Ascend Program Highlights Successes of the Last Year, while Looking Toward the Future
By Kenneth Trotter Jr., Public Affairs Specialist
Recently, the VA Eastern Colorado Health System’s Ascend Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Domiciliary at the Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center in Aurora, celebrated its one-year anniversary on Jan. 13.
The VA ECHCS Ascend PTSD Program provides comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation services to veterans with mental health conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those services available range from cognitive processing therapy, prolonged exposure psychotherapy, certain medications and more.
“We are an interdisciplinary team that offers evidence-based approaches for trauma recovery,” said Lindsay Knowles, VA ECHCS social worker and Ascend PTSD Program coordinator. “We serve Veteran of all ages, branches, backgrounds, genders - treating all traumatic events across the lifespan. It does not have to be related to their military service. Our program is about seven weeks which means that veterans engage in multiple individual psychotherapy sessions per week which is greater than the frequency of individual sessions in an outpatient clinic.”
The domiciliary also has a six-week program with individualized lengths of stay, and a team of health professionals of psychologists, social workers, nurses, psychiatrist, recreation therapist, peer support, pharmacist, dietician and more supporting. The mission of the Ascend PTSD Program is to foster a supportive environment where our veterans and active-duty service members can heal from trauma and PTSD. Participants learn and practice helpful strategies and coping skills and build their confidence as they recover.
“We are a trauma recovery program in a residential care setting,” said Knowles. “Our building, our beds, and our programming is focused on PTSD recovery. There aren’t many specialties, residential programs like us that help Veterans recover after traumatic experiences. “We are not a one-size fits all programs. Although we are a trauma recovery program the path to recovery is different for each veteran. We help them to move towards their recovery goals – not solely focusing on psychotherapy but treating the whole person.”
During those six weeks, veterans work to deal with their trauma in a multitude of ways that work best for the veteran and have the most chance of ensuring they can be welcome back into society within minimal issues.
“I did six weeks,” said Jackie Gallego, a U.S. Army veteran and Colorado Springs resident. “Part of that process is preparing you to reintegrate when you leave the facility and kind of reintegrate back into your life. They set me up with group therapy that was very tailored to the specific trauma I experienced. In doing so, I realized there were so many other people who experienced similar things and were going toward a deeper, darker place I had just come out of. So, I felt compelled to share my experience with individuals in this group session so that it would give them a chance to reach out as well. Because sometimes that’s all you need.”
That tailored approach that helped Gallego is something that is commonplace within the Ascend program as it seeks to find the best treatment option for veterans.
Research consistently shows that Veterans who engage in trauma recovery work through VA sustain a significant reduction in the intensity and frequency of PTSD symptoms. Veteran safety is the number one priority of the Ascend program.
Gallego echoed this sentiment when recalling her own treatment and care.
“They give you a sense of safety in the program,” said Gallego. You are allowed to fall apart in whatever way comes forward for you, and they give you a safe place where it’s safe to not mask, where you’re not judged, where you can feel whatever it is you need to feel. They give you the time and space to do that.”
With its first year complete, and after a soft launch around that same time, the program has capped its census at 13 veterans in Ascend at any given time. So far, the Ascend program has served approximately 91 veterans in total in 2025. And as more veterans seek care within the Ascend program, there are plans to grow the program in the coming year, with the program looking to grow its census to 20 beds.
If any veterans are experiencing thoughts of suicide, they can self-refer or have their VA mental health provider within ECHCS or VISN 19 place a consult on their behalf.