A Powerful Partnership Supporting Veterans, Spouses, and Caregivers

John Penrose
July 30, 2025
Case Study

Overview

AgileBrain and the Veterans Coaching Project (VCP) joined forces just over a year ago in order to bring cutting-edge emotional insight and coaching tools to veterans, their spouses, and caregivers. This partnership bridges neuroscience and human-centered coaching to address the complex emotional needs of those who have served—and those who support them.

At the core of both organizations is a deep commitment to healing, growth, and empowerment. AgileBrain’s neuroscience-based platform helps uncover emotional needs that often go unspoken, while VCP provides skilled coaches with the empathy and training to support meaningful, lasting change.

As participants work through the clear and structured VCP “heroic odyssey”, their 3-part program (Enable, Empower, Elevate) AgileBrain is incorporated into each stage in order to give the client and coach rapid feedback on their progress. While AgileBrain creates immediate connection points for the coach and client, aggregate results allow for clear metrics that demonstrate a profound impact across the cohort.

Why This Partnership Works

AgileBrain’s 3-minute, image-based exercise helps veterans and caregivers cut through mental noise and access what they’re really feeling. For populations that may be less inclined to articulate emotional struggles, the intuitive and non-verbal format is a game changer.

VCP coaches use AgileBrain insights to tailor coaching conversations, address unmet needs, and track emotional progress over time. The result: deeper trust, faster breakthroughs, and a more personalized path to wellness.

Measurable Impact

As a result of the partnership, participants report feeling “seen, heard, and understood” in new ways, and coaches gain data-informed insights that sharpen their practice and increase engagement. After analyzing AgileBrain results over the course of the program, the data revealed a remarkable shift in emotional activation in a short period of time. Most notably, participants showed a clear shift in orientation from fear of failure to a stronger aspiration to achieve meaningful outcomes. This emotional transformation was supported by measurable improvements:

increase in feelings of personal empowerment

drop in the need for safety and security

decrease in the sense of injustice and unfairness

drop in physical symptoms of stress

decrease in emotional and cognitive stress symptoms

These results underscore the power of combining neuroscience-driven insights with human-centered coaching—and the capacity for meaningful change when veterans, spouses, and caregivers are supported in both heart and mind.

Looking Ahead

As we look towards the future, the partnership between AgileBrain and VCP is proof that when innovation meets compassion, transformation is possible. As we look to expand this work, both teams remain committed to providing accessible, science-backed support for those who’ve given so much in service to others.

I really admire the work AgileBrain is doing and I absolutely love using AgileBrain with my clients!

The mental health crisis on college campuses demands innovative solutions. As more institutions adopt inspo, we can anticipate improved detection and management of student distress, fostering more effective solutions and healthier and more supportive campus environments.

excerpt from Trustee Quarterly, Fall 2024; An Image-Based Method for Assessing Student Emotional Well-Being. By Randall J. VanWagoneer and Tony Colón

Randy VanWagoner

President; Mohawk Valley Community College

In a remarkably short period of time, I’ve seen AgileBrain help our students build comfort in approaching conversations around emotional well-being—a task that can otherwise feel inaccessible for some. This feels like it could really make a difference, and I’m excited to continue to see the positive impact this tool can have in our community!

Neil Hagen, LMHC, Director of Counseling and Wellness

Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall School

John Penrose

AgileBrain, CEO John has spent more than 30 years building businesses: designing new business models, cultivating channel partners, developing product offerings and landing early-adopter clients. All of these accomplishments follow from one core principle – it's all about the people. John is a frequent guest speaker and has authored articles on a range of human capital topics, including organizational culture, employee engagement, emotional measurement and assessment design. Prior to joining AgileBrain, Penrose served as an executive officer for DeWolfe Companies, a publicly traded real estate and financial services company, where he envisioned and built one of the first dotcoms serving homeowners. Earlier in his career John served as a Director in the strategy practice of Deloitte Consulting and as a Vice President in corporate finance at Citibank in New York and Kinshasa, Zaire. John earned his AB (history) at Dartmouth (magna cum laude), his MBA at Wharton and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He has two grown children and lives with his wife, Fatima, in Boston and on their farm in New Hampshire, where he grows hops, harvests timber, and maple sugars.