What We Carry Forward

Some weeks, a community gathers to close a tradition. Other weeks, it gathers to say goodbye to a person it loved. This month, we did both.

On October 23, the Patricia Krohn Memorial Award was presented for the final time. Five days later, on October 28, the Krohn family lost Steven Michael Krohn, father of Dr. Damon Krohn.

This issue is about what remains when something ends: the kindness, the values, and the people who keep them going. It is the story of a legacy, of the families who carry it, and of the people we are working to reach next.

On Friday, October 23, beneath the stadium lights, family and community members gathered for a moment that was both meaningful and bittersweet. For 24 years, the Patricia Krohn Memorial Award recognized people whose kindness, generosity, and commitment to serving others reflected the life Patricia lived. That night marked its final presentation, closing a longstanding tradition and opening the door to something that will carry her legacy in a new direction.

The plaque itself tells a remarkable story. Each name engraved on it belongs to someone who made a difference in the lives of others, someone whose actions reflected the values Patricia embodied. Over the years, those names became a lasting record of service, a reminder that a person’s influence is measured not by what they accomplish for themselves, but by what they give to the people around them.

There is something especially meaningful about ending one tradition while continuing its purpose. The award kept Patricia’s name and spirit in the community for more than two decades. Now, through the Patricia Krohn Foundation, that same spirit of service reaches people in an entirely different and deeply personal way: by caring for those who have spent their lives serving others.

The ceremony was the close of a beautiful tradition, but not the close of Patricia’s influence. The award remains a testament to the people who carried her values into the community, while the Foundation continues that work in the lives of people who may never have known her name.

The kindness of one person can keep changing lives long after their own story has ended.

At Monarch Protocols, Service Over Self is more than a statement of good intentions. It is the understanding that some of the most meaningful things we can do involve recognizing the needs of others and being willing to act. Patricia’s legacy reminds us what happens when kindness becomes something we practice, not just something we believe.

That philosophy sits at the heart of Monarch’s work. Many of the people who come to us have spent years putting everyone else first. They are parents who stayed strong through unimaginable circumstances, professionals who carried tremendous responsibility, people who learned to keep functioning even when their inner lives felt far less manageable. Some have reached a point where they no longer recognize themselves outside the roles they fill for everyone else.

One of the most important things we can offer them is the chance to be seen as a person, not a responsibility, a diagnosis, or a collection of difficult experiences. Healing takes more than naming what someone has endured. It means reconnecting with the parts of themselves buried beneath years of expectations, trauma, and survival.

That is why our retreats combine preparation, individualized clinical work, meaningful connection, and continued integration afterward. No two participants arrive with the same story, respond in the same way, or leave with the same outcome. The goal is an environment where each person can explore their own experience and begin making lasting changes in how they relate to themselves and the people they love.

And healing rarely stops with one person. When someone begins to understand their emotions, respond differently to stress, or build healthier relationships, the change can reach their spouse, their children, and their community. A parent who learns to approach life differently may create an entirely different emotional environment at home, and those children may grow into adults who carry healthier patterns forward.

We call this generational healing. We may never know everyone touched by one person’s decision to seek help, but we believe those possibilities are worth investing in. Patricia’s name may no longer be presented on an annual award, but the values behind it are woven into the work we do today.

Service wears many faces, and one of them belonged to Steve. On October 28, the Krohn family lost Steven Michael Krohn, father of Dr. Damon Krohn. A teacher and coach for 30 years, Steve was known for his humor, his stories, and the love he had for his family. Thirty years of teaching and coaching is thirty years of showing up for others, which is its own kind of service.

To everyone who donated to the Patricia Krohn Foundation in Steve’s honor, shared a memory, or reached out with kindness: thank you. Every gift carries care forward. It honors a life deeply loved and extends the spirit of service at the heart of this family’s legacy.

Steve & Patricia

A 4-minute, 15-second tribute to their lives and the moments that matter.

Watch the family tribute on YouTube

To everyone who gave, thank you.

A short thank-you message and photo montage honoring gifts made in Steve’s memory.

Service takes many forms. For some, it comes with a uniform.

There is a particular kind of courage required of people who choose careers in emergency service. When the alarm sounds, firefighters do not know what they will encounter. Police officers may enter situations where someone’s safety depends on decisions made in seconds. Paramedics find themselves beside families in some of the most frightening moments of their lives, and dispatchers become the voice on the other end of a call someone may remember forever.

For many of us, those experiences would become defining moments. For first responders, they may be part of an ordinary workweek.

The emotional demands of these professions are not always visible. Emergencies end when the immediate danger passes, but the effects of witnessing them can remain long afterward. First responders are expected to move from traumatic calls to family dinners and children’s activities with little chance to process what they have seen. Over time, the cumulative weight of stress and trauma can reach sleep, relationships, emotional well-being, and a person’s sense of identity. And because they are used to being the ones who help, admitting they need support can be the hardest part.

That is why first-responder mental health matters so deeply to Monarch. In our podcast conversation Into the Fire, Dr. Damon Krohn and Battalion Chief Jeremy Wolfe of the Abilene Fire Department explore the importance of recognizing the individual behind the uniform, and of including families in the conversation about wellness and recovery.

We are continuing that conversation through an opportunity made possible by the Patricia Krohn Foundation. This December, Monarch will offer one nominated first responder a retreat experience, with the retreat cost covered through donations to the Foundation.

A Monarch retreat is not simply a few days away from work. It begins with virtual preparation sessions that let participants start building relationships with their clinical team and identify the experiences and challenges they want to address. That preparation leads into a four-day intensive retreat, followed by integration sessions that support continued progress after participants return home. Meaningful personal work does not begin and end within the retreat itself.

We are looking for someone who could benefit, whether they have spent years quietly carrying the emotional weight of their profession or are only now recognizing how much the demands of service have affected their personal life. If you know a firefighter, law enforcement officer, paramedic, dispatcher, or other first responder who deserves the chance to focus on their own well-being, we invite you to share their story.

Tell us who they are, where they serve, how you know them, and why you believe this experience could matter to them. Your nomination may help someone who has spent years showing up for others finally receive the same care and consideration.

One of the things we have learned through Monarch is how powerful it can be to hear another person describe an experience you thought you were facing alone. There is a different kind of understanding that happens when people speak openly about their lives, especially when those stories are hard to explain to anyone who has not lived something similar. That understanding is part of what inspired the Monarch Protocols Podcast.

Our goal is a space for honest conversations about the experiences that shape us, the challenges that keep us stuck, and the possibilities that open when we start examining our lives differently. Some episodes explore the clinical side of mental health and healing. Others let participants, professionals, and loved ones share their own perspectives.

Our first episode, A Long Time Coming, introduced listeners to a Monarch retreat participant whose life had been defined by responsibility, obligation, and the expectations of others. Into the Fire brought first-responder mental health into focus through Dr. Krohn’s conversation with Battalion Chief Jeremy Wolfe, a discussion that also reminds us how deeply these professions affect the families and relationships around them.

How do you begin finding healing while carrying a loss that changes everything? That is the question at the heart of our newest episode, a conversation between Dr. Damon Krohn and Claire Mehaffey, a Board Certified Family Attorney, military spouse, and mother, about grief, grace, and life after losing her son, Sam, to suicide.

Eight years into her grief, Claire speaks honestly about what it meant to move through life on autopilot, to question herself as a mother, and to slowly find space to feel again. She reflects on her time at a Monarch retreat, the power of writing in her healing, and her wish to help other grieving families feel less alone.

Claire also reads the words she wrote for Sam’s funeral and shares Sunshine After Rain, a deeply personal expression of love, grief, and hope. Through her memories, we meet a young man whose kindness continues to inspire others.

Together, Damon and Claire explore giving yourself grace, speaking openly about loss, and honoring the people we love. They arrive at something many grieving people need to hear: healing can hold both grief and joy. For Claire, it means carrying her love for Sam while making room to live, connect, and feel happiness again.

Every time you reach out to your neighbor, Sam lives.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of suicide, the death of a child, grief, and a parent’s funeral tribute. Please take care while listening and pause whenever you need. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress in the United States or its territories, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You do not have to face this alone. 988lifeline.org/chat

Coming next, the conversation widens. Logan Critz and Leah Wolfe will each join Dr. Krohn for their own episodes. Leah, the wife of Battalion Chief Jeremy Wolfe, will share her perspective as the spouse of a first responder. Much of the public conversation focuses on the person on the front lines. The responsibilities, uncertainty, irregular schedules, and emotional demands of this work shape family life in ways that are not always understood from the outside, and meaningful support for first responders should include the people closest to them.

Our hope is that every conversation offers something useful to the person listening: a new understanding of someone they love, a different view of their own experience, or simply the recognition that they are not alone in what they are navigating.

Everything in this issue leads back to one place. The Patricia Krohn Foundation was created to carry forward a legacy rooted in compassion, generosity, and service. At the heart of its mission is the recognition that the people who have given the most of themselves to their families, communities, and country may also be the ones who find it hardest to receive the care they need.

For active-duty military members, veterans, and first responders, that need can grow from years of exposure to difficult circumstances or the challenge of moving into a new stage of life. For cancer survivors and others who have faced life-altering experiences, the need for emotional and psychological support can last long after the immediate crisis has passed. The circumstances differ, but the challenge is shared: the effects of trauma and profound change do not disappear just because someone has found a way to keep functioning.

The Foundation works to reduce the financial barriers to mental health services, opening doors to care that might otherwise be out of reach. Its mission extends beyond Monarch retreats, and through its partnership with The Monarch Protocols it also helps fund intensive retreat experiences built around individualized care, clinical support, and continued integration.

What makes this work especially meaningful is how far its impact can travel. When a veteran begins rebuilding an identity beyond military service, their family becomes part of that process. When a first responder finds healthier ways to carry the job, those changes reach their relationships at home. When a parent begins addressing the effects of their own trauma, their children grow up with different examples of how to understand difficult emotions. We cannot measure every future effect of one person’s healing, but we can give that person the chance to begin.

Every donation contributes to that mission. Every person who learns about the Foundation creates another opportunity to share its purpose. And every individual who receives support represents a life with relationships, responsibilities, hopes, and a future that reach far beyond the care they receive.

A legacy is not confined to a name, a ceremony, or a tradition built to honor someone’s life. Those things matter because they help us remember. What gives a legacy its continued meaning is what people choose to do with that remembrance.

For 24 years, an award celebrated people who reflected Patricia’s commitment to kindness and service. Through the Foundation, that commitment now reaches people facing some of the hardest periods of their lives. And this month, we paused to remember Steve, and to thank everyone who honored him by giving.

There are many ways to take part. You may know a first responder who should be nominated for the December retreat. You may want to support the Foundation through a donation. Perhaps one of our podcast conversations will help you better understand someone you love, or give you a reason to begin a conversation you have been putting off.

And perhaps the most meaningful thing you can do today is simply notice someone around you who has spent a long time carrying more than you realized.

The Patricia Krohn Memorial Award has been presented for the final time, but there are still people who need to be seen, families who need support, and stories waiting for the chance to change.

We are grateful to be part of carrying this work forward, and we invite you to be part of it with us.

With gratitude, The Monarch Protocols Team