OUR MISSION
At The Mission Within, we are dedicated to not only creating a future free of veteran suicide, but a better world in which our heroes and their families find purpose, healing and growth through community.
The Mission Within offers:
- Transformational psychedelic medicine retreat options.
- Personalized psychedelic coaching sessions.
- Expertly trained therapists and support staff that specialize in trauma.
- Ongoing opportunities to connect with others on the healing path.
- Unique opportunities for education and training in the psychedelic-assisted therapy space.
Since 2017, we have successfully provided treatment for PTSD and mTBI to hundreds of special operations veterans and their spouses. Many of which present with complex cases of mTBI, PTSD, depression & anxiety. Both participants and their therapists report significant improvement in their condition, with as many as 80% no longer meeting the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.
In addition to providing high-quality psychedelic medicine retreats, we are also actively engaged in changing the veteran narrative around psychedelic treatment. In an effort to make these powerful healing modalities more accessible to veterans, so that they can achieve the peace and healing that they deserve, we are actively engaged in innovative, cutting-edge clinical research. We’ve developed strategic partnerships with thought leaders and scientists from across the country with the shared goal of healing our veterans and their families. We won’t stop until Ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT and Psilocybin (limited availability – Jamaica) are tools that are readily available to front-line providers entrenched in the veteran mental health crisis.
What Makes Our Approach Unique:
There is often so much shame in the participants coming to the program – these are alpha men and women who were programmed to carry the world’s weight on their shoulders. For them to admit there are mental health issues or challenges is difficult. That so many of our staff, therapists, and coaches are fellow veterans who have gone through the program themselves makes a vital difference. You are not alone, and with The Mission Within, you can be sure you are with your brothers and sisters on your healing journey.
Our goal is to create a better world in which veterans and their family members find healing, growth, and purpose through community. These psychedelic medicines have been healing communities across the globe for thousands of years. We are dedicated to bringing these powerful healing catalysts to as many veterans, spouses, and adult children as possible. Together, we will create a more beautiful world.
We understand that to create this world, we need to do more than deliver transformational psychedelic medicine retreats. So we are partnering with academic universities, scientists, and medical professionals to bring scientific rigor into this sacred space. Together, we will breathe life into a new medical paradigm. One in which our veterans and their families have timely access to psychedelic medicines and psychedelic-assisted therapies.
A LOT OF WHAT THE MISSION WITHIN IS TODAY IS BECAUSE OF THE WORK PUT IN BY VETERANS AFTER THEY HAD HAD SUCH A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE.
I’m sure everyone says this, but I think the people Dr. Martín Polanco has pulled together at The Mission Within are the most amazing people who could be in a program like this. Even the people preparing the food, the nurses and cardiologists, are just a fantastic crew. They prep you and keep in touch with you - they do an amazing job keeping in touch with you - it’s an amazing program.
– 20-year Army, 13-year Delta Force Veteran
I’m sure everyone says this, but I think the people Martín has pulled together at The Mission Within are the most amazing people who could be in a program like this. Even the people preparing the food, the nurses and cardiologists, are just a fantastic crew. They prep you and keep in touch with you - they do an amazing job keeping in touch with you - it’s an amazing program.
– 20-year Army, 13-year Delta Force Veteran
OUR TEAM
Martín Polanco, M.D.
Founder, Research Director
Martin is the founder of The Mission Within. His extensive experience in treating addiction laid the groundwork for developing The Mission Within. Dr. Polanco was the founder and medical director at Crossroads Treatment Center, which demonstrated an effective mental health treatment model using psychedelics. He built on this work by contributing to the body of psychedelic research, specifically focused on the outcome and phenomenological studies of Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT.
His mission is to make psychedelic therapy for PTSD available to every veteran who needs it while conducting research to prove its effectiveness – the end goal is to legalize psychedelic medicines.
Rebecca Brover, MBA
Executive Director
Rebecca has over twenty years experience leading organizations through operational and relational evolution. Her background in non-profit administration, operations, training, and coaching, paired with her expertise in nonviolent communication, interpersonal relational practices, and distributed authority make her a versatile and deeply empathetic leader. She has successfully helped hundreds of individuals in organizations redefine their relationships with both their work and their colleagues.
She holds a Masters in Business Administration from UC Davis and is a candidate for Doctor of Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology. Her mission is to show love and care through structures that support health, wellness, and choice.
Ivy Losey
Family Program Director
Ivy Losey is a 10-year Navy veteran, a military spouse of 32 years to a retired Navy Seal. She has two adult children who are also veterans. Ivy’s mission after her first plant medicine experience is for women, women veterans, military spouses, and their families to heal from PTS, TBI, MST, depression, and anxiety.
Ryan Roberts
Marketing & Communications, Product Development
Ryan is a Marine Corps veteran and former healthcare executive with a 14-year history in business and clinical operations. After his Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment, he decided to repurpose his skillset to meet the growing need of veteran organizations in the psychedelic medicine space. He’s deeply passionate about changing the veteran narrative around psychedelics and increasing access to psychedelic-assisted therapy for the veteran community.
Ryan has degrees in Radiological Technology, Radiation Therapy, and Healthcare Administration. He most recently completed his Executive MBA with a focus in Healthcare Administration at the University of Colorado.
Hannah Zosman
People & Partnership, IT
Hannah is an operational doer inspired to amplify the vision of The Mission Within. She experienced first-hand the cognitive benefits of psychedelic therapies in alleviating PTSD, depression, anxiety, or addiction in both herself and her loved ones. She gets to play a part in spreading the benefits of psychedelic therapies to the community by managing and improving the efficiency of operations at The Mission Within.
Hannah graduated with a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College and has three years of technical project management experience. She passionately believes that unlocking the mind’s potential paves the way to harmony with one another, symbiosis with the planet, and expansion into the stars.
Kathryn LaRoe-Higgs
Therapist, Therapist Lead, Programming
Kathryn LaRoe, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She graduated from University of Southern California with her Masters in Social Work. She has worked with military and SPECOPS communities for over 14 years in various capacities including therapy and psychedelic preparation and integration. Her specialty is treating PTSD/Trauma, mood disorders, attachment and relationship concerns, and psychedelic preparation and integration for individuals seeking out states of expanded consciousness and plant medicines to help with trauma resolution.
Kathryn lives in Southern California with her husband, Michael (Punky), and mastiff, Hank. She enjoys hiking, singing, meditation, breathwork, and present moment focus.
Andrea Lucie
Therapist, Programming
Dr. Andrea Lucie has a PhD in Mind Body Medicine. For the past 25 years she has worked for the Marine Corps, Marine Special Operations Command, the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, and the Marcus Institute for Brain Health at the University of Colorado. Andrea grew up in the south of Chile and at the hills of the Andes mountains. She learned from childhood the value of traditional medicine while observing her grandparents perform traditional healing rituals. Her knowledge is drawn from traditional educational institutions in the US as well as from mentors from the Lakota community and Mexican healers.
Andrea has specialized in the holistic treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. An advocate for integrated medicine and a holistic approach to healing, she is also a certified holistic yoga teacher, a recreational therapist and a Reiki Master. Her experience includes trauma sensitive yoga, tai chi, meditation, mind body medicine, shamanic healing, and martial arts. She has been featured in several publications, including the National Journal, U.S. Medicine: The Voice of Federal Medicine, and FIGHT magazine for her work on post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.
Jill Ivie
Enrollment Guide
Jill is passionate about the benefits of psychedelic healing after her first journey saved her life, her marriage, and the unity of her family. She is the mother of two boys and the spouse of a retired Navy SEAL who served for 30 years. Throughout her husband’s career, she’s been in service to the military community as an ombudsman, senior spouse, chaired various boards, and co-founded The Rosie Network.
She recently dissolved her luxury travel business to support others as they explore healing through entheogen medicine retreats. She is a certified psychedelic integration coach and continually pursues knowledge and education in the space.
Sherrie Foster
Enrollment Guide
Sherrie earned a B.S. degree in Psychology from Vanderbilt University, is a Bible study leader, and believes strongly in both the physiological and psychological healing properties of entheogenic plant medicines.
She is the wife of a Navy SEAL who retired after 25 years in the teams and who was her inspiration for both learning all she could and also for receiving healing herself. In 2019, she was a member of the very first group of Veterans’ Families to experience a healing retreat with The Mission Within. Sherrie believes that couples and family units benefit greatly when more than one member journeys in plant medicines because of the positive and far-reaching effect on interrelationships. Several of her family have now undergone the treatments provided by The Mission Within, thus motivating her to help other families along their paths to healing.
Robert Sweetman
Enrollment Guide
Robert joined the Navy at 28 years old to become a Navy SEAL. By 29, he completed BUDs class 284. He served for eight years where he did two deployments with SEAL Team Seven and became an instructor at Advanced Training Command. He was medically retired after a back injury but had multiple other “hidden” injuries. Those included Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Insomnia.
Robert first met Dr. Polanco in 2020 and decided to attend a Mission Within retreat. The healing power of the ceremony along with dedicated work with the integrations set Robert on a path to total recovery from his ailments. Today, Robert practices breathing, meditation, and stretching everyday. He has fully recovered from his injuries both mentally and physically and is living his best life. Robert owes a debt of gratitude to the transformational experience he was given through the Mission Within. For those reasons, he is dedicated to helping others achieve success with the program.
Erland Fay
Enrollment Guide
Erland was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. At 18, he joined the Army and deployed for the invasion of Iraq as a young infantryman. Following that tour, he attended the Special Forces Assessment and Selection, and was selected for training as a SF Medic.
After the qualification course Erland attended advanced training and was assigned to B/2/3, 3rd Special Forces “Commanders In-extremis Force”. Erland continued to deploy around the world with his CIF troop and felt he had the best job in the world. Being a Green Beret was his whole identity.
After his release he struggled every day with finding purpose and meaning in his life. He struggled with personal relationships. He struggled finding the motivation to better himself. He was just struggling. Then he was introduced to Dr Polanco and attended an Ibogaine and 5-MEO-DMT retreat in Mexico. That weekend was the start of an upswing in his life. He has since completed a chemistry degree from UC Santa Barbara, has found work within the special operations community he finds very satisfying, he is much better with personal relationships, and just wakes up happy every day. Now he cherishes the opportunity to help other veterans experience the profound and life changing medicine that The Mission Within provides.
Eva Theresa
Nutrition Guide
Eva began her earliest studies in the fields of Naturalism and Communications. This formed the foundation for her life’s work toward helping her self and others bring the human experience in to balance and peace.
She carries degrees, certificates, and ongoing studies in the fields of journalism, applied arts, culinary design, nutrition, botany, permaculture, somatic healing, qigong and other concentrations. She has spent over 20 years immersed in the worlds of alternative medicines, consciousness studies, community-building and studying the ways through and into our own individual journeys and healing spaces.
Eva is devoted to supporting willing hearts in becoming who they already are. Through deep listening and one’s personal ways in connecting, she supports individuals to create a space for self-mastery and union with the authentic self. She weaves vision, extrasensory skills, an open heart, and invokes a setting that allows for the deep-seated remembrance to come through, to awaken and for one’s own discovery in healing to be the way home.
JOIN US
Interested in getting involved with The Mission Within in a volunteer or work capacity?
Submit the Interest form below, and when there is a match, we will get in touch with you.
Martín Polanco, M.D.
Martin is the founder of The Mission Within. His extensive experience in treating addiction laid the groundwork for developing The Mission Within. Dr. Polanco was the founder and medical director at Crossroads Treatment Center, which demonstrated an effective mental health treatment model using psychedelics. He built on this work by contributing to the body of psychedelic research, specifically focused on the outcome and phenomenological studies of Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT.
His mission is to make psychedelic therapy for PTSD available to every veteran who needs it while conducting research to prove its effectiveness – the end goal is to legalize psychedelic medicines.