Home Base Nation Favorites: First meet SLP on the Brain Health Team at Home Base Grace O'Halloran, and Marine Veteran Kirstie Ennis

Welcome back to Home Base Nation! This is our sixth episode in a series where we talk with some of the folks at Home Base who wake up every day with the same mission in mind, regardless of their role at the Center of Excellence in the Navy Yard and beyond. Over the next several weeks, we will share the staff conversations I had with some of the hardworking professionals at Home Base who help treat the invisible wounds of veterans and military families. 

We have published 120 episodes since 2019. For this new season, we thought it would be a good idea to look back on some of the highlights of our conversations and select 20 episodes that resonated with veterans, service members, military families, and the civilians who support them.

But first up, you'll hear from some of the folks at Home Base who wake up every day with the same mission in mind, no matter what they do at the Center of Excellence in the Navy Yard and beyond. 

For this episode, you will hear a brief conversation with Grace O'Halloran, a Speech Language Pathologist on the Brain Health Team at Home Base. A University of New Hampshire graduate, Grace earned her Master's in Speech-Language Pathology in 2023 at the MGH Institute of Health Professions.

Following my conversation with Grace, you'll hear one of our first episodes on the show featuring Marine Veteran Kirstie Ennis. 

In her second deployment to Afghanistan in June 2012, Kirstie sustained polytraumatic injuries from a helicopter crash, including traumatic brain injury, facial and spine injuries, and leg trauma that eventually left her with an amputation above the knee.

After being injured overseas, Kirstie went on to become a Paralympian snowboarder, a proud contestant at Prince Harry's 2016 Invictus Games, a Pat Tillman Awardee for Service, and a member of a Veteran team on a 1,000-mile trek across Great Britain with the organization Walking With The Wounded.

She continues to push herself every day while giving back to others through mountaineering and world travel. Since 2016, Kirstie set out to climb the Seven Summits (the highest peaks on every continent) and has so far climbed six of them.

In Honor of National Women Veterans Recognition Day on June 12th, we are thrilled to re-run this Episode with Kirstie.

Run To Home Base: Join Ron and his team and sign up individually or on another team at the 16th annual Run To Home Base on July 26th, 2025, at Fenway Park! Go to runtohomebase.org

Please visit homebase.org for updates, programming, and resources if you or someone you know is struggling. 

Home Base Nation is the official podcast for the Home Base Program for Veterans and Military Families. Our team sees veterans, service members, and their families addressing the invisible wounds of war at no cost. This is all made possible thanks to a grateful nation. To learn more about how to help, visit us at www.homebase.org. If you or anyone you know would like to connect to care, you can also reach us at 617-724-5202.

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• The Home Base Nation Team is Steve Monaco, Army Veteran