How a Military Family Supported Their Teen’s Mental Health with TRICARE

What happens when a military family finally finds the help their teen needs, right when it matters most?

In this heartfelt episode of the Turning Winds Podcast, host Kevin Zundl speaks with a military couple who opens up about their son’s mental health journey, the warning signs they missed, and the emotional toll of trying to find effective care.

They share what ultimately led them to Turning Winds, how TRICARE coverage made treatment possible, and the transformation they witnessed in academics, confidence, and emotional resilience. If you're a parent navigating uncertainty, this story offers a powerful reminder that you are not alone, and the right support can change everything.

Topics covered:

* Early signs of adolescent mental health struggles
* Navigating TRICARE as a military family
* Turning Winds’ impact on academic and emotional growth
* Why the natural setting and structured support made the difference

Keywords:
military family mental health, teen residential treatment, TRICARE mental health coverage, military families and therapy, turning winds podcast, teen anxiety, academic recovery, adolescent depression, TRICARE East, finding treatment for teens, therapeutic boarding school, Montana teen treatment, family recovery story, crisis to recovery

To learn more about Turning Winds, visit turningwinds.com or call 800-845-1380.

To learn more about Turning Winds, visit turningwinds.com or call 800-845-1380.

Transcript

 This is what it sounds like when you have to make a tough decision, but know you ultimately made the right one.  I wish I was more open to it sooner, but  I'm glad we made the choice that we did.  Welcome to the Turning Winds podcast. My name is Kevin Zundl.  Turning Winds provides teens with clinical treatment and specialized academic support.

That they need before entering adulthood. Today, I sit down with a military family who was able to use their dry care coverage so their son could get the help he needed. It began about a year ago. Um, we were obviously, I guess, a lot clueless of what was going on. We thought we ran a pretty tight ship, but he was sneaking out us not knowing.

And one day he ran away. He was on the five o'clock news. He was missing for four days.  And that's just when things started snowballing. So when he was found, we knew he needs to get out of Panama city where we were living. So we put our house up for sale immediately. The psychiatrist agreed.  Um, he went from missing to found to then he went into the mental hospital. 

Once he got out of the mental hospital, he entered a 30 day treatment facility.  And during that time, we'd use that 30 days to sell our house, buy a house.  But his troubles just followed. They came with us to South Carolina and we were having the cops at our house. I can't, I don't know, at least three times in the first month we lived here.

He was truant. He refused to go to school.  Um,  alcohol, drugs, alcohol, drugs. He was selling  vapes, which we had no idea about.  Um, and just sneaking out. I mean,  name it. He was doing it. And then he ended up in another mental hospital. He said he was suicidal.  I mean, we put air trackers and he cut out, carved his shoes.

He was just running away constantly. Um,  and then the last straw was he went to school one day after being truant for like a week, refusing to go, he just got up and walked out the door. And then we got a call from the school saying he was suicidal. Come pick him up.  But which was bizarre. He was also during that time using his medication as, uh,  dangling it overhead.

He refused to take it. So once he stopped taking his medication and with the marijuana use, he was  Very angry teenager, very angry. Um, and that's when he, anyway, bouncing back and forth, but he went to school. He went to the mental hospital, which is really bad here. Um, it was  awful.  So while he was in there, that's when we decided that we had to pull the trigger on turning winds, turning winds.

We had spoken to turning winds about a month prior, and we were kind of.  Going back and forth with the idea as a last resort,  time we realized we have no choice. We'll regret this for the rest of our lives if we didn't send him.  So how did you find Turning Lens?  Um, hours and hours on the internet. Calling every facility in the United States to see what TRICARE covered. 

Um,  and then we finally came across them.  And, uh, Eric was great. He reached out to us. Then we were in contact back and forth for about a month.  And  he helped us coordinate it so he didn't even come home after he left the mental hospital. Joey agreed. He realized he was at rock bottom and needed help too.

So he voluntarily  said yes and my husband flew straight to Montana out of that mental hospital.  So when you were calling around, I mean, was it your experience that you were calling and just no one accepted track here?  Correct.  So you started talking with admissions, American admissions. And how did he help you sort of navigate  TRICARE or was it just easy? 

He just walked us through, there was a lot of steps with TRICARE, you know, we had to write letters and essays and, you know, um, but he  dumbed it down for us. He walked us through it basically. And, um, he was just helping us with the, the social workers at the mental hospital. So everyone, cause it was a time, it was the timing issue of trying to get those approvals done  with the release. 

Mental hospital. So it was really just time sensitive,  um, but it all worked out. What about academics?  Uh, how's, how's he doing there?  A lot better there than he's ever done in school. I think turning wings, they, you know, it's, it's a lot more interactive than your traditional school. So  that I think has some of it to do, um, Joey definitely, like if he had to come home and do homework.

He wouldn't do it, he'd just flat out refuse or he would wait till like the last minute and then asking us to help him through it.  And I mean, he can actually talk to us about what he's doing, which that's something that  you almost had to like, yeah, pull it out of him to find out what he did in school.

So that's, that's been definitely a good thing.  And what about the, the setting, you know, it's, Montana is a unique place, especially Montana, you saw a moose, you saw deer, um, being, having the creek right behind fishing, swimming, like, you know, it's a pretty, pretty neat setup. What have they, um, how have they interacted with you in terms of learning?

I think some of the training that they do there is really interesting. I don't, Carl and I did a podcast where we talked about, um, Power struggles and using those as learning moments.  And just as a parent, I'm not always in a great head when we're in those power struggles, but how the, the times that I'm able to reflect on that, we're better as a family as a result.

When we went out for the, the family group session, they had a really good speaker there. The Dr. Foster Klein. Yes. Foster Klein. Um, just.  A lot of the stuff that he talked about with dealing with children, not dealing with children, but how to parent  was definitely stuff that we took back, took back and those skills are  being utilized here. 

Awesome. Thank you. I think you were able to really kind of convey a lot and I think it's going to be again, helpful for other families who are sitting there and thinking today, the day that I make a decision or not, um, if you were going to, you Say something to one of those families that might be listening to this.

And what would you tell someone that  is existing in the one month before Joe went over there? I didn't want to do it. I was very resistant and I was actually really resistant the whole first month he was there. Wondering if I made the right decision.  But the regret of not making a choice like that would have been much bigger than the latter.

And uh,  I wish I was  more open to it sooner.  I'm glad we made the choice that we get.  I hope this helps you see that you're not the only one contemplating the decision to make the commitment to meaningful change. I've spoken to many parents on this podcast and invite you to listen to those as well.  I think ultimately it will provide comfort and confidence in making the decision for yourself. 

There really is no reason not to have the conversation and make the call just as this family did. 800. But there is also a wealth of resources on their website at turningwinds. com Oh,  and if you're one of the many Turning Winds alumni or families, and you would like to be on this podcast,  just email Carl or Enoch,  carl@turningwinds.com or enoch@turningwinds. com. I'd love to have the conversation until next time. Be well, everyone.