About Us

Our Goals

• Because the suicide rate among U.S. military personnel and veterans continues to rise, becoming the second leading cause of death across all branches, and because suicide is the leading cause of death for first responders as of 2019, the Valkyrie Initiative is committed to stemming the tide of these deaths, as well as increasing wellness and performance of those whose public service in dangerous occupations results in issues common to these groups. Our goal is to help them tap into their resilience for managing these issues.

•  Our research-based programs to strengthen identity, resilience and empower transition use professional, peer, and public support and education, jobs and life skills training, and stress reduction modalities, along with entertainment and creative education. The aim is to strengthen existing skills and build new skills using connections to the community, businesses, and other nonprofit services.

• We help veterans and first responders reach toward posttraumatic growth rather than toward posttraumatic downward spiral and illness. We use many modalities toward that end to include yoga,  mindfulness meditation and hypnosis. 

• Partnering with like minded businesses, organizations, and the public, we aid the veteran/first responder communities, and their families, toward transition from public to private life, fully equipped with tools that support thriving success, in this next mission of theirs that we call – Batttlefield Home. 

•  Our cutting-edge, research-based, and FDA cleared services and equipment, and our educational programs, are designed to use noninvasive, powerful modalities such as the Microlight ML830 Cold Laser for pain management and healing, the BEMER, for microcirculation, the LIVE O2 for oxygen delivery that simulates climbing the highest mountains, the newest Sunlighten Infrared and Full Spectrum Sauna with chromotherapy (light spectrum therapy) and sound therapy, and much more. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CORPORATE OFFICERS

Sheila L. Stephens is a former Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) Special Agent in the state of Alabama, recruited while a police officer in Mountain Brook, Alabama. After an on-the-job injury, she turned toward education, her experience providing a unique platform from which to write, speak, and teach about the people and issues of law enforcement and security.

She is a graduate of The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Alabama State Trooper Academy and the University of Alabama (degree in Special/Hearing Impaired Education). In September 2007, she graduated from Boston University with a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and is completing a PhD, in the Dissertation Phase, in Performance Psychology at Grand Canyon University. Special research interests include biosocial criminology/psychology, violence in all its forms, and trauma disorders such as child abuse, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Post Traumatic Growth and Resilience (PTGR) in veterans and first responders.

While a special agent with ATF, she was a member of the Regional/National Response Team, a select group of first responders to arson and explosives scenes, and she participated in undercover operations across the U.S. She also works in the private sector as a private investigator.

Stephens holds degrees and certificates in the areas of Education, Family/Organizational Systems and Emotional Genetics, Hypnosis, Neurolinguistic Programming, Street Survival, Human Tactical Tracking – urban and rural, and Interviewing/Interrogation, and has taught at the Birmingham Police Academy and several universities. She is certified to teach the NRA course, Refuse to Be a Victim. She is also certified to teach Bootstrap Yoga and the Warriors at Ease Yoga certification, both unique, research-based techniques for stress reduction and physical enhancement for those in protection and enforcement careers.

A Criminal Justice Professor, she instructs Terrorism, Victimology, Juvenile Crime, Criminology, Analytical Methods, Forensic Psychology, and Research Methods at Boston University’s online Master’s in Criminal Justice program. Additionally, she is assistant to the Chair of Criminal Justice at Jefferson State College, and works out of Shelby Campus, Hoover, AL, and online, where she instructs and develops courses in criminology, criminal justice and private/public security. She also aids in recruitment of students and as liaison to police departmentsShe speaks on law enforcement and security issues at organizations and conferences around the country—from universities to writer’s conferences—and contributes to several blogs. She has presented the “CSI Effect” on Real Crime Labs at the New England School of Law, and written an article on the subject that appears in their Law Review. In July 2008, The Everything Private Investigation Book was released and is in print and on Kindle to this day.

Stephens owns a private investigation/security business, SaferSecurity, Inc., specializing in surveillance, background checks, personal security products, and hidden camera technology for police departments, businesses and the monitoring of caregivers. A percentage of all sales go toward the programs she’s developed for her nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation, The Valkyrie Initiative.

Stephens incorporated The Valkyrie Initiative, to aid veterans, first responders, and their families toward successful transition to civilian life. The Valkyrie Initiative has produced, sponsored by Pacific Records, an album with original songs from combat veterans who share their experiences and stories with the world. It can be found on iTunes, CDBaby, Spotify, Amazon and all major distribution channels. It will be in hard copy and in stores, outlining the stories, background and sacrifices of the artists, many of whom are Purple Heart and other medal/award recipients. She is a Warriors at Ease Yoga instructor. She is also past Associate Editor of The Agent, the newsletter of the National Association of Federal Agents (NAFA).

Book her for your next event or workshop. Listen to her as host of Battlefield Home, on The Valkyrie Initiative’s upcoming station, broadcasting from the Foxhole Internet Radio Network. The station offers 24/7 uplifting and patriot music while building content about networking, security, wellness, and obtaining peak performance in relationships, careers, and life navigation while engaged in this unique field. Security and performance enhancement information by Battlefield Home is also of vital interest to the public.

Finally, she has been elected and duly sworn as 2nd Vice President, 2019/2021, of the Alabama Private Investigator’s Association (APIA). She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology (SPCP), the FBI’s InfraGard Association, Central Alabama Information Systems Security Association (ISSA), National Association of Investigative Specialists (NAIS), National Association of Missing and Exploited Children (NAMEC), National Council of Investigative and Security Services (NCISS), member of and Certified Instructor for Warriors at Ease, and the authors’ and speakers’ association, The Crime Lab Project. She is also a board member for the Microlight ML830 Cold Laser Corporation, and OSHA certified to conduct cold laser treatments for the public for the treatment of pain.

Stephens has contracted with EmpowerED Birmingham to aid in research and implementation of programs to improve the educational level of students in the Birmingham School System. This is a coalition of nonprofit and for-profit organizations who pool their combined knowledge and skills toward the goal of graduating students at a higher level of competency.