A mother's personal journey through grief, guilt, healing, and hope after losing her son to suicide, and the importance of mental health awareness.
The Weight We Carry: A Mother’s Journey After Suicide
September 10, 2026
Mindful Therapy Group is opening two new offices in Colorado Springs, a city where nearly 30% of the region’s population is connected to the military, whether as active-duty service members, veterans, or military families.
Colorado Springs is home to Fort Carson, the 4th Infantry Division, and the 10th Special Forces Group, holding one of the highest concentrations of military life in the country. This expansion coincides with Mindful’s growing TRICARE/TriWest network, making it easier for military members and their families to access mental health care outside the VA system.
For many veterans, the VA remains the default, and often the only path to mental health care. But that system is already stretched thin. High demand means long waits, limited provider choice, or referrals out to third-party contractors who may still be VA-adjacent. TRICARE helps change that: it gives veterans, retirees, and eligible families the ability to choose their own provider, someone who fits their specific mental health needs, rather than just being assigned to the next available clinician.
Stigma in the military has come a long way in recognizing mental health as part of overall care and well-being, but there is still an expectation to “push through” that can get in the way of people seeking care. Having a private, community-based option, separate from military or VA settings, can make that first step easier for many.
Mindful aims to give the Colorado Springs community a straightforward path to care. Whether that’s providers who understand military experiences, flexibility to choose the right fit, or one less system to navigate to get faster care.
Mindful Director of Operations Falcon Bonsell is a veteran who served in the special operations community. After his service, he worked at General Dynamics migrating the military’s electronic records from paper to digital, supporting special operations units including the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson.
His own path back from serious injury shaped how he thinks about mental health care today. Reintegrating into civilian life after being severely wounded required mental health support that, at the time, the military didn’t provide. That experience is part of why he remains a strong advocate for veterans, recently traveling to Washington, D.C., to speak with senators and representatives about veterans’ benefits, including VA disability and home mortgages.
Falcon knows firsthand what TRICARE’s flexibility and access mean in practice. Going through the VA system, he was granted a waiver to see a contracted provider because the VA had no mental health specialists available to meet his needs. He still was connected with a provider he didn’t choose, and care he didn’t fully control. That’s the gap he sees TRICARE closing: the ability for veterans and their families to find outpatient mental health care and a provider suited to their specific needs – whether that’s PTSD, depression, anger issues, or more – rather than whoever the system assigns them.
“I’m proud of Mindful’s expansion into Colorado Springs and TRICARE. For me, it’s more than mental health care, it’s about helping vulnerable people who served reenter society and feel whole again.” – Falcon Bonsell, Director of Operations.
Learn more about TRICARE-covered mental health services here: https://mindfultherapygroup.com/tricare-mental-health-services/
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