My husband and I have always done animal rescue, and around that time, I heard about three capuchin monkeys that needed help. We temporarily took one in, and that was a turning point. Next, we sheltered Louie, a spider monkey surrendered by a private owner. Adult monkeys can be strong and willful. They do not make good pets.

We live on 15 acres, and someone suggested starting a monkey sanctuary. The idea appealed to me. We got accredited, set up a nonprofit, recruited a board. We now have 11 animals—spider monkeys, marmosets, kinkajous, squirrel monkeys and a genet—most former pets whose owners couldn’t handle them, or animals rescued from unscrupulous breeders. People ask, “Why don’t you release them back into the wild?” But they’ve been raised in captivity—they don’t know how to take care of themselves.

I didn’t expect that caring for monkeys would be so healing for me. When the animals come to us, they’re traumatized too. You hold their hand, rub their arm. There’s a kind of peace beyond measure that comes with that. I saw that what I was doing was more important than dwelling on the past. I called the VA and started seeing a therapist. It was a really big step.

One day, I took Louie to the local veterinarian, and I ran into a neighbor who’s also a military veteran who suffers from PTSD. He just fell in love with Louie. I said, “Why don’t you come out and spend some time with the monkeys?” He did, and he started healing. Now other veterans are coming out here; they’re finding peace and healing as well. When you have PTSD, it’s hard to trust anyone, but you can rebuild trust by interacting with animals.

I’ve rebuilt trust, too, in myself. For a while, my mind was full of shame and guilt and fear. Fear will steal too much from you if you let it. But you don’t have to let it. —As told to Andrea Atkins