Join forces with me, Dana Jones, as we uncover the heartfelt mission of Sonya McVay on the latest episode of The Pain Free Athlete Podcast. Sonya is the founder of The Six Foundation where she provides First Responders, Police Officers, Firefighters and Veterans with a safe place to work out. This facility offers Post traumatic fitness and rehabilitation.
As we discuss her mission, Sonya's empathy and expertise shine through her captivating journey. She opens up about her unique rehabilitation approach, grounded in nearly two decades of honing her craft in sports rehabilitation and training, and her specialization in spine pathologies. Her story is a testament to the power of genuine care over mere certifications and serves as a beacon of hope and healing, inspired by the best practices of professional sports rehab programs.
How to contact Sonya or learn more about The Six Foundation:
The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
Join forces with me, Dana Jones, as we uncover the heartfelt mission of Sonya McVay on the latest episode of The Pain Free Athlete Podcast. Sonya is the founder of The Six Foundation where she provides First Responders, Police Officers, Firefighters and Veterans with a safe place to work out. This facility offers Post traumatic fitness and rehabilitation.
As we discuss her mission, Sonya's empathy and expertise shine through her captivating journey. She opens up about her unique rehabilitation approach, grounded in nearly two decades of honing her craft in sports rehabilitation and training, and her specialization in spine pathologies. Her story is a testament to the power of genuine care over mere certifications and serves as a beacon of hope and healing, inspired by the best practices of professional sports rehab programs.
How to contact Sonya or learn more about The Six Foundation:
The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.
Welcome to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain free, then subscribe to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast today. Hi everyone and welcome to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones, and today I am joined by Healer I think is probably one of the best words that we can use to describe you, sonia McVeigh, and I'm going to turn it over to you to introduce yourself.
Speaker 2:
Hi, thank you for having me. It's very exciting and thank you for calling me that. I am Sonia McVeigh. I have been in the safe sports rehabilitation and training world for almost 20 years now.
Speaker 1:
That's it. That's all you got. You have a lot of like. When I look at your resume holy moly, the amount of certifications that you have and I mean you're just a young pup and you have all this stuff Like. So where does the passion come from? Like you know what kind of journey are you on that? You're just sucking in all the knowledge and sharing it with everybody.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a. That's an awesome question and an interesting story. I'll say the longer that I'm in this business, the I have less care about their credentialing and more care about how we're caring, if that makes sense. But how I? How I started was as a Pilates instructor, after sort of trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life at a young age.
Speaker 2:
I was 19 years old when I got to teach at a local studio called Tone and I had just come from living in the hills in Romania where I was able to do this, really having severely disabled orphans with very little and sort of combined with my, my passion and love for sports and then being able to see the I'd say the spirits of children changed through through palpation and care, you know, with very little and a space where they had very little we would say like medical grade equipment for the things they were suffering, really impacted me greatly enough to come home and want to serve in that way. So Pilates for me was a mechanism to start and then I really wanted to keep pushing past you know, quote unquote just being a trainer into understanding specialty sports which would be helping performance and rehab for spine pathologies. I had great teachers Monica Anderson was her name and she said you know, after I hit about 10,000 hours of practice, which is mastering level for for a Pilates teacher, she kept saying pick a specialty. And I picked spine pathologies and started going to clinical school and exploring certification from there and then I was. I was able to be in the pro sports space multiple times for different projects and the more that I got into that I couldn't really shake my blue collar roots and wanting to serve the veteran and first responder population. So over the years I kept getting different certifications and pursuing that population and from then I am the proud owner of the six foundation.
Speaker 2:
Now We've got a about a 6,000 square foot gym with eight treatment rooms and we are modeled much after how you would see college and professional sports have ATCs, so they have professional trainers and professional coaches. We do not. We have I call us like the Robin Hood or the Batman of sports rehab. So in order to stay affordable, you know more or less for our populations, I hire massage and manual therapists that have a lot of experience. We do have a clinical acupuncture on staff and we study hard. We're not a diagnosis space. We're not a diagnostic space at all We've never been but we use tools that serve and support a proficient movement for our populations. We've got probably one 30,000 hours of time with with police, law enforcement and military at this time.
Speaker 1:
Now, you know, I've am a veteran and I have watched over the years how things have changed for our community and I mean it's it always ebbs and flows. Like there was a high suicide trauma rate, like you know, vietnam era. Then we kind of took a break and then things kind of picked up again, like you know, when we went into Saudi and Afghanistan and and stuff. But I think you know the prolonged exposure in Afghanistan really created probably more than any human can handle, especially since they changed the way that people were being deployed. You know it wasn't a one shot deal anymore, it was like repeated exposures and it's like, what are you seeing on your end? You know in there, like, like, what type of? You know? We'll talk about the other responders, but what type of veterans are you seeing? Like, are you seeing that kind of stuff where it's just repeated exposure and then like mind, body stuff, or is it actual injuries? You?
Speaker 2:
know it really for me depends on the era we I was able to finally actually become a VA provider. So we are the VA now after many years, and what was interesting is, before the VA was sending people directly into us and paying for it. Our word of mouth was bringing us, I'd say, more post 9-11 veterans and those guys would definitely present with, in my opinion, a more acute post-traumatic stress injury and then and then typical sports injuries. So we'd have young, young men and women, you know, 24, 25, coming back from already two and three tours in Afghanistan or more recently, like from Syria, and there would be a lot of MSK injury. We can't really pull apart traumatic exposure right from sports injury. That doesn't really fly.
Speaker 1:
What is MSK?
Speaker 2:
Musculoskeletal injury. Okay, so you know, for instance, if somebody's going through back pain or knee pain but also they haven't slept in you know a year because of a trauma injury. We really have to integrate and understand all of that. The VA now we just had our first like Korean War Vet come in. He's 94. It was great because we. What I love is that the Six Foundation was built for these guys, so it comes in.
Speaker 2:
Oftentimes they'll say this looks like a gym from Afghanistan. I chose the color scheme on purpose, I chose how it feels on purpose so they'd feel at home. And oftentimes the vets have an experience, a place that feels like home for them, so automatically there's a welcome. And then when these guys come in, we are I just get so grateful and I'm so excited that they're in. This particular gentleman's 94. And he's got a body full of 94 year old injuries, also a mind full of stories.
Speaker 2:
And I had a day a couple weeks ago where there was also multiple Vietnam vets and I have a little living room set up in the shop, or I call it the shop in the gym. And you know they one of the things that's interesting about this particular era of veteran outside Vietnam and Korea these days, older men and women was just a large amount of ostrichism from society. And they still are struggling with what that feels like. And I had one of the gentlemen pull me aside that I've been treating for a very long time in the shop and he said you know, out in the world I still feel invisible. And now I feel like an old, invisible man. And he just he grabbed my face and he said but when I'm in here I feel like a man again, yeah, yeah. And I was like oh, now I'm going to have to start eight more of these.
Speaker 2:
But I think and I believe, over time, with this older generation being seen and creating community, as we know, community integration is one of the only really scientific things to prove to rehab post-traumatic stress. And it's not just about what did I see at war which was atrocious for them, it's also what happened when I came home. And still, you know, it's not like we have a community that's going up and shaking these guys' hands, but you can find them because they all wear their little airborne hats or, you know, or whatever their gear is still, because they're very proud and we make it a point in the foundation while we're addressing injury, for them to also have it feel like they're getting welcomed home and for somebody to say that to me it was very, very special. I do see him like man.
Speaker 2:
I do understand what he did for this country. I do understand that it's difficult times again and they're very sad and confused about the time that they put in and again, like we can't ignore what the mental space does for their pain. So these guys, the Six Foundations of Family, we have my admin manager as a veteran herself of 26 years. Her husband's a veteran and she put together a crew of veterans to help him move.
Speaker 2:
He was one of those guys just bought his first house and he's in his 80s. And we put together a crew and helped him move and we tried to function like that so that when they come in we're not just trying to rehab a knee, you know.
Speaker 1:
Right. Well, it's like a family it is. You know I didn't serve during any combat time and you know, but it is unique how a lot of times if we drop into space and I meet another vet, it takes us like two seconds and then we're like instantly family and I appreciate the respect that I get, even though I wasn't, you know, in that, in the type of environments that they were in, and it does, it feels like coming home a lot of times. So we live in Sonoma County and, as I'd say, the last, what is it?
Speaker 1:
Seven years, eight years or whatever we dealt with a lot of funky crap, especially a very catastrophic fire, and prior to that, I would say, you know, we had some stress and strain, you know, with law enforcement dealing with, you know, some I don't know interesting circumstances that they were put into and also law enforcement on the whole is under just strain across the country. What is, you know, I guess, what do you seeing in terms of, you know, stress related illness that's coming from our first responders, especially, like I said, with our fire and the AMS crew and even law enforcement, you know, because evacuating an entire city of almost 160,000 people on a dime is insanely stressful.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think one thing that is really important for the public to understand is that you know, like Santa Rosa's department is a couple hundred firefighters. The police department's like, I think, actually under 200. So we're talking about like very insane numbers. I love that you brought up like the number of public we have versus the number of responders. I think typically people imagine that there's thousands and that is not the case.
Speaker 2:
In terms of a stress injury, if you look at statistics, you know nationally usually we're looking at like two years post injury, two years plus post injury, people starting to really have a hard time, and we definitely saw an influx of that. We had those two fires, we had 2017, 2019. And then we had the pandemic and then we had a lot of social unrest here. So we've had really consistently every couple years, very major incidents and if you look at our work hump numbers across the board, you'll see a reflection of how we're doing and that's not just in Sonoma County, that's definitely statewide and internationally. We're seeing numbers like 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% out across the board from law enforcement corrections and the fire service of people out of work comp and there's really a quite a big influx, of looking statistically at whether that's from a stress injury or whether that's from a sports injury, either way our numbers are dramatically up and number of people going in is dramatically down.
Speaker 2:
So if you look at how it was 20 years ago, you know we had hundreds and hundreds of people applying to get into law enforcement or the fire service. Now it's, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50. And of those we have 12 viable candidates and then of course, they have to get through the whole you know system right. So I'd say we're at a, we're in the middle of a tornado, if you will. I've said this multiple times in the space of public speaking, that the seat belt of America is broken and we have a problem. We have an emergency right now.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I mean I'm seeing that and I saw that. You know, when I first came here I did apply. I remember too, I applied for the sheriff's department to be a correctional officer and I applied in a couple of different places and I remember the one I think I did Oakland and there was one position open and there was 900 candidates and I was like, yeah, I don't have a shot at that one kind of deal. And now, you know, as a teacher, I'm watching my students go in and you know like, especially with firefighting, you know we have I can't remember what the the lieutenant told me. I think it was like there's something like 50,000 open firefighting positions across the state for Cal Fire and that's insane that we are that short for a state that is consistently on fire, you know. But, and also you know the strain, like you know, these individuals are working way more.
Speaker 1:
You know, when I first arrived, you know 20, almost 30 years ago to Sonoma County, fire season was, you know, basically I guess June to like September ish. And then all of a sudden we're seeing fires in January. We're seeing, you know, fires in December. You know, I mean our the first fire. That was bad for us. We saw in October, which was, you know, just a weird culmination of events.
Speaker 2:
So it is weird in our medical calls are going way up too. So if you look at multiple departments, we're seeing like 70, 80, 90% medical calls. So it's the I think that the public perception still is we're waiting for a bell to ring and then spot the dogs going to, you know, run out with the firefighters and turnouts and, honestly, while there is obviously monster fires to fight, we also are looking at career firemen really heavily being involved in the medical field. So it likes.
Speaker 2:
Sonoma County, our district, just took on the emergency services contract and that's what they are doing now is medical calls.
Speaker 1:
So Does that mean they have to be firefighter and paramedic Often.
Speaker 2:
now, that's who's going to get hired. Yeah, so they. They, every, every department is going to heavily be staffed with medics. Yeah, yeah, that's how it is.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's, yeah, I mean that's where we are and so it's interesting, right? So you know, and I told you a little bit about me and dealing with history and my pain origins, and you know, clearly, like my injuries weren't injuries, right, they were, it was more of a mind, body, space. And you know, what do you, like I understand you've created an environment and you're trying so, like you know, sometimes if you're dealing like with a Vietnam error person and you're trying to be like, well, you know, a lot of that is, you know, controlled by your I don't know, you probably say your brain as opposed to saying your mind, because then they're like I don't know about that Woo, woo, woo crap. But how do you, how do you insert the mind, body piece into the rehab piece?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, what's amazing? I get asked this the most, you know, all the time, because we've got very high, you know, recidivism rates and participation numbers. Is that really most people have played a sport? Know somebody that's played a sport and understand that perspective? I'd say our country, right, we're the football and basketball nation. When you come towards somebody with the intention to help them with pain which is typically why they're there it is not abnormal to ask questions like how are you sleeping? Right?
Speaker 2:
When you talk about stress as a whole in relationship to sports, it really waters down the idea that perhaps something is mentally askew. So typically that's how we have a conversation and typically people understand yes, I'm not going to be catching the ball or throwing the ball effectively if I have a large amount of stress in my life. So I'm really demystifying and not languaging, you know, perhaps in a way that's going to say you know, disabled we're going to talk about. If your nervous system as a whole isn't nourished, how does that play out in your life? And it makes it non-threatening. There's no defense up there's like, and I can speak their language. Sometimes it's a little bit rough, but you know, I had a chase the other day in and old school. You know salty guy and he's doing very well and he looks straight at me and he said I'm not here for your sweetness, sonya, I'm here to get fixed and that's what we hold ourselves to. Clearly, I have a lot of sweetness and I have a lot of drive for nurturing but at the same time, you know, we understand that in the professions that our populations are in, that there's a high demand on their physical capacity and it must meet the demand of their mental capacity or they're not going to have a long happy career and typically they're not going to have a long happy life outside of work. So I don't shy away from talking about it, but I also don't come in with it first.
Speaker 2:
For the most part, I do have people come in to us and say, hey, I think I have a stress injury, and then of course, we go through the appropriate channel so that we're not serving outside of our sandbox, if you will.
Speaker 2:
But you know, for the most part I'm going to meet people where they're at, and typically in my space. It's injury and then we're going to talk about and you know, in order to have an effective experience with remotoring, something right, with moving differently, your body has to be the container that can receive new information. So if you're thinking about surviving all the time, even not cognitively, but if that's what your physical body is up to, and then I'm like, hey, but you need to fire your glute, your body's going to go. I actually want to live more than I care about my glute. Right, yeah, so it's really about like making that information digestible and not going into a huge like neurokinesiology lecture or behavioral health lecture. It's making it. It's bringing it down to like a kindergarten level, but respecting the awesomeness of what our populations have to do.
Speaker 1:
Who else does what you do Like in this area? You know, because I feel like for me it's new and I've always kind of done it on the side, but now it's starting to bubble to the surface because I am getting more clients that are coming up with these types of stress injuries but and there's also, like you said, there's a massaging into, eventually leading into like, hey, if you're not sleeping, then why would your body give a crap about your back, right?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know that kind of stuff, yeah so, but who else is doing it Like, cause I haven't found anybody around here that's really doing?
Speaker 2:
I don't. I don't. I think that with my particular population, no one I would love to meet them. If they are, I think that there's a lot of good programs around doing behavioral health only, or there's a lot of response to like after you've had this diagnosis of post-traumatic stress, right, then we're going to come in and we have some amazing programs doing that. Actually, sonoma County and I just contracted to put in a platform for the Sheriff's Office for Corrections and Law Enforcement, and I'm working with Sonoma County Fire and working with Petal Lepidie, and so we're starting to see management asked for programs that encompass both, which is which is lovely. So I feel really fortunate to be in a county that is starting to understand the bigger picture and want to have change, like their leadership is actually asking for it. They came to me and that's really exciting, and Santa Rosa has a great footprint and the Sonoma County has a great footprint statewide and nationwide for that In terms of do I know another gym that has tens of thousands of hours of time with my population? Absolutely not. Am I going to work on how we can scale? Heck, yeah. So I really like, I really want people to not have to wait to get help and it's, you know.
Speaker 2:
Unfortunately for me, the longer I've been doing this, it feels like people for some reason want this big, huge answer, perhaps instead of saying, hey, drink water, sleep, stretch your hamstrings out. So I don't have to be a doctor to know that I have 20 years of time serving people and serving this population. But I do believe that we don't live in a medical system anymore that supports human bodies being excellent. I think people are afraid by the time they feel like there's a medical issue and almost ignore what I would say like our soft tissue injuries, and tell something feels like it's surgical and even then, often times, dana, people have a laugh that's not working or something that's not that complicated.
Speaker 2:
But we don't educate people in our medical system. So I really, the longer I'm doing this, I really want to bring everything down to again like I use that word kindergarten level and teach people about their bodies, teach people about their nervous systems, teach people about the holisticness of a body, without getting to woo-woo, like you said, and come from a space where I have a lot of time in. So there's, I am bringing an expertise level that is unique and also going, hey, perhaps you don't have to wait 12 weeks to get in to get imaging, to get rehab, where you're gonna see, at this point people are getting like QR codes and handed a piece of paper for their injuries.
Speaker 2:
That's seriously happening and I think giving people time and attention, creating integration. If you talk about what brings the nervous system down, all its people touch physically does that. This is not new science. And if you ask people how many has your doctor physically touched you, people will say no, even though they're surgeons. Don't touch them. So I don't want to glorify what this six is doing outside of the level of care. The level of care is high. The science is not new. The care level is high, detention due details high. The amount of time we've put in is high. But anybody that is a trainer that loves what they do, that is a massage therapist that loves what they do, that has a population that loves what they do, can create a space where people can feel that exhale. When you're with community you said it yourself you feel like that when you're around other veterans where all of a sudden there's that sense of camaraderie. When you're in that space and then we put you into a rehab position, your body's going to absorb that much more and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 1:
Have better results for sure.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
That's cool. So what's in the future for you, aside from spreading all your knowledge and wisdom on everybody?
Speaker 2:
Yeah Well, right now, my heart and my vision and my practical practice currently is figuring out how we get our modalities out to the masses. What does that look like? I have some really exciting partners and practices coming up that I will announce when they are signed and sealed, but we really want to influence medical space differently and make this kind of wellness available in a practical manner, in a way that people understand and a way that people can afford.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. So how do people get in touch with you? If they're a veteran and they seek your services, or they maybe are a practitioner and feel like what you're doing is something that's amazing, how would they get in touch with you?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so my website is thesixfoundationcom. It's all spelled out thesaxandfoundationcom. That has my email address. It has our phone number. We want to hear from people. We're here to help. People can just walk into where the address is on our website. We have people walk in, sit on the couch and say, hey, I need. We've bought people lunch before. So, whatever is it they need. If they want to be a referral for acupuncture or something like that, I can help them with that. It's really just reach out and stay with you need.
Speaker 1:
Ok, that's great Well, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it Now welcome happyange won this 의 Flour.