NOTE: Orlando Tech News has partnered with Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative to highlight the veteran-owned businesses that constitute the first cohort for the VEI’s SPEAR Accelerator program. More details and stories to come.
Crystal Turman compares her upcoming stint in an Orlando accelerator program to basic training in the U.S. Air Force.
It’s a formative experience that she enters with an open mind, expecting great things for her business, Wellspring Brain Care.
“You go in there, they tear you down to build you back up,” she said of the similarities. “I know what my business is and I know where I want to go but, if I have to change, I’m not married to any direction.”
Turman will be in the Orlando-based SPEAR Accelerator’s first cohort.
A new program starts in Orlando
The program, started by the Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative and geared toward veteran-owned businesses, will be the first for VEI.
The accelerator will guide nine businesses through some of the available resources while also providing insight and access to seasoned professionals.
The accelerator selected nine businesses from across the country to participate in its inaugural program, which launches in February.
For Turman, it comes three years after she started Wellspring’s counseling services.
The company primarily focuses on brain health, using technology and a background in counseling to treat patients.
Helping patients through breakthroughs
Sometimes, that means breaking down internal obstacles that might come from trauma or other experiences.
Turman said patients often express relief when they learn that these internal blocks can be overcome.
“They will say, ‘You’re telling me that’s the reason and not because I’m broken or stupid?’” she said. “There is a reason for it. What we do, it’s like taking the brain to the gym.”
Turman is a U.S. Air Force veteran, which helped satisfy one qualifying requirement for VEI’s program.
Heading into the program, she said she cannot wait to see how the program’s connection with Johns Hopkins University will help those in the cohort.
“They are always on the cutting edge of the healthcare industry,” said Turman, who took part in both Operation Desert Storm and Operation Provide Comfort. “It excited me that they would think about a small business like us.”
Wellspring’s inclusion in the SPEAR Accelerator returns Turman to some familiar relationships.
The veteran-focused program has a curriculum targeted at people with experiences like Turman, who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at 17 years old.
Her service time took her to Albuquerque, N.M., then England and then Turkey.
With the program bringing her together with other veterans, Turman said she’s excited to start.
“Being around other veterans, we are like nobody else,” she said.
