H.O.N.O.R. is an acronym for

Helping Our Neighbors Overcome and Rebuild

1 in 3 veterans become justice-involved and veterans make up 8% of the prisoner population in the state and 5% Federally. (Veteran Justice Commission)

“Amidst the growing concern over the suicide rate (22+ per day), there are many who self-medicate and deal with the traumas of war in ways that cause them to lose their freedom …these imprisoned casualties have been entirely forgotten. It is as if they are dead, while still alive. The good news is, there is still time to save them!”

– Melanie Davis Author of The Triumph Program and Founder of H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring

MISSION:

To see veterans recognized and supported while in prison and then succeed in life upon release as high-functioning members of society with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive as they move forward with purpose and meaning and to prevent our heroes from ever becoming incarcerated in the first place.

Veterans are losing their freedom because of defending ours.

H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring is multi-award-winning including

2019 Texas Governor’s Award for Service to Veterans

See First Lady Abbott Congratulate HONOR Mentoring:

Triumph Program Author, H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring Founder and UWI Board Member, Melanie Davis, receiving the Governor’s Award from First Lady Abbott

Stage One- Support and Personal Development Inside Prison

Watch the Promo Video for The Triumph Program:

THE TRIUMPH PROGRAM:

The best solutions for surviving the challenges after deployment come from the many heroes who can teach how they have overcome the common adversities our returning heroes face such as homelessness, double amputation, survivors’ guilt, PTSD and additional unseen wounds.

The Triumph Book: HEROES is a collection of 24 first-person stories from veterans spanning the decades of war, who share how they are winning the worst battles veterans face at home. After reading HEROES, program participants are prepared to work through the narrative therapy/peer-to-peer mentoring process of recording and sharing their own Triumph Stories using a workbook called The Triumph Program. The workbook helps veterans evolve as they process the tragedies and losses they have suffered and gradually look forward, finding purpose in life, setting goals, and exploring who they can

The Triumph Program is a trauma-informed narrative therapy process assisting incarcerated veterans to put past horrors on paper, work through the anger, survivor’s guilt, and anxiety that PTSD brings, and find purpose and meaning in the experience of war. The stories they write can serve as bridges of understanding for their families, creating stronger bonds as loved ones better understand their veteran family member.

More than 300 veterans have graduated from The Triumph Program in ten maximum security prison units in Texas.

H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring Communities

H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring gives incarcerated veterans meaningful opportunities to continue serving our country by mentoring and supporting their prison unit neighbors resulting in improved relations and a more positive culture for all who live or work in units where The Triumph Program is present. Avenues for giving service provide the sense of purpose and usefulness that is often lacking as veterans return home from war and which becomes more pronounced in the restricted penitentiary environment.

Through the H.O.N.O.R. Mentoring program, veterans can set positive examples and lead the way towards growth and development, just as they have gone ahead of us when they protected our country. Through their servant-based leadership, an increase in comradery and positivity unit-wide will lead to a more productive environment in which inmates can serve their time and be prepared to reintegrate back into society.

The process of prisoners mentoring one another is as rehabilitative as the education itself.

TESTIMONIALS

We bury things deep down that we don’t want to deal with, but when you write it down and read it out loud, you have to dig it up, face it and process it. I hadn’t cried in 30 years. I didn’t cry when my mom died and I was in prison, not there for her; but I finally grieved her death in The Triumph Program and shed some tears. It was surprisingly healing.

-Will, Forgotten Veteran

Telling my story is more therapeutic than someone else saying what’s wrong with me.

-Quaid, Forgotten Veteran

I had the great pleasure of participating in your writing therapy at the Montgomery County Jail in 2017. You, your story, and the experience of following the program has made a deep impact on my life. I have told many people about how impressed I was being taught to take the monstrous issues haunting my psyche and reducing them to a few sentences on paper. I have renamed my PTSD to Pen Time Stops Demons. I am far from cured, but I have the tools to make the issues smaller. For that you will always have my eternal gratitude.

-T.J., Forgotten Veteran

Ground-breaking, life-changing, seed-planting, revolutionary… if you give the program a chance, be brave enough to open up, the healing begins immediately! We are broken in prison and put on this tough exterior, but inside we have feelings and emotions that let us know we aren’t savages; we are humans. The Triumph Program gives us a safe space to allow ourselves to feel again. The Triumph Program is therapy for your heart, your mind, and your soul.

-Stuart, Forgotten Veteran

I want you to know your class meant so much more than the certificate. I unpacked so many feelings I have suppressed since the war that I can see clearly now why I took so many wrong turns in my life. The military needs to give this class to everyone discharging the service. I would have never thought I would open up so much to guys from totally different backgrounds. Your class has changed my life and I have a really good foundation to start my new life when I get out.

-Mike, Forgotten Veteran

Stage Two- A Reentry Facility where formerly incarcerated veterans continue to receive support upon release.