Mike Brando, a three-tour Marine and founder of Camp Valor Adventure Healing, urged the Michigan House Families and Veterans Committee to create a policy environment that recognizes and funds clinician-led, nature-based therapy for veterans.

Brando described his combat tours in Iraq, recounted losses among his unit after returning home, and said Michigan — he testified — has a veteran suicide rate that his witnesses cited at 29.3 per 100,000. He said roughly 7 percent of Michigan veterans live with PTSD and more than 20 percent report broader mental-health challenges, and he warned that many veterans who need care are not connected to services.

Brando outlined Camp Valor’s model: licensed clinical therapy delivered outdoors, integrating trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused approaches and family-inclusive work with structured activities such as hiking, kayaking, equine therapy and woodworking. He said the model differs from recreational retreats because clinicians are embedded and the therapeutic process, not the activity, is primary.

He told the committee that Medicaid and VA community-care billing often misclassify nature-based clinical delivery as recreation, resulting in denials and access barriers. To address that, Brando proposed a multi-part policy agenda for the state: establish formal recognition and language for clinician-led nature-based therapy; create a two-year pilot in partnership with Saginaw Valley State University and state agencies to measure outcomes; develop a provider-certification pathway; coordinate across agencies and the Department of Natural Resources to allow therapeutic use of state park properties; and design a National Guard pilot to provide a structured reintegration week for service members before separation.

Brando also proposed that the state consider incentives for veterans’ participation in therapy tied to PTSD-related benefits and asked the committee to consider data collection and outcome reporting for state-funded veteran therapy programs.

Committee members responded with praise and offers to continue working with Brando. Representative Wolford and others thanked him for his service; Chair Schmaltz and members said they would follow up to explore how the program could be supported.

No formal committee action was recorded on the Camp Valor testimony during the hearing.