(uplifting music) - My name is Christopher Smith.

I am the Warrior Strong Scranton team lead and resident yoga instructor.

I am an Iraqi Freedom veteran.

I deployed during the invasion in '03.

I missed the first year of my first daughter's life.

I missed the first year of my second daughter's life.

I separated from the military in 2009.

I wasn't really prepared to jump back into civilian life as quickly as I would've liked.

There's not really much of an exit strategy once you leave service.

In order to support myself, I had to work constantly so I wasn't home and because of having to work so much after coming home, I basically missed the first year of my third daughter's life.

And my family were pretty adamant that I had changed, and my excuse or answer to them was, well been to war.

Of course, I've changed.

How could I not?

I was having issues that I wasn't dealing with and wasn't ready or prepared to deal with.

It caused the dissolution of my marriage and separation from my children during that time period.

For a while I was homeless.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with me.

Part of the process of going through the VA, I was diagnosed with PTSD and TBI or traumatic brain injury.

I got in with Catholic Social Services who found me placement with a VA rent controlled apartment building down on Olive Street.

I started seeing a counselor at the Scranton Vet Center and slowly was able to recognize that yes, I had been to war, but there were things that I needed to address because of the experiences I had.

I utilized my GI Bill to get my degree in nutrition and dietetics through Marywood University.

For me, my mental health journey actually started picking up and becoming a motivating factor for me during my time at Marywood.

After I graduated, I stayed at Marywood.

I was one of the (indistinct) mechanics 'cause I was secretly waiting for the position of Director of Military and Veteran Services to open up.

And when it did, I applied for it and I spent two and a half years there as the Director of Military and Veteran Services.

I was in charge of finding programming for veterans to help with mental health.

I had connected with Equines for Freedom and they had given me the name of an organization called Warrior Strong.

Warrior Strong comes to mental health from a different avenue.

We focus on mental health through comradery and through physical fitness.

For a lot of vets, the bonding experience when you get in is having to go through bootcamp and the always lovely physical activities that they have you do for that.

Going through those types of stressful situations and then meeting people who know what those stressful situations are but then engaging in physical activity really helps open a lot of veterans up.

One of the things for me that's most beneficial for my mental health is being able to show how working on your mental health can be more than just beneficial to feeling better, but to doing better.

All of this is to say that if you're having a hard time re-transitioning back into civilian life, if you're having issues with what you experienced or if you just need somebody to talk to, I would recommend that you do it.

Don't keep everything bottled up inside.

It either explodes at inappropriate times or you retreat further and further into yourself until you get to the point where you see no way out and no hope.

In this world, we only have each other.

Why not help each other?

It's way better than being angry at each other all the time, and it's less stressful.

Veteran suicide is a big deal.

Talk to somebody, whether it's a friend, a spouse, a counselor, a fellow veteran and look for those programs that will help you.

They're there for a reason.

It's not a handout.

Most of the time you sign the contract for it so you're entitled to it.

And for those organizations outside of that realm, they wanna help you.

They're there to help you.

Utilize them.

(uplifting music)