“To hear that there were people out there that were willing to help me out and willing to take care of me and give me everything that I needed to try and get better, that was life changing.” 
Welcome everyone to the It Matters To Me Podcast, a show that celebrates the random through 1-on-1 conversations with people and the passions they pursue. 
Today, my guest is Zach Riggle, former U.S. Marine Special Operator and now the COO for the Heroic Hearts Project. 
Their mission is to build a healing community that helps veterans suffering from military trauma recover and thrive by providing them with safe, supervised access to psychedelic treatments, professional coaching, and ongoing peer support. 
After Zach’s eleven years and four combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, Zach separated from the military and attended MIT as a Sloan Fellow for Innovation and Global Leadership. 
And while you might think this is going to be a story of one success after another with a background like that, you’d be wrong. 
No, this is a conversation about Zach’s own experience with PTSD and the deeply personal effect it had on him both mentally and physically. 
And how after a fortunate encounter with a fellow Marine Raider when he seemed to be at his lowest led Zach to an Ayahuasca retreat in Pero that was sponsored by the Heroic Hearts Project. 
With the stigma around plant-based medicines seemingly shifting across the nation as more and more stories like Zach’s are told and backed up with solid scientific research, our talk couldn’t be more relevant. 
It’s one I truly treasured and once you listen to it I think you’ll understand why. 
Additional Links 
Heroic Hearts Project (website): 
https://www.heroicheartsproject.org/ 
Heroic Hearts Project (Twitter): 
https://twitter.com/weheroichearts 
Heroic Hearts Project (Instagram): 
https://www.instagram.com/heroicheartsproject/ 
Marine Raider Foundation: https://marineraiderfoundation.org/ 
The Body Keeps The Score: 
https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score 
It Matters To Me (Instagram): 
https://www.instagram.com/adamcasey/ 
It Matters To Me (Website): 
https://itmatterstomepodcast.com/