Why This Vector Exists

Jeff Watts founded Rally Point after learning that lesson the hard way.

In 2013 he stood up the Central Arkansas chapter of Sheep Dog Impact Assistance. Military and business experience did not fully prepare him to lead a nonprofit. He has said he was the unconscious incompetent: he did not know what he did not know. After four years of running wide open, he was burned out and had to step away to recover.

When he returned, the condition was simple. He could not try to carry it alone again. The mission did not get easier. The load got shared. Later, when managing other chapter leaders across the country as a national officer, he kept seeing the same three problems: how to do the work, how to get the word out, and how to pay for it. Under those three sat a fourth requirement, self-care.

That fourth requirement became the Prevail mission vector.

“You must take care of yourself. You can’t lead well if your life isn’t in balance—and you can’t expect your team to operate effectively either.”
— Jeff Watts, Founder and Executive Director

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What Prevail Protects

Prevail is not a wellness extra after the “real work” is done. It is the condition that lets the real work continue at a high level.

In the field, a rally point is where the team will pause, refit, and get back on azimuth. Prevail is that function for the people who carry the mission.

The other three vectors need this one

Collaborate - builds partnerships.
Strengthen - builds the organization.
Mobilize - puts people into the field.

But none of that holds if the people inside it are empty. Without learning how to prevail, collaboration becomes more meetings on exhausted backs. Training lands on leaders who cannot absorb it. Community response is asked of a force that has not recovered from the last mission.

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Who Is This Vector Intended to Assist

Leaders, and the heroes they serve

Prevail is built for two connected groups:

• Military personnel, veterans, and first responders — the communities at the heart of Rally Point’s original wellness work

• Nonprofit leaders, agencies, and wellness professionals who serve those communities and need the same resilience they try to give others

Trauma is a shared human experience. Prevail treats post-traumatic growth as a working principle, not a slogan: adversity can become strength when people have supportive peers, a positive outlook of gratitude and a place to regroup.

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How Prevail Sits In The Backbone Model
Connected to the rest of Rally Point

Prevail does not stand alone.

• Rally Point Connect brings people into the network

• The Nonprofit Institute builds leadership and operating strength

• Community Response Teams mobilize when the community needs a response

• The Nonprofit Center of Excellence is where Wellness Network partners meet in Little Rock

Prevail is the vector that asks whether the people in those other lanes can last.

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Programs That Work Toward Wellness

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Rally Point Wellness Network - The primary program of the Prevail mission vector that includes a coalition of more than 65 organizations, professionals, and community leaders working to sustain resilience and promote post-traumatic growth for military personnel, veterans, and first responders across Arkansas. It also strengthens the nonprofit leaders and wellness professionals who serve them.

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Arkansas' Only First Responder Resource Database

In partnership with Camp Connect

A shared directory of wellness, recovery, and support resources for first responders and the agencies that serve them. Built on the Camp Connect website so first responders and ther families can find trusted help from culturally competent counselors, agency leaders and service providers without starting from scratch each time. The database is a tool, not a replacement for care. It exists so the right resource is easier to reach when someone needs it.

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Responder Mental Health: Behind Beyond the Call is the next Quarterly First Responder Counselor Summit, a five-hour ethics CEU training on Friday, October 30, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Conway Police Department, 1105 Prairie Street, Conway, AR 72032.

Built for mental health professionals who serve those who serve us, the summit asks a direct question: they answer the call — do we understand what that means?

Wendy Blackwood, Psy.D., LPC-S, TA-S, NCC, DCC, EMDR-C, Certified Grief Educator, and Katelyn Coney, LPC-S, AADC, CFRC, will focus the day on responder culture, ethical considerations, trauma-informed care, and system collaboration, with the aim that participants leave better able to understand the culture, strengthen their practice, and change the care. Lunch is sponsored by Acadia Healthcare The Refuge.

Presenters: Wendy Blackwood, Psy.D., and Katelyn Coney, LPC-S.

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Servant Leader Luncheons

Each quarter, Rally Point Nonprofit Council and Karisma Consulting host the Servant Leader Luncheon at the Nonprofit Center of Excellence for CEOs, executive directors, and HR managers who carry the weight of serving others. The gathering is a Prevail offering for the charity leaders named in our mission: a working lunch to invest in yourself so you can lead others well. Guests connect with peers, share practices that actually hold under pressure, take practical self-care tools back to the office, and leave with a personal plan rather than another vague reminder to “do better.” Sessions are held at the Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Downtown Little Rock, typically 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., with a $25 cost-recovery fee and required registration. Space is limited. The luncheon does not replace care; it exists so the people who staff wellness, recovery, and support work have a regular rally point of their own.​​​​​​​​​​