Ken Falke: The Relentless Pursuit of Better (Part II)Ken Falke: The Relentless Pursuit of Better (Part II)
Struggle Well Podcast
Ken Falke shares how his family’s decision to donate land and resources grew into Boulder Crest and the Struggle Well approach, supporting veterans and first responders through trauma. The conversation highlights posttraumatic growth, alternative therapies, and the belief that a great life is possible after serious adversity.
33:13•4 Nov 2026
Turning Struggle into Strength: Ken Falke on Building Boulder Crest
Episode Overview
- Family-led sacrifice, including donating land and savings, can create powerful spaces for healing and rest.
- Alternative therapies such as art, music, animals and chiropractic care may benefit those struggling with trauma, even when traditional routes fall short.
- Posttraumatic growth offers a framework for people to become stronger because of adversity, not just survive it.
- Brief trainings or single interventions can be enough to “flip a switch” for someone and start meaningful change.
- Living a purposeful, productive life is presented as a more effective antidote to suicide than compliance-driven prevention training.
“The real opposite of suicide isn’t prevention. The real opposite of suicide is living a great life.”
What drives someone to seek a life where struggle leads to strength rather than defeat? This conversation between Britt Myers and Boulder Crest Foundation founder Ken Falke offers a raw, practical look at how that shift can happen for veterans, first responders, and their families.
You’ll hear how Ken and his wife, Julia, went from inviting wounded service members out to their rural home for informal barbecues to donating 37 acres of land and millions of pounds’ worth of family inheritance to build fully accessible cabins and a dedicated healing space. Ken makes it clear that “Julia deserves a lot of credit”, highlighting the family’s joint decision to sacrifice personal wealth so others could rest, reconnect, and start to rebuild.
The episode walks through Boulder Crest’s early days of hosting retreats and experimenting with alternative approaches – from art and music therapy to chiropractic care, horses and dogs – simply to see what genuinely helped people. A striking turning point comes when a spouse tells Ken, “I wish my husband would have lost his legs,” because his invisible PTSD is harder to understand than visible injuries.
That moment sends Ken on a cross-country tour of innovative PTSD work and, ultimately, to psychologist Rich Tedeschi and the concept of posttraumatic growth. Ken shares sobering facts about suicide in the military and bomb disposal (EOD) communities, and why he believes the opposite of suicide is “living a great life”, not ticking a suicide-prevention box.
He describes how the Struggle Well trainings grew from one-hour talks into multi-day experiences now used widely by police forces, helping thousands of veterans and tens of thousands of first responders each year. Throughout, the tone stays grounded and hopeful: if men can spend years in prisoner-of-war camps and still go on to live remarkable lives, Ken believes “anybody can do it”.
It leaves you asking: what might your own struggle grow you into if you had the right support and practices around you?
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