OPTIVets is a nonprofit geared toward helping veterans with therapy tools.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — A Charlotte-area nonprofit is taking an innovative approach to helping veterans and first responders cope with trauma, offering what some participants describe as life-changing results.
OPTIVets, operating out of Mooresville, provides a three-month program focused on treating the root causes of PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
“They literally saved my life with this,” said Angela Cherico, an Iraq War veteran who completed the program. “Everything they’ve done, even my treatment has been a sheer leap of faith.”
The organization’s approach differs from traditional treatments, according to co-founder Mike Sweeney. He emphasizes the unique challenges faced by first responders who serve in their own communities.
“They’re always on. They don’t go to the fight and then come home,” Sweeney said. “They live in the same place where they’re keeping the laws and where not everybody may like them, and they shop in the neighborhoods that they’re policing.”
The program’s impact has been so significant that some veterans, like Chris Williams, have joined the organization after receiving treatment.
“This program helps you unpack some of that stuff, helps you keep going,” Williams said. “I’m really excited for what it’s going to feel like after or once I get to a certain place in the program.”
OPTIVets aims to provide alternatives to traditional treatment methods.
“We just want people to know that there is hope outside of drugs, there is hope outside of just years and years of talk therapy,” Sweeney said. “There are physical things that we can do to help people get out of this and to get on to living their life properly.”
The nonprofit is currently seeking donor support to continue and expand its services.
Contact Myles Harris at mharris5@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
