Stay The Course (STC) is a program that serves Veterans, First Responders, and families who have sacrificed for our country. We provide guidance, wellness, and healing from invisible wounds through evidence-based therapies for individuals, couples, and families at little or no cost.

Counselors and staff are competent in the military and first responder cultures, therefore providing a meaningful connection for families. The uniqueness of this program lies in the use of personalized, integrated therapies with the Veterans or First Responders AND their families in order to help them interconnect as a family unit.

STC seeks to overcome barriers that may prevent Veterans, First Responders, and families from getting the help they need.

Services We Offer

• Individual Counseling
• Peer Support Groups
• Couples Counseling
• Family Counseling
• Suicide Prevention
• Grief Counseling
• Psychoeducation
• Telehealth

Areas of Specialty

• Trauma    
• Family Functioning
• Post Traumatic Stress
• Marital Conflict
• Depression
• Substance Use
• Anxiety
• Anger Management
• Stress Management
• Quality of Life
• Transitioning Into Civilian Life

New Clients

New clients will be scheduled for an initial intake session in which the client will complete intake paperwork, baseline assessments & meet with one of our professionals to determine the client’s counseling goals & preferences.

Clients should be prepared to bring to their intake appointment:

• a photo ID
• Veterans: DD 214
• First Responders: City ID or most recent paystub
• Family Members: please bring the identifying information indicated above for the Veteran or First Responder family member

After the intake appointment, our Client Services Coordinator will schedule the client’s first counseling session with the counselor that best fits the client’s needs.

Assessments

If you are in need of a full-scale psychological assessment, please contact us to schedule. You do not have to be enrolled as a client in order to receive an assessment. A photo ID & DD214 / City ID are still required in order to receive services.

• PTSD Assessments (120 Minutes) $200
• Chemical Dependency Assessments (60 Minutes) $75

Completed & Final Assessment Results will be available within 2 weeks of the assessment completion.

Evidence Based Therapies

These scores are averages from a sample size of 655 clients who were administered the PCL-5, BDI-II, and the BAI assessments at Baseline and after their 6th counseling session.

Since January 1, 2016 our clients have experienced the following, on average, after 6 sessions:

• 36% reduction in posttraumatic stress symptoms
• 44% reduction in depression assessment scores
• 45% reduction in anxiety assessment scores

In 2017, Stay The Course had the privilege of providing services to 180 individuals seeking therapy for the very first time. This number is a benchmark for us as to how well we are helping to overcome barriers that Veterans, First Responders, & their families face when seeking care.

Download The Stay The Course 2017 Annual Report

Our Story

Tempa Sherrill is the spouse of Marine Corps and Army Reserves veteran, AJ Sherrill, who served in Afghanistan during 2008-2009 performing tactical psychological operations. At the time of deployment, AJ had previously served 18 years as a police officer. When he returned home after being away for 15 months, his spouse and three children knew something was wrong. This was not the husband and father that they had sent to fight for our country. Someone else came home.

He only had two weeks of leave before returning to his police duties in Dallas, which compounded his issues, and it took six months for the family to convince him to go to the VA for help. He was fortunate to be assigned a psychiatrist who seemed to genuinely care for his welfare, and put him on medication to help relieve his symptoms. Group counseling was offered for AJ, but his anxiety was so overwhelming that he could not bring himself to speak in a group about his experiences.

Many issues were experienced by the family in this post-war battle, including rage, emotional detachment, memory loss, anxiety, and depression. No longer could the family go to dinner, have friends over, or go to a movie as they had pre-deployment. After an arduous year-long wait, the VA was able to get AJ into individual therapy. The family tried several community counselors who were unable to understand the uniqueness of the military culture or deployment experience. Finding help felt hopeless at times. Tempa and her children had no idea how to deal with this new reality and the loss of the husband and father they once knew. Through her own individual counseling and struggle, Tempa felt a call for action. She left an 18-year teaching career to pursue her masters in counseling and psychology with the dream of helping veterans and families.

Three years into this process, AJ’s career as a police officer ended when his employer found out about his posttraumatic stress diagnosis, and he was terminated. This was a huge setback for AJ and the family, but Tempa was more determined than ever to continue her mission. While still a student, she was hired at a local non-profit where she spearheaded the development of a veteran focused program through collaborations with the clinical director on grants for providing veteran specific services – a demographic not previously targeted by the organization. Tempa and AJ lost thousands of dollars of personal income during this time and were financially devastated, but the mission was too important to give up on.

After six years of therapy, family healing, and a new career for AJ, he chose to donate his police retirement funds as seed money for the launch of a stand-alone non-profit organization - Stay The Course Veteran Services (STC). This was the realization of Tempa’s dream to exclusively serve Veterans, First Responders, and their families in a safe, culturally competent environment using trauma-informed, evidence-based therapies through individualized combinations of individual, couples, and family counseling sessions.

As the spouse of not only a veteran, but also a police officer, Tempa understands first-hand the difficulties public servants experience and the invisible wounds that so often are ignored due to the stigma around asking for help. She is also aware of the trauma that the family members endure, and the importance of inclusion in the process as a crucial element in healing for the family.