Letter from the Frontline: Why We Rise
- Tamika Saxx
- Jun 27
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 27
By Tamika Saxx, Founder, RISING HerWay: The Women Rising Project
I did not start this because it was convenient. I did not start it because I had extra time.
I started it because I had to.
Because I have sat across from too many women — in therapy rooms, on military bases, at funerals, and in silence — carrying invisible wounds that no one ever prepared us for.
Because I know what it is like to wear the uniform, hold it together, then fall apart in private — and feel like no one sees the woman underneath the service.
Because healing in the military community has been far too clinical. Too quiet. Too boxed in. And we deserve more than check boxes. We deserve a movement.
The Numbers Tell the Truth — So Do We
More than 51% of women veterans report experiencing Military Sexual Trauma (MST) during their service — a number that continues to rise with each report, and each woman brave enough to finally break her silence (VA, 2023).
And yet, only 28% of women veterans receive care through the VA system at all. Not because they don’t need support — but because many feel misunderstood, unseen, or retraumatized by systems that weren’t designed with them in mind (National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, 2024).
Women veterans are also:
2.5x more likely than civilian women to die by suicide (VA Office of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention, 2023)
More likely to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Anxiety, and Depression than their male counterparts post-service (American Journal of Psychiatry, 2022)
And less likely to feel they “belong” in traditional veteran spaces.
We are raising children, managing trauma, caregiving, studying, working two jobs, and trying to navigate a civilian world that rarely knows how to hold space for the complexity of being a woman and a warrior.
This Is Not Therapy. This Is HER Rise.
RISING HerWay: The Women Rising Project, is where we finally stop shrinking.
It is not just about wellness. It is about reclamation.
Of voice. Of joy. Of community. Of self.
We are not building another program.
We are building an uprising.
Through conferences, sisterhood ops, hands-on getaways, trauma-informed tools, and spaces built by and for women who have lived it — we are creating healing on our terms.
Whether you are a woman veteran, a spouse who served in silence, a daughter or granddaughter raised in the shadows of war, or a military-connected woman navigating trauma in a system that rarely made room for you — you are HER why.
Why We Rise? Because We Have Fallen Enough.
We rise because too many of our sisters did not get the chance to.
We rise because silence nearly killed us.
We rise because healing should never feel like a punishment.
And we rise together — not with pretense, but with purpose.
Raw. Real. Restorative.
So if you are tired of feeling like you don’t fit —
If the Department of Veteran Affairs felt like a dead end —
If you have tried to heal in places that only harmed you —
If you are ready to reclaim joy, identity, and belonging...
We are here. We see you. And we built this with you in mind.
Join Us. No Rank. No Rules. Just HER Rise.
You did not come this far to heal alone. It is HER time. It is HER way.
With grit, grace, and fire,
Tamika Saxx
Disabled U.S. Army Veteran | Founder | Licensed Mental Health Professional
RISING HerWay: The Women Rising Project
📚 Sources & Research:
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. (2023). 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2023). Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Annual Report.
National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. (2024). Women Veterans Report.
Maguen, S. et al. (2022). Gender Differences in Mental Health Outcomes Among U.S. Veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry.
Washington, D.L. et al. (2022). Why Women Veterans Do Not Use VA Services: Perceived Stigma, System Barriers, and Mistrust. Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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