Watchtower Project

This Non-Profit was created to help First Responders find Therapists and pay for their services- no worry or stress about research or cost. NO excuse to finding help and bettering ourselves for ourselves, our families, and the community we serve. We want to help find a closer-knit community for those who look out for us, because they deserve better support. We want to negate the stigma of roadblocking mental health when it comes to emergency services fields and their adjacent.

Our Stories

The Watchtower Project was a idea born from personal need. Back in 2024 Leonora, now Executive Director, had a lot of mental health issues in regard to personal life and her job as a First Responder. Finding a therapist was difficult; she looked for over a year but couldn't find one she could afford, and/or taking patients. By chance, a close friend of hers introduced her to Dr. Gethner, or Ashlee, who is now Assistant Director of Watchtower Project. Ashlee listened to Leonora's story, and her financial struggles, and offered to help her for free. Dr. Gethner saved her life by doing EMDR therapy, and Leonora chose to take this second chance to help other first responders.

Leonora earned her associate's degree of Fire Science through Gateway Technical college. She has worked at a rural fire department for 14 years and has been working at an ER for ten years.
Dr. Ashlee Gethner has dedicated her career to giving back to our first responders. Growing up in a first responders family, Ashlee quickly recognized the need to aid our first responders through the everyday tragedies they see. Ashlee specializes in therapy for first responders, focusing on trauma and specific interventions, such as EMDR, to aid those in need. Contracting with several departments to create and build mental wellness programs, she hopes to continue paving the way for program creation and education in first responders mental health and well-being.

Ashlee’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois graduating with high honors. She earned a Master of Social Work degree from Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois and her Doctorate of Social Work from George Williams College of Aurora University in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.