About Us
What We Do
HEAL*ARIOUS provides a unique blend of comedy and cognitive behavior theory-based suicide prevention and mental health programming for Veterans and First Responders. The program was designed by founder, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Robin Phoenix Johnson, in collaboration with expert psychologists to provide participants the tools to reframe negative thought patterns through humor.
Why We Do What We Do
After losing several comrades to suicide, Founder and Retired LTC Robin Phoenix Johnson was driven by grief and frustration that more wasn’t being done to address this crisis. In her search for a solution, she turned to her own skills and experiences to create change. As she worked to develop an innovative approach to complement traditional suicide prevention methods, an epiphany struck: We know how to respond when someone is choking — because we can see it happening. But when our minds are overwhelmed with negative thoughts, there’s no clear way to intervene. There is no “Heimlich maneuver” for the brain. This insight led her to a groundbreaking belief: Laughter, as an accessible and powerful tool, could serve as a kind of mental Heimlich maneuver, helping to clear negative thoughts and prevent the escalation of suicidal ideation. With this vision, she founded HEAL*ARIOUS, a unique initiative focused on using humor to support mental wellness and prevent suicide.
OUR MISSION IS TO
Improve Psychological Performance of veterans, military families and first responders through the use of humor.
“There comes a point when you need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and figure out why they are falling in.”- Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate
If you were choking, you would know exactly what to do. You would display the international sign for choking, you would cough, perhaps someone would give you the Heimlich maneuver. But, if your brain was choking on negative thoughts, what would you do?
We weren’t satisfied with the lack of recognized protocols for mental health, especially when about 3K people die by choking each year compared to the nearly 50K that die by suicide.*
We created HEAL*ARIOUS to be the “Heimlich” for mental health. Cognitive distortions (negative thought patterns) cause anxiety and depression. We are revolutionizing resiliency training and suicide prevention by teaching participants how to use humor to dislodge those harmful thoughts the same way they would dislodge an object from their airway.
We provide no-cost cognitive behavior theory-based training to veterans, first responders, and caregivers.
While we do not diagnose or treat patients, our programs and protocols are designed to complement conventional mental health treatments. We “edutain” (educate and entertain) participants to be empowered to improve their psychological performance. The curriculum was designed in collaboration with experts including the Army’s longest serving operational psychologist and a Major League Baseball mental skills coach.
ROBIN JOHNSON
FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
After more than 20 years of military service including five deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, Lieutenant Colonel Robin Johnson, U.S. Army (Retired) discovered her new mission in improving people, organizations, and communities with humor. She blends her military leadership experience with expertise in the applied & therapeutic use of humor to help people improve both in health and business.
- Hoover Institution Veteran Fellow at Stanford University
- Lecturer, Stanford Medical School
- Certified Humor Professional by the Association for Applied & Therapeutic Humor
- Faculty at Thayer Leadership (West Point)
- TEDx Speaker
- World-wide touring comedian
- Faculty, Institute for Defense & Business (at Duke University)
Board of Directors
Norman Becker, MSG, U.S. Air Force (Retired)
Danielle Head, LTC, U.S. Army (Retired)
HEAR FROM OUR CLIENTS
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
