Courageous healing, made accessible.

From Our Founder

Staci Durham, Co-Founder of Beyond Brave

Twelve years ago, I made the hardest — and bravest — decision of my life. I filed for divorce from my husband of nearly a decade. When I shared the news with coworkers, someone said something that has stayed with me ever since: "That's such a brave thing to do."

At the time, I didn't fully realize how true those words were. I had spent years in a relationship defined by narcissistic abuse and untreated mental illness. I lived in survival mode — always in "fight" mode — just trying to protect myself and my children. That state of constant vigilance shaped how I responded to the world, to my children, to new relationships, to myself. I didn't recognize just how much trauma had rewired my nervous system and my self-worth.

I was forced to ask myself hard questions about who I wanted to be and what kind of life I wanted to live. When I reconnected with Wayne — my first love and now co-founder of this foundation — I found something I had never truly experienced: a safe, healthy relationship. But even then, the trauma would creep in. Triggers. Anxiety. Fight mode.

The breaking point came during a period of unimaginable stress. My children were living part-time in a household that, while physically safe, was psychologically devastating. Lies, manipulation, emotional chaos — I was powerless to shield them, and it was destroying me. I was on the edge of collapse, searching desperately for something — anything — that could help me stay afloat.

That's when I found EMDR therapy. And it changed everything.

In EMDR, I found healing. I found validation. I found myself. After being diagnosed with PTSD from years of emotional abuse, I finally felt seen. I finally stopped believing the lies that had been told to me for so long — that I was "too sensitive," or "crazy," or "playing the victim."

Over the course of 12 months, EMDR therapy helped me process the trauma I'd been carrying for over a decade. It helped me step out of survival mode and into the life I had always hoped was possible. It helped me become a better partner, a better parent, and a whole version of myself again.

I often say that EMDR felt like magic — but it's not magic. It's access. It's care. It's healing. And everyone who needs it deserves the chance to receive it.

That's why we created Beyond Brave — to help trauma survivors access the therapy that changed my life. I know what it feels like to be at rock bottom. I know the desperation of needing help but not knowing where to turn. And I know the freedom that healing can bring.

If you're reading this and you're hurting, let me be the one to say: You are not too broken. You are not alone. And you are brave — braver than you know.

— Staci Durham, Co-Founder