I’m Aleah, the founder and advocate behind Blue Star Advocacy. After years of working as a nurse - and later, as a mental health and substance abuse therapist, I saw firsthand how overwhelming the American healthcare system can be. My favorite part of both careers was advocating for my patients - which, at times, meant navigating the conflicting priorities between patients and their families versus that of the healthcare system. My background in nursing provided the foundation for my holistic, patient/client centered approach, with experience in both safety-net and critical access hospitals. At bedside, I cared for clients in most settings; including ICU, subacute rehab for TBIs and strokes, and psychiatric care. I also worked in skilled nursing facilities as both bedside nurse and unit/facility manager - I know what good care entails, and how easily it falls through the cracks without regular oversight. My background as a mental health and substance abuse/drug court therapist provided further experience in the overlapping fields that comprise our medical, legal, and mental health care systems. Throughout all this, being the wife of an active-duty soldier further shaped my perspective: I witnessed and experienced the unique challenges service members, veterans, and their loved ones face when trying to access care across fragmented systems - all while dealing with frequent moves, deployments, and bureaucratic systems that feel designed to exhaust rather than support. This combination of clinical experience, real-world advocacy, and recognition of an increasingly burdensome healthcare system drives everything I do at Blue Star Advocate.