UHF is proud to present the 2023 Distinguished Community Service Award to Zachary Iscol, for co-founding The Headstrong Project to provide confidential, barrier-free, and stigma-free PTSD treatment to veterans, service members, and family connected to their care.
It was around 2011 when decorated combat veteran Zach Iscol was grabbing a beer with his former battalion commander in Manhattan and found himself having what had become an all-too-familiar conversation. A fellow U.S. Marine had just recently taken his own life, the latest in a string of tragic suicides from Zach’s unit, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines.
The devastating trend was not unique to the two men’s infantry battalion nor the Marines: at the time, roughly 22 U.S. veterans were dying by suicide per day, or an average of one every 65 minutes. That number has been estimated in more recent studies to be as high as 44 deaths per day.
In 2021, researchers found that more than four times as many U.S. service members and veterans have died by suicide than have been killed in combat since September 11, 2001.
Recognizing this clear mental health crisis among his fellow veterans, Zach was spurred to act.
“I didn’t know anything about mental health care or suicide at the time—but I knew we needed to do something,” he said.
That moment of inspiration would eventually lead to the creation of The Headstrong Project, a nonprofit focused on providing confidential, barrier-free, and stigma-free mental health treatment to veterans, service members, and family members connected to their care. Co-founded by Zach in New York City in 2012, the organization has expanded to 15 states and now provides free mental health care to 1,400 clients per month.
At the center of The Headstrong Project’s model is the idea that removing barriers to high-quality mental health care allows more people to find and sustain the treatment they need. Clients who reach out to Headstrong are connected to an intake evaluation within 48 hours and are quickly matched with one of 275 private clinicians in the organization’s network. The clinicians are all trained in at least one evidence-based practice for treating post-traumatic stress disorder and have competence or experience working with the military and veterans—a quality of care that is essential for reaching success with each client, Zach says.
“Once someone is willing to get help...you really have one shot,” Zach says. “There’s so much friction in mental health care, so we focused a lot on solving for that with world-class care and making it credible.”
Headstrong also works to overcome another frequent roadblock to mental health care: stigma. Partnerships with veterans’ service organizations, sharing client stories, and spreading the word about promising clinical outcomes are all critical to this goal. Data show that clients who receive at least 15 to 20 sessions, or complete treatment with Headstrong, show statistically significant improvements in post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Plus, 91 percent reported that they would recommend Headstrong services.
The mental health emergency among veterans is far from the first crisis Zach, now commissioner of New York City Emergency Management, has stepped up to face. As a Marine, he was awarded the Bronze Star for valor for leading a combined unit of U.S. Marines and Iraq soldiers during the Second Battle of Fallujah, known as the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War and the heaviest urban combat seen by U.S. troops since 1968.
Those leadership skills again came in handy during the pandemic, when he was tapped to be deputy director of the temporary hospital inside the Javits Center, one of the largest COVID-19 field hospitals in the country.
In his current role as emergency management commissioner, he leads a 300-person department tasked with making sure New Yorkers stay safe and healthy before, during, and after all types and scales of citywide emergencies.
Zach is quick to point out that, in all his leadership roles, assembling the right team is paramount. When it came to Headstrong, Zach’s alma mater, Cornell University, played a key role. Headstrong began through a partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine cultivated by associate professor of clinical medicine and clinical psychiatry, Ann B. Beeder, MD, and Gerard Ilaria, LCSW, now Weill Cornell’s clinical director at the Center for Trauma and Addiction. Early partnership was also found in investment experts Al Rabil and Dave Petrucco, who were critical in raising the organization’s early finances.
More than a decade later, the inspiration for The Headstrong Project remains the same: creating a brighter tomorrow for the nation’s veterans and their families.
“It’s amazing to me how often people will come up to me...and say, ‘I want you to know Headstrong saved my life.’ It happens all the time,” Zach says.
“That’s what I’m most proud of.”
For his commitment to supporting those who bravely served their country with comprehensive, evidence-based treatment through co-founding the Headstrong Project, United Hospital Fund is proud to present Zach Iscol with its 2023 Distinguished Community Service Award.
