Most veterans are taught how to serve—not how to become someone new afterward. Music can help rebuild what comes next.

Taylor Ullom discovered that recovery requires more than a short-term program. After receiving her own PTSD diagnosis, the Air Force veteran recognized that she had spent years trying to “outserve” her own struggles by helping others. That realization eventually helped shape Heroes Encore: a nine-month journey using music to rebuild purpose, identity, confidence, and belonging.

In This Episode, You'll Discover:

• Understand why transition can become an identity problem, especially after years spent in a military system that taught you what to do, how to think, and where you belonged.

• Explore Heroes Encore's three-stage approach using guitar and bass instruction, songwriting, vocal lessons, and live performance to move participants from “peer to performer.”

• Challenge the belief that you have to be musical to belong. Taylor explains why everyone can have a role—from playing an instrument to running sound, setting lights, maintaining equipment, or simply finding another way to contribute.

• Hear what happens when people begin showing up again. Taylor shares how participants who once struggled to speak, make eye contact, or enter public spaces have gone on to volunteer for performances and even release their own music.

About Taylor Ullom

Taylor Ullom is a U.S. Air Force veteran, singer-songwriter, mental health advocate, and founder and executive director of Heroes Encore. After 10 years of Air Force service and more than a decade working in veteran programming, nonprofit leadership, advocacy, and community building, she founded Heroes Encore in 2025 to help veterans, active-duty service members, and first responders rediscover identity, purpose, and belonging through music.

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Episode Chapters

00:00 — Introduction: Music, Purpose & Healing
01:07 — Meet Taylor Ullom
02:51 — 10 Years in the Air Force
09:12 — Losing Connection After Military Service
10:15 — PTSD, Recovery & Trying to “Outserve” Your Struggles
12:00 — Why Heroes Encore Became a Nine-Month Program
13:00 — Who Teaches Veterans How to “Detransition”?
14:00 — Stage One: Learning Guitar & Understanding Stress
16:00 — Stage Two: Songwriting, Creativity & Identity
17:00 — Stage Three: Vocal Training & Live Performance
20:49 — “There's a Place for You to Belong”
21:59 — Creativity, Neuroplasticity & Recovery
27:44 — How to Join or Support Heroes Encore
29:54 — Closing & Resources

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