From joining ROTC in 2014 to commissioning as an Army officer in 2017, Sara Cratsenburg has continued her service while pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at UNC–Chapel Hill. Today, she continues to serve in the Army, inspiring us all to value resilience, community, and the importance of mental health.
Cratsenburg’s academic journey began in California, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Women and Gender Studies. Motivated by the evolving inclusion of women in combat roles, she commissioned as a field artillery officer and has since maintained continuous active duty service. Her assignments have included postings in South Korea, Fort Campbell on the Tennessee–Kentucky border, and Fort Bragg. Her path as a field artillery officer led her to a deployment in Iraq, where she saw firsthand the mental health struggles of not only the soldiers around her, but also herself. Cratsenburg reflects, “And I think really the interesting thing about trauma, …the thing that really affects people is not the trauma itself, but it’s the aftermath. The moment that combat happens, your training takes over, and everything is fine. But then it’s the after, and you’re kind of just left with picking up the pieces.”
“I certainly would not have been able to do that alone. So really, we are built up with the village that surrounds us.” -Sara Cratsenburg
Soldiers are given all the training they need to survive combat, but when it comes to processing those experiences afterward, they are often expected to do it alone. Although there is support available through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a gap remains that needs to be bridged. Not all VA centers are the same—especially in rural towns—making it difficult to meet everyone’s needs. No matter how hard providers work or how good the work they do is, there are simply not enough resources to reach every veteran. Cratsenburg mentioned that it took her eight months after returning from deployment to get a mental health appointment. Soldiers who fought for our country are lacking timely access to mental health care, which is what led Cratsenburg to pursue graduate studies and ultimately to focus her thesis on PTSD and trauma recovery.
Cratsenburg is currently in a fellowship program called Advanced Civil Schooling, where the Army sponsors her education with the expectation that she will become an instructor at West Point, teaching psychology.
Cratsenburg’s thesis centers on a cannabis use study examining the effects of cannabis reduction on PTSD symptoms. She is working closely with the Durham VA and Dr. Jeannie Beckham, alongside a team of psychologists, Ph.D. statisticians, and researchers. The research is important because, as of right now, the best evidence-based PTSD treatments outside of medication are prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy. Both approaches involve patients recounting trauma repeatedly until it no longer feels overwhelming. However, these therapies often have high dropout rates and a high risk of re-traumatization. Cratsenburg’s thesis builds on these concerns in the hope of helping soldiers access more effective and compassionate care.
Cratsenburg recently participated in a conference where she presented a poster on aging veterans. “We found that people who live in rural areas tend to have higher rates of psychiatric disability and more severe psychiatric disability. And a lot of the time, those resources just aren’t there for people,” she explained. This finding reinforces the same gap she experienced after Iraq: the lack of consistent, accessible care for veterans, and connects directly to her thesis work on PTSD and cannabis reduction.
Cratsenburg remains deeply grateful for the opportunities she has been given. Rather than viewing her journey as extraordinary, she emphasizes that her peers are working just as hard. “I’m really trying to look at this through a lens of gratitude,” she said. “In a lot of ways, my story isn’t that unique. A lot of my classmates are working full-time jobs in addition to trying to get their master’s degree.” She adds that both her school and the Army have been understanding and supportive, which has made balancing her commitments far more manageable.
In the end, Cratsenburg is clear that her story is not hers alone, but was made possible by the community around her. “The thing that will get you through hard things is the relationships you form with people, and being able to be needed and also to need others,” she reflected. Learning to accept help wasn’t always easy, but she calls it the most powerful and profound lesson of her life. From her peers in the Army, to her professors in graduate school, to the unwavering support of her parents, Cratsenburg’s journey is as much about the people who lifted her as it is about her own determination. Her advice: don’t stress the small things. Life’s too short to worry about what won’t matter in a year; so relax, enjoy, and build your best village.