Boulder Crest Foundation Releases New Story of Transformation Highlighting Growth After Trauma
Brandi McBride served in the U.S. Air Force in combat support roles during deployments to Iraq, leading teams responsible for mortuary affairs. In an environment shaped by loss, she focused on caring for others — often without processing her own experiences.
Brandi transformed her connection to gardening into a large-scale outdoor installation — a reflection of her journey through struggle and growth. Inspired by perennials and tulips, it reflects a simple truth: beneath the surface, something new is taking shape.
At Boulder Crest, Brandi participated in Warrior PATHH, a peer-delivered, non-pharmacological training grounded in Posttraumatic Growth. There, she confronted what she had long carried in silence and began to see that struggle can be the beginning of growth.
Like the flowers she tends, Brandi knows that growth requires seasons of stillness, struggle, and change. What appears dormant is often preparing to bloom — a quiet reminder that even in life’s hardest moments, something hopeful is unfolding.
Boulder Crest Foundation is a pioneering nonprofit organization focused on the development of Posttraumatic Growth-based training solutions to times of struggle, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and suicidality.
The short documentary explores one veteran’s journey through war, trauma, and illness — and the unexpected growth that followed
Now available on Boulder Crest’s website and YouTube channel, the short documentary traces McBride’s journey through military service, trauma, transition, and serious illness — and the growth that emerged along the way. Through deeply personal reflection and vivid imagery, the piece brings to life a central idea behind Boulder Crest’s work: that struggle does not have to be the end of the story.
McBride served in combat support roles during deployments to Iraq, where she led teams responsible for morale services and mortuary affairs — often moving between moments of connection and profound loss. After returning home and being diagnosed with PTSD, she found herself searching for what came next.
That search ultimately led her to Boulder Crest’s Warrior PATHH program, a peer-delivered, non-pharmacological training grounded in the science of PTG.
“Plants have to go through struggle to grow,” McBride shares. “It’s such a great mirror of ourselves.”
Her perspective was shaped, in part, by an unexpected source: gardening. After moving to Michigan, McBride began tending to plants and discovered the life cycle of perennials — including tulips, which require the cold and stillness of winter in order to bloom in the spring.
“You can’t have beauty without the ugly, and you can’t have joy without the struggle,” she said.
That idea didn’t stay in the garden. McBride brought it to life through a large-scale outdoor art installation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she translated her experiences into a physical space designed to be walked, observed, and felt.
The installation guided visitors through a series of environments that mirrored the phases of her life — from unstructured growth to rigid order, from struggle to transformation. At its center stood a broken greenhouse, wrapped in vibrant flowering vines. From a distance, it appeared whole and beautiful. Up close, the shattered glass remained visible beneath the blooms.
“It demonstrated that we see what we want to see,” McBride explained.
Her time at Boulder Crest marked a turning point. During Warrior PATHH, McBride confronted experiences she had long carried in silence and began to see her life through a different lens — one where struggle and growth could exist side by side.
That perspective would prove essential as she faced another profound challenge. After an earlier battle with cancer, McBride was diagnosed in 2020 with metastatic breast cancer that had spread throughout her body. Given an uncertain prognosis, she chose to continue treatment and focus on what she could control: how she lived each day.
“If you woke up today and you weren’t in pain… you’re doing okay,” she shared. “Today is a great day. What are you going to do with it?”
For McBride, growth is not a single moment — it is an ongoing experience. Her story reflects what Boulder Crest sees every day: that even in the face of profound hardship, people are capable of building lives filled with meaning, connection, and strength.
“Brandi’s story is a powerful example of what is possible,” said Josh Goldberg, CEO of Boulder Crest Foundation. “It reflects a truth we see every day — that struggle can be a catalyst for growth, and that people can create lives of purpose and connection in its wake.”
Boulder Crest’s programs are based on more than three decades of research on Posttraumatic Growth, pioneered by Dr. Richard Tedeschi. Through its work, the organization trains veterans, service members, and first responders to understand and manage their struggle — equipping them with practical approaches to navigate adversity and build lives of meaning and connection. In doing so, Boulder Crest is helping to shift how society understands and responds to struggle — not as something to be avoided, but as something that can lead to meaningful change.
McBride’s story is part of Boulder Crest’s ongoing Stories of Transformation series, which highlights real people navigating life’s hardest experiences and discovering new possibilities along the way. Together with the newly launched Struggle Well Podcast — a series of candid conversations with those who have faced profound challenges — these stories bring to life what growth can look like.
As her story makes clear, growth is not about avoiding hardship — it is about what comes next.
Because winter does not last forever. And when spring comes, the tulips always rise.
About Boulder Crest Foundation
Boulder Crest Foundation is a pioneering nonprofit organization focused on the development of Posttraumatic Growth-based training solutions to times of struggle, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and suicidality. Their non-pharmacological, peer-delivered, PTG-based programs — Warrior PATHH & Struggle Well — help service members, veterans, and the first responder community to transform their struggle into strength, and live great lives in the aftermath of trauma. Since its founding, Boulder Crest has served more than 180,000 individuals nationwide. Learn more at BoulderCrest.org.
Jen Grady
Boulder Crest Foundation
jen.grady@bouldercrest.org
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