September 2021
The AOG Service Spotlight highlights members of the Air Force Academy family (grads, cadets, family and friends of the Academy) every month who perform outstanding service that makes a positive and meaningful impact in their communities and beyond. Let these inspiring stories foster a spirit of service within the Air Force Academy family and inspire further commitment to a lifetime of service.
Dr. Jannell MacAulay '98
Dr. Jannell MacAulay is a combat veteran who served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as a pilot, commander, special operations consultant, international diplomat, and professionalism instructor. She currently works with several non-profits and mental health advisory boards.
She co-founded a high-performance mindset training course with Coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks, served on the president’s task force on veteran suicide, and donated free mindset training to all COVID-19 frontline workers who were tirelessly battling the pandemic.
September is National Suicide Prevention Month, as we continue to highlight mental health awareness and resources. Dr. MacAulay's participation in the presidential task force on veteran suicide in 2019 helped bring ideas and innovation to the forefront on how we can continue to combat the issue.
She's grateful for the connections within our network of graduates — sharing experiences and commitment to help others — that have enabled her to do this work. Recently she's been able share some of these programs with cadets at the Air Force Academy. It's been a dream of hers to give back to the institution and cadets who are going through so much during such a stressful time.
Dr. MacAulay is on the board for the non-profit Team Red White and Blue. Team RWB’s mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity. With her work in the space of proactive mental health strategies and performance mindset training, she brings a new focus to psychological health in conjunction with physical activity and social connection.
Though her work with a Colorado-based non-profit, Veterans Path, Dr. MacAulay is on a mission to provide evidence-based mindfulness training to veterans in transition as well as working toward changes in policy directives around the mental health and wellness of our active duty and veteran populations.
Dr. MacAulay is on the mental health advisory board of the non-profit Warrior GMR Foundation. The Warrior GMR Foundation promotes physical, psychological, and social wellness though intergenerational, recreational gaming and amateur esports competition benefiting America’s youth and the defenders of our nation. They provide a platform and community for gamers and military to come together to build connections while also promoting psychological health, meaningful relationships, and mentorship at all levels. Dr. MacAulay is part of the team that is working to create mental fitness programming inside gaming that helps develop deeper connections within the military gaming community, as well as tools for individuals to use when faced with adversity and challenge.
Dr. MacAulay’s efforts to integrate proactive mental health strategies and psychological performance skill-sets into USAFA's training framework is a collaboration with the Air Force Academy Foundation. Any graduates interested in supporting this mission can contact Dr. MacAulay or the Air Force Academy Foundation to learn more about how they can help.
Learn about more USAFA grads serving their communities. ►
The education that I received at the Air Force Academy set me on a path where I had this idea that I wanted to give back, I wanted to serve, I had the drive, I had the commitment and the motivation to continue down this path whether that was serving in my community or serving in uniform.
— Dr. Jannell MacAulay '98
