Connection Is the Most Powerful Medicine on Earth
Warriorside is the sacred setting for veterans and first responders to reconnect with the Self through the process of Conscious Storytelling Coaching. By taking the stage to share these narratives, our participants transform individual experience into collective medicine by reconnecting the Warrior to the Community.
Since September 11, 2001, over 140,000 veterans have died by suicide. – Veteran’s Administration
These heroes are not dying from their experiences on the battlefield or in the streets. They are dying from disconnection from the Self and from the Community.
Warriorside is a direct affront to this epidemic. Through the power of Conscious Storytelling, our participants forge the path back to connection.
TRAINING
The Art of Empowered Storytelling
Through the path of Conscious Awareness, veterans and first responders confront the stories they have told themselves for a lifetime. They discover the distortions and narratives of shame, fear, and isolation were never in alignment with the Truth.
Warriorside provides our participants the sovereign power to rewrite these narratives by aligning their stories with who they truly are.
Warriorside storytellers find a new frequency of balance, power, and resilience. They realize their history is not a cage, but the kindling to rediscovering of their strength. From our programs they emerge knowing that it is through their stories they can come to connect with the essence of who they are as humans.
Cutting-edge training. Undeniable results.
Of all the Warriroside cohort graduate survey resondents to date:
100%
Report acquiring better
functional storytelling skills
100%
Report gaining greater confidence
in public speaking
100%
Report feeling more connected to
community by telling their stories
Diego Ugalde
Coaching Warriors on the Path to Healing
Looking back through the dusty, war cloud of my career as a civilian paramedic and Navy SEAL, I feel deep gratitude for the last 50+ years of my life’s journey. My path has been shaped by setbacks, failures, broken bones, abandonment, loss, rejection, hard lessons, growth, healing, and transcendence. Through these experiences, I have learned to access a profound peace even in the midst of life’s chaos.
Since retiring from the military in 2018, I have been a public speaker, published author, and leadership and integration coach, guiding leaders, executives, athletes, mental health clinicians, and veterans as they navigate their own life paths, uncover resilience, and embrace the power of their story.
As Executive Director of Warriorside, I lead a program that transforms the lives of Veterans and First Responders by helping them reconnect to self and community through their strength, courage, and humanity.
Diego Ugalde
Coaching Warriors on the Path to Healing
Looking back through the dusty, war cloud of my career as a civilian paramedic and Navy SEAL, I feel deep gratitude for the last 50+ years of my life’s journey. My path has been shaped by setbacks, failures, broken bones, abandonment, loss, rejection, hard lessons, growth, healing, and transcendence. Through these experiences, I have learned to access a profound peace even in the midst of life’s chaos.
Since retiring from the military in 2018, I have been a public speaker, published author, and leadership and integration coach, guiding leaders, executives, athletes, mental health clinicians, and veterans as they navigate their own life paths, uncover resilience, and embrace the power of their story.
As Executive Director of Warriorside, I lead a program that transforms the lives of Veterans and First Responders by helping them reconnect to self and community through their strength, courage, and humanity.
John K Bates
Coaching Leaders to Speak, Inspire, and Lead with Impact
John Bates helps leaders become more effective communicators and inspiring leaders by sharpening their high-level messaging, refining their delivery, and aligning their approach so that what they mean to say is exactly what their audience hears. When leaders go through his coaching, the results are dramatic. When entire teams participate, the results multiply exponentially.
John has worked with top-tier leaders from organizations such as Intuit, Google, NASA, U.S. Navy Special Operations, Boston Scientific, the U.S. Air Force, and many other global enterprises. His training blends principles from neuroscience and evolutionary biology, giving leaders not only proven communication techniques, but also the science behind why they work.
Respected by many of his clients as one of the world’s best executive speaking and presentation coaches, John’s mission is to help leaders speak with clarity, lead with authenticity, and inspire action — all while staying true to their own unique style.
SPEAKERS BUREAU
Speaker Bureau
The Warriorside Speakers Bureau connects audiences with extraordinary voices—veterans, first responders, and frontline professionals whose lived experiences redefine courage, resilience, and connection. Each Warriorside graduate has undergone intensive storytelling training that transforms personal hardship into powerful, purposeful communication. Whether addressing corporate leadership retreats, wellness and mental health conferences, universities, or psychedelic science summits, these speakers bring authenticity and emotional intelligence that can’t be taught in classrooms. Their stories don’t just inspire; they bridge worlds—between service and civilian life, between trauma and transformation, between isolation and belonging. The Warriorside Speakers Bureau exists to amplify these voices globally, reminding audiences everywhere that your story, the medicine.
At Warriorside, we know that it is our story that forges us into the powerful resilient humans that we are.
We Need Your Support!
Let’s talk over fire.
