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New Facility in Broken Arrow For Transitioning Veterans

Posted at 9:03 PM, Feb 23, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-23 22:03:30-05

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — A Broken Arrow former marine, creating new resources for veterans battling depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Cohesion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu hosted their grand opening today, providing resources for men and women transitioning back into regular lifestyles.

"Me as a Marine veteran, I wanted to see what I could do to provide a better transition for veterans coming out of the military into civilian life," Steven Matias said.

Steven Matias is the co-owner of Cohesion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

He says he's witnessed many veterans lose their life due to trauma from serving.

"This is huge for me because it's my way of giving back to my veteran community," Matias said. "Showing other people that there are resources other than self-medication, suicide."

Matias says he's seen Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and other classes turn people's lives around.

"We have students that come here with trauma, very high depression, and they cannot focus while being home alone," Matias said.

Sundays grand opening of Cohesion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Teaches them life skills with the structure they lack after returning home.

"We build modules that way they understand they have techniques that hold them accountable," Matias said. "That's what we do in every case of military life. We are accountable for everything we do; we have a time we have to be somewhere. Everything is scheduled and structured."

Helping people like Jonathan Shepard.

"I've always been very positive," Shepard said. "But even I struggled when I came back from the service in my transition."

Now he's living a better life, and can help others too.

"It allows us to vent a little bit," Shepard said. "Take our frustrations out, spend a lot of that energy, built up frustrations and things for the day. We have that family, that brotherhood, we did all these things together, Jiu-Jitsu is that exact same situation."

Today's proceeds will go to two local veteran organizations. The Mighty Oaks Foundation, and Eagle Ops.

Both providing resources for veterans in need. For more information on the new facility click here

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