Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Levitt.
Hi Amanda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I am the Vice President and one of the K9 Coaches at Across All Lines | Firefighters With PTSD here in Minnesota. I found this nonprofit organization at the end of 2018 when I was trying to talk my husband into taking a motorcycle road trip with me. The nonprofit was going to ride from Minnesota to Michigan to do an organized fundraiser ride in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. I thought what an exciting adventure, my husband and I had never done a road trip on the bike before and this was going to benefit first responders and veterans with PTSD so it will be great.
I had a lot of questions about the ride and what it would entail so I was chatting with the founder and president over social media and ended up getting invited to a board meeting. The guys were great, the cause was great; I knew I wanted to help. I was offered a Secretary position and was able to help with other tasks as well. As the nonprofit grew, so did my position, and when the then Vice President needed to step down I was voted in as the new VP and later I added the title of K9 Coach as part of our service dog program.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My time with the nonprofit has been amazing but doesn’t come without its challenges, especially in the midst of a pandemic. We were geared up for a big change in 2020, we were going to start coaching first responders and veterans with PTSD through training their own service dogs as a supplement to their mental health care. It was going to be amazing! Then Covid shut down the world, piece by piece. I work in clinical healthcare and the Covid rollercoaster has been a physically and mentally trying time that a lot of us may not fully recover from for a host of different reasons. The world shut down but healthcare didn’t.
Fire departments, police departments, EMS, dispatchers, corrections…these public servants didn’t shut down. Our nonprofit could have shut down but we didn’t, even though we couldn’t start our program and all of our fundraising events were canceled. Our passion for the mental health of first responders was stronger than a global pandemic. We slowed down; planned more details of the program, took time to do some online education, etc.
Here we are in 2023, still chugging along with a thriving program and some beautiful donations.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Across All Lines | Firefighters With PTSD?
Our main focus is on creating access to service, and emotional support dogs through our coaching division, Across All Lines K9 Coaching, and our partners. Service dogs are often a wonderful addition to a treatment plan for PTSD but are often unattainable due to cost and 2-3 years of waitlist time. Through our coaching division, Across All Lines K9 Coaching, first responders and veterans get to train their dogs, hands-on, through the whole process of becoming a service dog. In this program, we coach our service dog teams through owner-training their service dog as defined by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Our secondary focus is:
– Resources. Building relationships with different resources and other nonprofits that supply mental health support services that are not tied to a department, they are separate entities.
– Advocacy. We advocate for better mental wellness training, benefits, and treatments for first responders and veterans in all 50 states. Raising awareness of PTSD in our first responders and veterans. We share stories from first responders/veterans and their families to show the impact their service has made on their mental health and those who love them. We also aim to educate during events, fundraisers, community festivals, and while out with our service dogs.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
For those just starting out; be fearless, be consistent, and be patient. Being seen by the public doesn’t happen overnight, it takes ALOT of hard work and dedication. Building a nonprofit that isn’t backed by a larger company, a philanthropist or grants is a huge undertaking but when you see the light in the person’s eyes you just helped it’s all worth it. When you hear the stories of the families that advocate alongside you, that are brave enough to share the story of their loved ones that lost their lives to their mental health, that want to help make sure the next generation doesn’t suffer in silence…it makes every moment worth it.
It might be two steps forward and 6 steps back but when you look directly back at why you are doing this and the people that may benefit those 6 steps back won’t look so big.
I have a quote tattooed on my arm that speaks to this, I don’t know the original author of this quote but I feel it deep in my soul. “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire”. Be fearless my friends, go after your passions!
No matter how long it takes and how long it lasts, it’s worth it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AcrossAllLines.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/AcrossAllLinesMN
