We truly see each other again.

Last September we met Mark—or rather, it was his wife we got to know. She said to my husband: ‘We’ll see you again.’

And she was right. In May, my husband and I went to see them so Mark could help him—and me too. Both Mark and his wife were there for us, and wow, that felt good. Feeling understood mattered so much to me.

Above all, it was the way Mark worked with my husband. After three days, we went back home as the best version of ourselves.

So grateful that we were able to meet them and that they helped us.

I wish everyone could experience this and start living again instead of just surviving.

My journey with PTSD began in August 2016, when it became clear that my husband had this condition. Although he received help and we slowly found ways to cope, an emptiness remained. We knew that PTSD affected not only him, but our whole family. The help he received was often focused on him individually, without involving our family.

For years we tried to adapt to the changes in his mood. I constantly tried to keep the peace, but triggering situations were unavoidable, despite all our efforts.

In June 2022, my husband took part in the Firefighter Stair Climb to raise money for the Foundation Liberated from PTSD. During this event, someone said: ‘You do not have PTSD alone; you have it with your whole family.’ That touched us both. This was the moment my husband first became open to the foundation’s help.

Yet months later he slipped further into his own struggle, and I became the driving force behind his decision to contact the foundation. After one email, he received a call back within ten minutes: ‘Barry, enough is enough, we are going to help you.’

I had no idea what to expect when he decided to take part in three days of training with Mark and Daniëlle from the foundation. I was surprised to be included in the process as his partner.

What followed was a journey that changed not only my husband, but our whole family. During the sessions with Mark, my husband learned what PTSD really meant and how to deal with it. We discovered so many aspects of PTSD that we had never heard of. Mark’s clear explanations and exercises brought insights that no psychologist had ever given us.

We had the chance to talk in ways we had not done for years. The distance PTSD had created between us grew smaller, and we found each other again as partners and as a family.

After the three days of training, Barry was a different man. He was not only calmer and more balanced; I even noticed physical changes, such as the tension disappearing from his stomach. Mark and Daniëlle’s support made us stronger as a family and minimised the impact of PTSD.

Three months later, we are no longer in survival mode, but in a state of real connection and happiness. Through Mark’s method and Daniëlle’s support, we have opened a new chapter as a family, in which we do not merely survive, but truly live.