Josh Deron found the outdoors helped him navigate post-military life. Now, he guides hikes with other vets.

Whether fishing, hiking, kayaking or playing video games, Josh Deron shares what helps him navigate life after the military in hopes of helping other veterans and their families connect and heal.

Deron, 37, is a peer support specialist at Veterans Path to Hope in Crystal Lake. As part of his job, he came up with the idea of hosting weekly hikes and other outdoor activities, as well as video gaming and board game events, for veterans and their families.

He searches for ways to help veterans because, as a veteran himself, he knows how other vets feel and the challenges they face within the community – and within themselves.

“I had a rough transition back into the civilian world,” said Deron, of Genoa in DeKalb County, who served in the Army from 2006 to 2013, including deployments to Iraq in 2008 and 2009. “I didn’t know how to express myself or how to do healthy coping. I turned to substance abuse and self-medicated. A decade later, I got to a point, I realized I couldn’t do it on my own anymore.”

Deron went through a 30-day program that “stressed healthy coping mechanisms and enjoying what I like in life.”

He found he enjoyed outdoor activities such as fishing, kayaking and hiking. Outdoor recreational activities gave him “joy and relief,” he said. “I had a lot of different jobs, and then I found this.”

The job at Veterans Path to Hope allows Deron to help veterans make connections and discover resources they otherwise are not typically aware of. Most important, he said, is letting “other veterans know they are not alone.”

On hikes, Deron and others share casual yet meaningful conversations, sometimes just sharing information on where vets can find services in the community such as mental health support, employment, other veteran organizations or housing. He often hears good feedback about how much the vets enjoyed being out in nature.

He said one veteran told him the last time he took a hike was in the military, with a rucksack, a 35- to 50-pound military backpack, marching with his squad.

“I 100% believe recreation as therapy helped me as a peer specialist,” Deron said. “You are not confined to four walls. It is not in an office setting. It doesn’t feel like you are going to the office to get in trouble.”

Additionally, Deron has found that when out in the open air enjoying an activity, “other things come up,” and those topics are discussed in a more casual setting.

He invites veterans and their families to join in activities. Including spouses and children is important because, like the veteran, spouses and children need to connect with others who understand their challenges living with the veteran.

On Labor Day, Deron hosted a video-gaming event at the American Legion in McHenry. Among the 30-plus attendees was Victor Somoza, an Army veteran who attended with two of his 10 children, ages 8 and 12.

“My family and I do it all the time,” Somoza, a Huntley resident, said of attending Veterans Path to Hope events. “It helps not just with bringing veterans together but in bringing families together. I get to spend time with my kids, who for years I wasn’t able to, either because of deployment or different orders.”

The gaming events are a time his children can spend with him doing what they like, although Somoza said he doesn’t play as much as he used to.

“Veterans who suffer traumatic events most times lose interest in things they used to like,” Somoza said. “I used to be a big gamer, but since I came back from Afghanistan, I don’t feel that anymore. But my kids do, and they remember that, and it is a way to connect with them.”

Somoza also takes his family and dog on Deron’s weekly veteran hikes. He said they are “amazing.”

“It is definitely something the family loves as well. It is another thing where veterans and families can connect and build a community,” he said.

Victor Levy, 32, of Woodstock, who served in the Marine Corps from 2012 to 2018, helped set up the gaming event at the legion on Labor Day. He said he regularly helps set up the streaming platform at game nights. However, Labor Day was the first time he had attended an event at the Legion, he said.

Such events, Levy said, are “a stress reliever.” They get veterans out of their homes and into a place that allows space and time for vets to make connections with each other and others. Sometimes they make connections with people across the world even through the livestreaming, he said.

Levy also participates in the hikes.

“The hikes are a really great way to just find some peace in your [life],” he said. “You get out of your house, enjoy the fresh air, enjoy the sun, enjoy Mother Nature itself.”

Deron, who also co-facilitates other activities including art workshops, weekly dinner nights and basketball games, said including families in the activities is special because it is not just the veteran who has to feel understood and supported.

“There is a whole house methodology behind it,” Deron said. “It’s not just the veteran – you also have to a make sure the spouse is OK. The veteran can [heal], but if going home to an environment that still is not good ... that spouse sometimes needs resources, too.”