Conquering Peaks and Potential: No Barriers USA's Journey to Empower Veterans and Beyond

Scaling personal summits can transform lives, an ethos deeply etched in the story of Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to conquer Mount Everest. Imagine the power of such an experience replicated for warriors, caregivers, and youth facing their own battles. John Toth from No Barriers USA joins us to narrate how Erik's legacy has grown into a robust movement, empowering individuals to shatter limitations and thrive. Learn how these extraordinary adventures, extending from majestic mountain expeditions to enriching online classrooms, challenge participants to harness adversity and embark on a path of self-discovery and community-building, guided by the No Barriers Life framework.

As we converse with John, the vivid tapestry of No Barriers' future unfolds, revealing both the surge in demand from veterans yearning for transformative experiences and the poignant realities of capacity constraints. But hope is on the horizon, with plans to double the number of trips, expand eastward, and enhance digital outreach. Hear about the heartening collaborations with organizations like the Cheyenne Wyoming VA and the unwavering mission to forge communities where support networks leave indelible marks on the lives of all involved. This episode isn't just a peek into an organization; it's a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the collective effort to lift each other higher.

Chapters

• 0:00 Exploring the No Barriers Warriors Program
• 16:29 Expanding Programs and Services for Veterans

Transcript

Larry Zilliox: 0:14

Good morning. I'm Larry Zilliox, your host Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and today our guest is John Toth. He's a senior program director at No Barriers USA, which is a nonprofit based out of Fort Collins, Colorado, that has great programs for warriors and caregivers youth. I ran across this organization looking at a webpage of a different organization and it intrigued me, and when I landed on their webpage I saw their tagline, which is I break barriers, they don't break me, and I knew I had had somebody from the organization on to tell us all about what they do. So, John, welcome to the podcast.

John Toth: 1:05

Well, thanks for having me, Larry. It's great to be here.

Larry Zilliox: 1:07

Yeah, I really appreciate you taking time to talk with us today. Can you tell us a little bit about the organization, how it came to be, and then we'll get into the programs and services that you offer.

John Toth: 1:21

Oh sure thing. So no Barriers was founded by Eric Weihenmayer was the first line person to climb Mount Everest and on the 10th anniversary of his climb, eric and his group of climbing buddies dirtbag climbers, as they called themselves wanted to pay that gift of that summit board. And they decided to take a group of veterans to Nepal to climb a 20,000 foot peak and on this trip they taught them the concept of the no Barriers life, and this is a concept that Eric came up with, you know, as he overcame a lifetime of blindness. He lost his sight as a teen and he spent his life trying to overcome that barrier. So they took this group to Nepal and they had a transformative experience.

John Toth: 2:15

And they did it again in South America the following year and they did it again the year after that, again in South America, and Eric and his team realized that while they had this transformative concept, they really couldn't take it to a large number of veterans. They did this, as you know, kind of their side effort, and so you know we had people that were physicians, assistants and architects and things like that, and they just didn't have the capacity to take it more than 12 people a year. So Eric got connected to Dave Schoenen and Julie Duven, who wrote, who ran Global Explorers, which provided youth with transformative experiences, and they merged and became no Barriers. The program that Eric had been running with the veterans with disabilities was called Soldiers to Summits. It became no Barriers Warriors, which is the program that we have today, and it's grown significantly since you know the 12 veterans that Eric took from Paul in 2010,. What it is today is the no Barriers Warriors program.

Larry Zilliox: 3:22

And so you're based in Colorado. Except for those incarcerated in Colorado Penitentiary, everybody else loves Colorado Is this where most of the expeditions in the backcountry programs that you host take place?

John Toth: 3:39

Yeah, so we're based out of Fort Collins, Colorado, and so we also have a 150-acre property up in the Red Feather Lakes which is about an hour northwest of Fort Collins, and so we do most of our trips there. We actually will have one trip in North Carolina this year in June. So we have used the Pisca National Forest as a base in the ash outside of Asheville, North Carolina, to do programming. So we'll do one trip there this year and then the majority of our programs will happen in Colorado and Wyoming. So we'll have four base camp trips. Our base camp trips are run out of our campus. They're multi-discipline opportunities, so participants come to Colorado and get them to the campus, they do a day of climbing on our challenge course, they do a day of hiking in the Rocky Mountains and then they do a day of whitewater rafting while we're here.

John Toth: 4:39

And then we do backcountry trips. Our backcountry trips are seven days long and they're either in Colorado State Forest State Park, which is in Colorado, or in the med bow range medicine bow range of Wyoming, southern Wyoming, about an hour west of Laramie, Wyoming, Also pretty close to Fort Collins. Both locations are about two hour drive from Fort Collins, so it's, you know it's logistically supportable for us. We've done trips in Texas, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, California, Washington. We kind of constricted or contracted a little bit during COVID to simplify things and kind of solidify our base in Colorado. My expectation is that in 2025 we'll start to expand back out into some of those areas that we've been to before but we haven't been to since COVID hit.

Larry Zilliox: 5:38

And how did this trip in North Carolina come about?

John Toth: 5:41

Well, we actually had a group of supporters the lifts at Walnut Cove who wanted us to do some trips in North Carolina, and so they got connected to us. They were supporters of us for a number of years and then they said hey, why don't you do some trips in North Carolina? So I'd say we've probably done about a dozen 2019, and then 21, 22, and 23. And then we'll do like in 2024, we'll do one trip.

Larry Zilliox: 6:15

So for a warrior who would like to take advantage of one of these experiences, is what's the process for them to become involved with you?

John Toth: 6:29

Well, and our program is. It's not just the trips that we've talked about, so a big part of our program happens before and after, so it's actually a three month program. So we get connected to them. They apply for the program. We've got over 5,000 applicants this year for 108 positions. So they apply for the program. We go through a process of evaluating each application and then they're selected for an interview. They go through an interview process with us. We then ask them to register. They register, they go through a medical screening and once that happens and they're medically cleared by our medical director to go on a trip, then we actually place them in one of those opportunities. That happens about two months before their in-person opportunity, about a month before we enroll them in our online course, and they go through eight modules.

John Toth: 7:33

Each module is based on one of the no Barriers Life elements. So the no Barriers Life framework is made up of seven elements. So they do one module, two modules a week, each based on an element, and then they meet with their team for an hour once a week that month prior to the trip and during the our meeting and through the course we want them to understand and get to know the problem solving process that we want to Teach them to help them overcome challenges that might be in their life. We also want them to get to know their team so that when they show up at Either Asheville, north Carolina, or here in Colorado, they already know the people that they're gonna be participating with, and we also want them to know a lot about the trip. So we want to reduce anxiety and stress by giving them information about what the itineraries can look like, what year they need to bring, what year we're gonna provide to them, what kind of food they're gonna be eating, and then really answer any questions that they have.

John Toth: 8:35

Then they come on those trips and we want them to experience those no barriers life elements that they've learned about, and so it actually becomes their own personal experience of no barriers life.

John Toth: 8:47

And then when they return home, they go through another two months of the online course when they actually take that problem-solving Methodology and they put it to work for them, overcome a challenge that they might have in their life, and so they do a module week and then every other meet week they meet again with their team, and so their team stays connected for two months after the trip, and we really want them to leave no barriers and leave the opportunity with this solid rope team, as we call it. One of the life elements is rope team, and when Eric climbed Everest, he didn't do it by himself. He had a rope team that was there to support him when he stumbled, if he fell, and and that's what our rope teams do, and so we want our participants, at the end of the three-month experience, to actually have A solid rope team and understand a way that they can overcome challenges that they might face in their lives.

Larry Zilliox: 9:44

Are there particular participants you're looking for, like individuals with mobility issues or PTS, tbi, or are you in a you know whole cross-section, nothing is excluded or well? The?

John Toth: 10:00

only criteria, only two criteria that we have for the program is you have to be a veteran and you have to have a VA service connected disability rating. So, other than that, our Participant groups, our opportunity teams, really reflect the veteran population Across all the different metrics. So you know gender, ethnicity, where they're from, branch of service. We serve veterans that are training, injured and combat wounded. We have veterans that have visible injuries like amputation. We have veterans that have invisible low injuries such as the TBI or PTSD. I'd say by and large, the greatest number of our participants Are challenged with PTSD. That's probably the number one disability that we see within our program.

Larry Zilliox: 10:53

Sure, if you're looking at somebody who has mobility issues due to a combat injury, you're also looking usually at somebody who has PTS as well as TBI. Rarely do you see that without it. But go back real quick to the VA disability rating. Is there a minimum?

John Toth: 11:13

No, I mean, if you have a 10% disability rating, you qualify. You just have to have a disability rating, right. We really look at. There's three criteria that we look at and we're kind of Assessing when we go through an application. It's do they have a need? Do they have a significant challenge in their life that they're struggling to overcome? Are we going to be able to help them with something? Are they fit for the opportunity that they're asking to go on? So if you walk a mile a week, or walk a mile three times a week, you're probably not going to be in shape for one of our backcountry trips, sure, so we want to see what their physical fitness level is before we put them onto a trip. And then the other thing is are they a good team player and do they play well with others?

Larry Zilliox: 12:05

Yeah.

John Toth: 12:06

So we understand that we're going to take a group of people into the backcountry. We like to take people who get along with other people generally. Yeah, those are really the three big criteria that we're looking for when we assess applicants for a trip.

Larry Zilliox: 12:21

Sure, what about non-medical attendants or caregivers? Are they going with them or are they not going with them?

John Toth: 12:29

They're not going with them. So the two trips that we run our backcountry trips are the most difficult. Our base camp trips are not quite as difficult and they're open to almost all ability levels. We don't have the ability to take a wheelchair user at the campus. Yet we're building that infrastructure, okay. So we're building ramps for the buildings, we're building pressure-fine walkways so that, you know, wheelchairs can get back and forth between the tents and the buildings. So that infrastructure is being built, but it's not quite there yet. But we can take almost any ability level. We want the program as an individual program. So we have programs for caregivers. Caregivers come to the program on their own programs for individuals, veterans and they come on their own. So we want them to focus on them. Typically, when people come as a couple they tend to start to focus on the other person and taking care of the other person. We really want them to focus on themselves. So we don't have programs for couples, have programs for caregivers, separate from the people that they're caring for.

Larry Zilliox: 13:44

Yeah, how long are the programs again that the like the caregiver one how long would they be held?

John Toth: 13:52

So the caregiver programs are separate from my programs? Yeah, so we have the Warriors programs which are for veterans. I mean we have the caregivers and youth programs. Our programs are three to five days long. Our Warriors veterans programs are either five days at the base camp, five days for the back country in North Carolina and then seven days for our back country trips in Colorado and Wyoming. Okay, and to know there's no cost for the veteran? No, that was my question. What so ever?

John Toth: 14:25

You know we've been very fortunate to have great corporate sponsors and great individual caregivers that have contributed to the program so that we can offer the opportunities free of charge and understanding. You know that a veteran that's 100% disabled and can't work can't afford a plane ticket to come to Colorado, so we cover that cost. We don't want them to go to REI and buy a whole lot of gear, so we provide all the gear for the back country. Oh, no, transportation, lodging gear, food on the trip, storage to and from their home to where they're flying from. The North Carolina trips are only open to veterans from North Carolina, south Carolina, georgia, tennessee and Virginia. Okay, and they all drive to the location in Asheville. Our programs in Colorado and Wyoming are open to veterans from across the country, and we fly them to Denver International Airport, meet them at the airport, take them to our warehouse in Colorado, where Collins issued them all the gear that they need for their trip, and then we head up into the back country.

Larry Zilliox: 15:40

Wow, Well that's, I mean, that's just amazing that everything is covered for the veteran and it sounds like so. The veteran program is for warriors, For caregivers of veterans, though, they would be in the caregiver program, which is not necessarily only for caregivers of wounded warriors, but they could be in there with a person who's a caregiver for a child with cancer or someone else.

John Toth: 16:11

Yeah, and the caregiver program launches today, I believe. So the applications are over for the caregiver program now, okay, yes, that's correct. You don't have to be a caregiver for a veteran qualified for the caregiver program, you just have to be a caregiver.

Larry Zilliox: 16:28

Right. So, thinking about all the programs that you have now, what would you like to see in the future? What, what new program or what expansion would you like to see, say, in the next I don't know three to five years?

John Toth: 16:45

Well, I think, just maximizing what we can do. Okay, so you know, I would say last year we recovered, we came out of COVID. Finally, last year yeah, 21-22 were still challenging years for us 2023, we ran 11 trips for veterans. They were all very successful. The systems that we have are back in place and up and running. We've got 5,000 applications this year. We only have 108 slots, so we're running nine programs this year. In 2018, which was kind of the peak of the program before the pandemic hit for us, we took a little bit. We didn't run quite as many in 2019, but we were still, I think, 18, somewhere between 18 and 20. You know, right now we're running about 10 trips. So in the next two to five years I'd like to double that number to where we're running. You know, again, 15 to 20 trips.

John Toth: 17:49

We started a program in 2023 in conjunction with the Cheyenne Wyoming, VA, where we take veterans from Northern Colorado and Wyoming to the campus for a day trip. We call them veteran advances and they come and they experience the no barriers life and one day, through our challenge course that we have at the campus. So you know, can we expand the different type of programming we have that serves more veterans. Our course that we have right now is online. Are there veterans that would like to come on our trips, would like to experience the no barriers life, but they're busy with work, they don't have time, they have families. So how do we increase, you know, online offerings where they can meet and connect with groups of veterans and learn more about the no barriers life that we teach and grow from there? And then, you know, when we start talking five or 10 years down the road, we'd like to see you know, can we expand, you know, cross the country to the areas that make it logistically easier for us to support a trip?

John Toth: 18:59

So I do a trip in North Carolina and it's a back country trip. There's an awful lot of gear that I have to take the North Carolina to run that trip Right. It would be better, you know, if we could do it on the east coast and have, you know, a base of operations on the east like we do in Colorado. In Colorado, I mean, the west is a little bit easier to operate in because it's a bit more expansive. The east is a little bit more restrictive in terms of permits, the length of trails and things like that that you can do when you take groups of people into the back country, but we would figure it out. We've done trips in New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, so we've done some great trips in the east and I'm from Pennsylvania so I'd love to. I always love going back.

Larry Zilliox: 19:50

Yeah, I can't.

John Toth: 19:51

And I served. I served three years at Fort Liberty in North Carolina, so it's always good to go back to the great state of North Carolina, such a beautiful place.

Larry Zilliox: 20:02

Yeah, for sure. I guess the one thing that I wonder the most about is are you able to deliver some services to those applicants that just don't make the cut? Is that what the online program is for, or do they just have to wait and hope? Maybe next year?

John Toth: 20:24

So the online programming exists for all the participants that go through our program. So to go through the program you have to go through the online course, and then we want them to stick through the post course afterward. It's also online. I want to create that online course to give people the opportunity to experience the no barriers life that they want to.

Larry Zilliox: 20:49

Right.

John Toth: 20:49

But essentially, and sad as it is, if they don't get selected, it's apply again next year. Yeah, because you know we're a small non-profit. There's only two people that run our programming. We're very lucky to have 20 program leaders that take the veterans into the field, but there's only a staff of two of us here in the Warriors Department. And so, you know, building that capacity when you talk about, you know what do we want to do in two to five years? It's build that capacity to run more programming, to get more veterans out there.

John Toth: 21:28

One of the things that and I don't know that our participants love this about me and our program, but we tend to survey them a lot At the end of phase one, I send them a survey to see how we're doing.

John Toth: 21:41

At the end of the second phase, the in-person opportunity, I send them a survey to learn, you know, what could we do better. And the same thing at the end of the after phase, phase three, and by and large, the quality of our programming is, you know, nine plus out of 10. Yeah, that we're hitting the mark with the participants, that they're enjoying the. I'm learning about the no barriers life. The experience is transformative. They build broke teams that tend to stick together with them. After I woke up this morning and I had 27 texts on my phone and I'm like what's going on? And it's one of the teams that I went to North Carolina with last year and they stay connected and they text each other every day and you know it's great to see. Yeah, I mean our, our challenge is capacity and you know, I think in the next Three to five years, you know we want to see how we can grow the program and offer more opportunities to veterans, either across the country or we're here in Colorado.

Larry Zilliox: 22:44

Yeah, I mean that that's an issue that all nonprofits in this veteran service organization space Face is that there's way more warriors that need services than there are services available, which Brings me to your web page, and you've, guys have a great web page. I want to direct everybody to it. It's no barriers, bar I e s USA dot org, and there's tons of information on the page Right off the bat. You land and and there's some Really half-e folks on it there's a couple I see in some jacked-up wheelchairs that look Awesome, and then there's your tagline. But really, what I want everybody to pay attention to is on the top right hand corner you're gonna see a button that says donate and you click on that button and it takes less than a minute. I just did a little while ago. It's super fast.

Larry Zilliox: 23:48

Donate and and whatever you can and help them Expand this program, because it's you can just look at it and see that it's an amazing program that's doing phenomenal work and Any time you can get veterans and warriors together and that they can build that tribe again. What they so desperately meant miss from the time in service it's they're gonna benefit from it, whether it's in the outdoor experience, whether it's in a vet center somewhere, whether it's at the warrior retreat at Bull Run, well, it doesn't matter. Whatever, you can bring them together and they can get to know each other and come to rely on each other. That's a program that's worth its weight in gold. So please visit the web page again. It's no barriers USA org. Pound that donate button and give what you can, because this is a Just a very worthy cause. John, I want to thank you for taking the time to come on today and tell us all about your organization. I'm I'm really, really thrilled that that you were able to join us well and I appreciate you having us.

John Toth: 25:03

You know thanks for the shout out to ask people to give. I appreciate your donation and you know I appreciate everything that the warrior retreat at Bull Run does for our veterans as well. There are a lot of organizations and we all want to see veterans who are succeeding, you know, after their military service, and we're all working towards that. So I appreciate all that you do as well.

Larry Zilliox: 25:27

Thanks so for our listeners, we'll have another episode next week every Monday morning at 5 am. Until then, thanks for listening.