How did you come up with VOTS?
Great question! Honestly, this started from a really bad experience I had working with a non-profit who was funded by the VA. I couldn't shake the thought that I could write a better program that actually helped veterans than the VA selecting people with no military experience. What people may not understand is the emotions people experience with suicidal thoughts is my line of expertise. I understand how they feel and why.
Why ADHD RSD?
First, I have ADHD RSD on an advance level. I have been doing my own independent research and case studies on adult ADHD RSD for five years now. It's safe to say according to the research that I know more about this topic than 90% of doctors and psychiatrists. I know how that sounded but it's not because I'm smarter it's because ADHD has been abandoned by the entire medical community. I have a fascination with human behavior and emotions.
What Makes VOTS Different?
Veterans of the Storm (VOTS) isn’t just another mental health program. It’s a precision-targeted response to the emotional chaos that traditional systems miss—because I lived it.
I created this entire program on my own, grounded in two things the system doesn’t teach:
1. Deep personal experience.
2. Unmatched emotional insight.
I have ADHD with Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD) and trauma-based PTSD. I’ve survived narcissistic abuse, homelessness, and systemic neglect. And I didn’t just survive it—I studied it, dissected it, and built a program around the emotional reality that most clinical frameworks ignore.
I discovered a key pattern across high-risk veteran groups—especially those with Operator Syndrome—that no one talks about:
🎯 These veterans aren’t just dealing with trauma or brain injury.
They are emotionally wired differently—and no one is treating that.
What they have in common is deep, powerful emotional intensity.
That includes:
-
Emotional collapse when misunderstood
-
Shutdown when pushed to explain themselves
-
Feeling broken by things others dismiss
-
And not fitting anywhere in traditional care systems
VOTS is built for emotionally intense veterans—the ones with:
-
ADHD that was never diagnosed
-
PTSD that isn’t responding to therapy
-
Emotional instability labeled as “resistance”
-
Pain that isn’t just psychological, but neurological
🧠 This program recognizes that emotions can be deadly—when left untreated, invalidated, or misdiagnosed. That’s why VOTS offers:
-
Veteran-led peer support grounded in shared experience
-
Trauma-informed education about emotional dysregulation, RSD, and ADHD
-
Direct outreach to those with Operator Syndrome symptoms and emotional overload
-
A completely different framework for understanding emotional collapse and suicide risk
This isn’t a program built by outsiders.
It’s built from the inside out.
I didn’t create this because I studied emotion.
I created it because emotion almost destroyed me.
That’s what makes Veterans of the Storm different.
And that’s why it will save lives.
💣 Let’s Get One Thing Straight About Emotions
I get it—society treats emotions like weakness.
Cry? You're unstable.
Feel too much? You're overreacting.
Lose control? You're the problem.
But here's the truth no one dares to admit:
Emotions are the number one driving force behind murders, suicides, domestic violence, war crimes, and self-destruction.
Not logic.
Not plans.
Not strategy.
Emotion.
Unregulated, dismissed, ignored emotion.
So let’s stop pretending emotion is “soft.”
Emotion is the most dangerous weapon on Earth—
and the most ignored in our mental health system.
Want to fix suicide rates? Treat the emotions.
Want to stop violent outbursts? Understand emotional collapse.
Want to stop punishing people for how they feel?
Start by admitting that unregulated emotion kills.
That’s why Veterans of the Storm was built.
Because for people like us—
emotion isn’t a mood.
It’s a battlefield.
F&Q
_edited.png)
The founder of Veteran of the Storm, Theresa Alfonzo take on ADHD "The stigma surrounding ADHD is not a reflection of the condition itself but rather a consequence of inadequate research and outdated assumptions. ADHD has not fundamentally changed; rather, the understanding of it has been hindered by a lack of early scientific inquiry. Instead of acknowledging these past shortcomings, many continue to hold onto misconceptions, placing undue blame on the disorder rather than recognizing the failures in research and education.
It is concerning how misinformation persists, often perpetuated by individuals who have little to no understanding of ADHD beyond secondhand anecdotes. Many seem to rely solely on outdated information they learned in adolescence, never updating their knowledge despite significant advancements in research. This resistance to change is not just a matter of ignorance but often a refusal to acknowledge new evidence, making it difficult to dismantle harmful stereotypes.
If progress is to be made, society must recognize that ADHD stigma stems from historical missteps in medical research, not from the condition itself. The responsibility now lies in education, advocacy, and a willingness to embrace updated scientific understanding."
Passing Judgment Without Context Is Foolish
You Don’t Know Their Storm
We’ve all done it—looked at someone else’s behavior and thought, “What the hell is wrong with them?”
But what you’re seeing is just the outside of someone else’s storm.
Not the chaos they woke up in.
Not the pain they’ve been carrying.
Not the nights they didn’t sleep.
Not the years they’ve spent surviving what would’ve crushed someone else.
We forget that our way of handling pain isn’t the way—it’s just one way.
Some people cry.
Some shut down.
Some smile through it.
Some look fine right until they snap.
Not everyone breaks loud. Not everyone bleeds where you can see it.
Your perspective isn’t gospel—it’s just yours. Shaped by your wiring, your wounds, your world.
And so is theirs.
Passing judgment without understanding the weight someone carries isn’t just foolish—it’s heartless.
It’s like screaming at someone in a cast to sprint.
You don’t get to demand strength from someone you’ve never bothered to see.
We don’t all break the same.
We don’t all heal the same.
But we all hurt.
We all bleed the same underneath.
So slow the hell down. Show some damn grace.
And if someone reaches out to you—TRY.
Try to be a decent human being.
You’re not helpless. You’re not too busy.
You’re just not thinking past yourself.
Not everything is about you.