Michael Shea is a United States Marine Corps veteran, technology professional, ministry founder, and advocate for veterans seeking healing, purpose, and restoration. He earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Worcester State University and, following his military service, continued serving the warfighter and national defense mission through the technology industry.
Michael went on to serve as a Senior Account Executive with Fortune 500 and leading enterprise technology companies, supporting the United States Army and Fourth Estate agencies. His career allowed him to remain closely connected to the military community, helping enable mission critical operations through technology even after his time in uniform had ended.
Despite outward professional success, Michael spent years carrying struggles that were far less visible. Personal loss, trauma, traumatic brain injury, Complex PTSD, and alcoholism eventually brought him to a point where simply pushing forward was no longer enough. In the throes of alcoholism, he lost nearly everything, including relationships, stability, purpose, and parts of himself he once believed could never be recovered. Eventually, the pain could no longer be numbed or hidden by the bottle. The discipline that had helped him endure so much also forced him to recognize that real strength sometimes requires humility, surrender, and the willingness to ask for help.
His healing journey ultimately led him to Mission to Live, where he received a scholarship that made plant medicine treatment and continued integration possible. That experience became a significant turning point in his life, giving him the opportunity to confront parts of his past, deepen his recovery, and begin rebuilding his life with greater clarity and purpose.
Michael describes that process as peeling back the layers of an onion. Beneath the trauma, identity, achievement, pain, addiction, and survival mechanisms, he began rediscovering what had remained within all along: the heart, spirit, and sense of purpose that adversity had never fully taken from him.
In his own words, he left his last drink in California, his mask in Mexico, and his ego in Connecticut, only to be left with a will to live.
Michael credits his Christian faith as the foundation of that rebuilding process. His journey strengthened his belief that healing is not simply about escaping pain, but learning how to move through it with faith, accountability, brotherhood, and purpose. He believes plant medicine can be a catalyst, but that lasting recovery requires continued integration, spiritual grounding, community, and a willingness to keep doing the work long after the medicine experience ends.
Today, Michael is the Founder of Hardcore Ministries and an advocate for veterans and first responders living with traumatic brain injury, Complex PTSD, addiction, and the often unseen consequences of service and trauma. Through ministry, mentorship, and advocacy, he hopes to help others rediscover identity, purpose, faith, and the courage to continue forward.
As an Ambassador for Mission to Live, Michael is passionate about helping veterans and first responders who are still fighting silently. He is committed to increasing awareness around traumatic brain injury and Complex PTSD, reducing the stigma surrounding addiction and asking for help, expanding access to meaningful pathways toward healing, and helping others rediscover the parts of themselves they may have believed were lost forever.
The mission may look different today, but the objective remains the same: serve, protect, restore, and leave no one behind. The battlefield has changed. The responsibility has not.
For Michael, service never ended. The uniform simply changed.
