Like many Americans, September 11th is a day Joe Quinn will never forget.
His 23-year-old brother Jimmy worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's North Tower.
They searched for him for three days before burying an empty casket.
"My head knew what happened, but my heart didn't want to believe it," Quinn said. "We never found any remains of my brother, so it's one of those things that, your rational brain knows he was killed, but there's a part of you that's never closed off on him being gone."
It was his senior year at West Point Military Academy. The attacks gave him more purpose to enlist.
Quinn served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, fighting in honor of his late brother.
But he says the battle wasn't over even after he returned home. A new one emerged: depression, a hidden wound of war he says many veterans face.
Quinn made his way to the Headstrong Project, a free mental health care clinic for post-9/11 veterans.
"It was like breathing for the first time since the north tower collapsed," he said.
Three years later, Quinn is the executive director of the national organization, which uniquely crafts treatments for every patient's needs. Veterans helping veterans.
"People like Joe who are incredibly legitimate in that world are able to say to other veterans, 'Hey, I went through the same things you went through and more and I got help and that's the right thing to do for yourself and for your family,'" said Headstrong Clinical Director Gerard Ilari.
Quinn continues to serve as an example to other veterans to live the life he says they deserve.
"Treatment works," he said. "So we can just end the stigma about getting help and veterans get help, and they get the right help, effective help, no bureacracy, no nothing, just get better, and we 100 percent believe here at Headstrong we're going to turn the tide on those numbers."
So, for a veteran helping other veterans seek help and overcome the stigma some associate with mental health treatment, Joe Quinn is the latest New Yorker of the Week.