On military bases, the word “training” can feel a bit loaded. 

“Military folks go through a lot of training,” said retired Army Captain Theodore Goodson. “After you’ve been through a few of them, especially if they’re PowerPoint-heavy, you kind of go, ‘All right, here we go. Here’s another one.’”

So, when Give an Hour — a nonprofit that combines clinical expertise with peer support to promote emotional healing — first introduced its standard training on a military base, the reaction was less than enthusiastic. 

“We have a picture of the room — everyone was on their phones," said Julie Wells, Give an Hour’s director of strategic relationships. “It was clear it wasn’t hitting the mark.”

Using a feedback tool called Customer First Measurement™, Give an Hour asked service members to rate their experience. The initial Net Promoter Score — which runs from -100 to 100 — came back at a flat zero.

The need was real. The base was facing serious mental health challenges. But the format wasn’t landing.

So Give an Hour took a step back and dug into the feedback — not just the scores, but the stories behind them. They listened to what service members wanted: more connection, more relevance, less lecture. Then, they rebuilt the program from the ground up. The result? Military MILE, a reimagined version shaped with service members, not just for them.

The change was immediate. After the redesign, the NPS jumped to 62 — a dramatic turnaround for a program that once faded into the background. What had been just another training became something participants said they’d recommend.

“The early misses were really about not grasping the pressure points and or the context of their lived experiences,” said Bekah Wilbur, Give an Hour’s manager of content and development. “Through the feedback process, we were able to create something that was much more relevant and impactful.”

What was the missing ingredient that helped the program connect?

How feedback turned a good idea into a better one

Give an Hour’s peer-to-peer model challenges the idea that healing can only start in a therapist’s office. It equips community members to support one another through empathy, shared experiences, and honest conversations — often reaching people in ways that can work alone or in combination with clinical care to make a significant impact.

“There are many mental health situations where human connection — a discussion, a perspective, someone leaning in to ask different and better questions — has a healing effect on individuals,” said Dr. Trina Clayeux, CEO of Give an Hour. 

Early versions of the training used standardized tools and concepts that weren’t specifically tailored for the military community.

“I remember trying to customize that for the first session,” said Wilbur. “We were like, let's add images of soldiers. Then we went to the base, and actually, that didn't really resonate with them.”

Give an Hour collaborated with Capt. Goodson to design surveys covering every aspect of the training, from content and format to presenters and personal stressors.

This allowed the team to dig deeper: crafting content with relevant examples, addressing the specific pressures soldiers face, and bringing in presenters with military experience. 

“If we were going to get their buy-in, it was imperative that they see themselves in what we were saying very, very quickly,” said Wells. “That is where that customization changed the game for us.”

Listening — and acting on what was said — became the core of Give an Hour’s redesign process. According to Nickie Silverstein, a former service member who now works as a facilitator for Give an Hour, this was a new way of creating mental health resources at the organization. 

“Before, we had a mental health professional leading the way, telling us what people should be learning,” she said. “But this was about really trusting that people know what they want.”

Letting feedback shape the training

Give an Hour’s three-part mental health training is designed to equip service members with practical tools to overcome emotional challenges. Delivered over multiple days, the program uses trauma-informed peer support, an evidence-based model for peer-to-peer connection. But what makes Military MILE different is how it evolves.

From the beginning, the Give an Hour team made a key shift: moving away from rigid slide decks and toward open, conversation-based sessions. Peer facilitators with military backgrounds were prioritized to ensure cultural credibility. And most importantly, feedback from participants became the central force driving the training's direction.

“Maybe if you're a private, you don't want to voice something because you have a sergeant first class in the room,” said Capt. Goodson, who often leads sessions. To break those barriers, he began opening up first — sharing his own experiences to signal that honesty and vulnerability were safe in the room. That was enough to get people talking.

The training is no longer a top-down lecture — it’s a dialogue.

“Because our model requires their input, it requires them to reflect on their experiences and their perceptions in a different way,” said Clayeux. “This is very participatory. We can see how that changes people when they feel like they are part of the solution.”

The team uses CFM not just to collect data, but to act on it. After each of the three sessions, participants complete brief surveys rating their experience and sharing which topics feel most relevant. Facilitators review that feedback between sessions to adjust the curriculum on the fly. In one recent training, survey responses revealed that service members wanted more tools for handling difficult conversations — so the next day’s session was adjusted accordingly.

“This approach isn’t about proving a program works,” said Clayeux. “It’s about improving it — every time we run it.”

“There's really nothing static about it,” added Wilbur. “Every training is a new iteration because there's this loop of customization and responsiveness.”

That flexibility allows the program to adapt to each unique setting — and even the makeup of the room. For example, if a group includes several participants not currently in relationships, facilitators will shift examples or exercises that would typically assume a partner dynamic. That kind of fine-tuning makes the content more applicable and personal.

By treating service members as partners, not just participants, the Give an Hour team ensures Military MILE is built for the people in the room.

From coping alone to healing together

In a setting where physical endurance is prized, phrases like “suck it up” or “keep going” are often used to push through physical hardship. But when someone is struggling emotionally, those same words can do more harm than good.

This topic frequently sparks some of the most engaged discussions in training. Facilitators, many of them service members or veterans, help the class recognize that what motivates someone on a ruck march won’t necessarily support them through depression or trauma. It’s a powerful and meaningful shift. 

“I constantly see people walk out of the room clearly feeling like they now have tangible knowledge that can really change the way that they're responding to others,” said Wells.

The training now incorporates a backpack metaphor that has become a powerful and memorable tool for service members. Soldiers are shown a visual of someone carrying a heavy pack, sparking a conversation about what real support looks like. Helping doesn’t always mean taking the load off someone’s back — it might mean adjusting the straps, redistributing the weight, or simply walking alongside them while they catch their breath. But if you carry the backpack for them, they miss the chance to build resilience — and you risk becoming overburdened yourself. 

“They get [the metaphor] because they live it every single day,” said Wells. “It feels very casual, but it's super intentional.”

Scaling a proven model without losing its personal touch

Once Give an Hour saw the curriculum was working, it expanded to a second base, and the team faced a critical test: Could a model hold up in a new environment, with a different region, culture, and type of soldier? 

The answer was yes, but not without adapting the model using more insights from CFM.

At Army Base A, the team had honed their approach over time — refining the structure, presenters, and imagery until it resonated with soldiers at the base. By the time they arrived at Army Base B, they had strong data and stories to back up the model. But the environment was different. 

Here, the service members were older and had more experience. There were fewer deployments, the roles of the soldiers were different, the cost of living was higher, and assignments tended to be longer. The team had to condense a three-day training into two and rethink how to create impact quickly.

“We found that there’s a big difference between someone who's been serving for 10 years and someone who's been in for less than two,” said Wells. “Everything changed.”

Clayeux explained that using CFM as an approach to program design “has allowed us to be very close to our customer and adjust in real time. One location might have totally different pressures than another and this approach helps us respond to that.”

That flexibility has also opened the door to deeper collaboration. By responding to service members’ input in real time, the Give an Hour team has shifted from simply delivering training to building it alongside the people in the room, treating them not just as participants, but as partners.

“The beauty of the entire model is that we’re leaning into their expertise and becoming collaborators with them,” said Clayeux.

Give an Hour is supported by Stand Together Foundation, which empowers individuals to reach their full potential through community-driven change.

Learn more about Stand Together's efforts to build strong and safe communities and explore ways you can partner with us.