From soldier to healer, Matthew Jeffries helps others find hope again. Army Sergeant, Afghanistan & Kuwait Veteran | Former Law Enforcement Officer and Founder of Warfighter Fitness Matthew Jeffries has worn many uniforms: police officer, soldier, mentor, and coach. But the hardest battle of his life began after the uniform came off. Matthew had to confront the unraveling of his own life. A former police officer and Army Sergeant who served in Afghanistan and Kuwait, he spent years protecting communities and serving his country. Strength, discipline, and resilience shaped him. After military life ended, so did the identity he had built. “I had lost a family, lost a sense of self, and honestly, I felt broken,” he says. “On the outside, you wouldn’t know it. But inside, I was at the lowest point of my life.”
Matthew quietly carried grief, trauma, fear, and depression while still showing up for his children. Meditation, fitness, therapy, and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) helped. Nothing fully lifted the emotional “rucksack” he had carried for years. For the first time in years, Matthew began asking whether healing was possible. After attending a retreat, something shifted. Healing became real months later while standing in church. As a pastor called people carrying guilt, shame, and fear to come forward, Matthew remained seated. “For the first time,” he says, “those things weren’t holding me down anymore.”
Pensacola remains home for Matthew, where his children and grandchild are rooted and where much of his heart still lives. Today, he spends much of the year in Costa Rica as Co-Founder and Lead Facilitator of his own retreat, guiding small-group wellness retreats for veterans, first responders, trauma survivors, and individuals seeking deeper healing. The retreat blends guided experiences, group support, reflection, accountability, and integration, designed to help participants confront emotional wounds they may have carried for years. “I’m not there to fix anyone,” he says. “I’m there for the moment someone decides to stop avoiding themselves.”
Matthew understands the invisible weight many veterans and public servants quietly carry: hypervigilance, fear, loss of identity, and emotional exhaustion hidden behind strength and service. “When you wear a uniform, it becomes part of who you are,” he explains. “Then one day that identity is gone, and you have to face yourself.”
“PTSD, trauma, depression at the core of it, it’s fear,” he says. “Fear of loss. Fear of pain. Fear of facing things we’ve avoided.” Many people quietly carry burdens they rarely discuss. “People are functioning,” he says. “They’re showing up for work, showing up for family, smiling in public. Deep inside, they’re hurting.” For many, the struggle is invisible, hidden behind careers and responsibilities.
Over time, Matthew noticed something universal among nearly everyone who came seeking help. “No one acknowledges the good they’ve done,” he says. “People tell themselves stories about failure, guilt, shame, but they forget the lives they’ve touched.” For Matthew, healing is not about becoming someone new. It is about remembering who you were before fear, grief, and pain shaped the story you told yourself. “People are stronger than they realize,” he says. “Sometimes they just need someone to remind them of that.”
Service remains central to his life, only now, it looks different. The former soldier who once carried invisible burdens now spends his days helping others put theirs down. For all the titles he has carried, this work feels closest to purpose.
What Matthew wants people to know is simple: You are not alone. “Whatever you’re carrying,” he says, “you are loved. The stories you tell yourself about who you are — they’re not always true. I believe in you. Sometimes healing begins the moment someone finally believes they deserve it.
“I’m not there to fix anyone. I’m there for the moment someone decides to stop avoiding themselves.”