Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michael Murray. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Michael thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

I started Liberty Organization for Veterans and Emergency Responders (https://www.LibertyOVE.org) in January of 2021 to give back to active military, veterans, emergency responders, and their families. I just felt like there were so many of us struggling across so many fronts that I needed to do something.

I was a wounded warrior, injured in the line of duty while deployed to Afghanistan, and I have seen the hardships associated with dealing with the multitude of medical needs, both mental and physical, as well as the associated financial costs. Things I could no longer sit idly by and just observe, or post about online were homeless veterans, rising veteran and first responder suicides, and the increasing number of trauma related incidents faced by our first responder communities around the country. Veteran suicides have surpassed 44 a day now, and it is estimated that 1 in 4 first responders suffers from Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I just felt called to act and to help.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I began LibertyOVE, we focused on providing small relief efforts such as fishing trips or small financial donations. After multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, and being medevaced from Afhganistan in 2012, I suffered from PTSD. I had tried all sorts of outpatient and VA offered therapies and nothing really seemed to make a huge difference. I would always slip back into behaviors that I now know are the manifestations of PTSD. Things such as anger, workaholism, depression, alcoholism, etc. always found a way back into my life.

After starting LibertyOVE, I became distracted for a few months by the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. I was receiving dozens of videos from my interpreters, pleas for help, and began moving Afghans to try and save those I could. I started another nonprofit, now closed, called RescueOps. I was fortunate enough to land a spot on Fox Nation, Afghanistan Extraction with Pete Hegseth to discuss moving Afghans. Dr. Royster, who I had briefly met in Florida at a veterans event, saw me on film and could see from my physical behavior that I was at a heightened state of PTSD manifestation. As soon as I came home from my trip to New York to film, she met me at my home to run me through Trauma Recovery Intervention Protocol, or TRIP.

It took less than an hour for her to run me through this mental health protocol. After that I hour I fell asleep for over 10 hours and it was most likely the best sleep I’ve had in years. From the next day forward I began to notice a huge difference in how I approached the world. My anxiety dropped, my sleep had returned, my anger was gone, and so much more. Within two weeks of receiving TRIP, I decided to make this the focus of what LibertyOVE would deliver to the world.

We now offer TRIP in person at events, and online. It is as easy as going to https://www.LibertyOVE.org to schedule an appointment, provide some proof of eligibility, and then undergo TRIP at your assigned time. It is that simple to change, or even save your life from the horrors of PTSD and more importantly the suicidal ideations it can cause.

Moreover, we have developed a way of raising some funds by providing TRIP training, creating more practitioners of TRIP, to first responder agencies. They simply provide us 2-3 days, a location, and 20 students, typically crisis intervention personnel, and we train them in how to implement TRIP via peer-to-peer support. The value of this is astronomical to a first responder agency because it allows for a peer to intervene quickly after a traumatic event and stop PTS (less than 30 days) from becoming PTSD (31 days or more). This keeps first responders healthy mentally, increases readiness, provides protection to the client and practitioner, saves money, provides practitioners a support network by remaining linked to us, and we allow them to use TRIP on the public without restriction or need to collect patient data.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The nonprofit world is tough for multiple reasons in the first few years. Companies do not want to take a risk on a new nonprofit in terms of corporate sponsorship, so your first few years you must rely on rallying public donations. This means conducting events, which takes money. A good nonprofit gets rated by outside agencies such as Benevity, that will help you but in order to get the “A” rating, you must file a full tax return having earned more than $50K in a given year.

From January 2021 to December 2022, I raised less than $42k by soliciting funds and paying for events and marketing out of my own pocket to the tune of about $30K. In May of 2022, I sold my home and moved into an RV to save money and afford myself to invest more of my own capital into LibertyOVE. This has paid off, and will pay off more as LibertyOVE grows. It allowed me to pay the required insurance and legal fees, wrap my truck, build a webpage and have the ability to sell merchandise, advertise on social media, and hold some events to get our work and brand out to the public.

This is not a sob story, this is one of personal investment into a belief system and a Godly calling, and one of persistence to succeed. Due to the hard work of myself and Scott Hendrick, my Chief Operaing Officer, we have begun to grow and become recognized. This article is a testament to that growth! I have not had the luxury of quitting my day job, nor has Scott, and we rely almost 100% on volunteers. However, that growth will come in time through corporate sponsorships, grants, and sales of TRIP training sessions as the efficacy of TRIP becomes more well known.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I served in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer for over 18 years before having to retire after my injuries left me incapable of doing my infantry job. I felt abandoned by the Corps, I felt broken and left behind wallowing in chronic pain. Managing that pain was, and still is, very time consuming. I had to learn a lot of “new normals” for me in terms of my physical capabilities. PTSD and how it manifested in my life began to consume me and my personal relationships. They just became toxic, because I was becoming toxic.

It all came to a head when I felt the moral injury of abandoning my 23 Afghan interpreters, Afghan Army and Police counterparts, and their families. That was after coming off a very short, explosive, and defunct marriage that left me sitting on a beach with a bottle of whiskey and a pistol. Something hit me on that beach, it saved me. God told me I was worthy and had more to do. So, I began to fight for my life and my mental health, which led me to start LibertyOVE. Once Dr. Royster put me through TRIP and I was able to clear my mind, then allow God into my heart and to really hear his desires for my life, it just changed my entire outlook on chronic pain and all of my mental health issues.

The pivot from self-pity to victor came post-TRIP for me. It just had such a profound impact on my life that I felt the need to move LibertyOVE to delivering TRIP to as many people as I could, and to train as many practitioners as I could. Now I know that I cannot look back, that I will persist until I succeed, that I will find a way or make one, and that LibertyOVE has the blessing of being able to help thousands of people.

All of this requires money, and that is the one thing we could always use more of. We are not in this for the money, but it takes money to advertise, to pay for TRIP sessions, to create events that raise money, etc. I am not a money person, but do know we could do so much more with enough funding to eventually buy some land where we can have a headquarters, conduct and hopefully donate TRIP training sessions to first responders, bring active duty and veterans for treatments of all types, and to help families heal from the effects of trauma. Please consider your gift of any amount to us, and rest assured it will be used effectively to provide relief.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.LibetyOVE.org
• Instagram: @Libery_OVE
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibertyOrg4vetsandemergencyresponders
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liberty-organization-for-vets-and-ems-078060205/
• Twitter: @LibertyOVE
• Other: Telegram Blog: Liberty Nation (LibertyOVE.org)

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