone.

“For Veterans, focusing on all of their intense emotions and memories, it’s often difficult to convey those thoughts into words,” stated Joel. “These emotions are more often easily expressed through the craft of carpentry with the guidance of a trained professional. For most of them, they find a new outlet and passion which they never thought would open a new door for life. Sometimes when a Warrior has had a tough session, they might come to the SHOP and pound out some steel or build something with wood to help process the session. If they have trouble verbalizing something, their counselor may recommend going to work with their hands. It’s amazing, the healing that can happen in some of these electives.”

Warriors Heart is a place where that mentality—Warriors helping Warriors—resides in the hearts of every member of the team. Other Warriors and team members personally connect with those who have reached a point in life where they think they have nothing to live for, showing them that strength is found in this unique facility. Warriors Heart simply and truly believes in the power of the warrior community, the power of each client who walks through its doors, and the power of each graduate who proudly emerges after treatment.

Four years sober, Tuttle has found a new purpose for his passion in woodworking. A business owner and highly sought-after carpenter, he dedicates each custom project to the men and women in SHOP he worked alongside. “Each person was like an individual piece of wood. Each uniquely crafted and important to the final project.”

If you or a Warrior need help with drug or alcohol addiction, PTS, or co-occurring issues, please contact Warriors Heart’s 24-hour hotline (866-955-4035) answered by Warriors, and/or visit https://warriorsheart.com/connect.

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As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.