Heroes Below, Inc.

Heroes Below is a COST-FREE program offered to all Active Duty Military, Veterans, First Responders, their spouses and caregivers; male, female, able-bodied and disabled for the purpose of stress reduction and relaxation. The only cost to all participants is their time, specifically, how much time they would like to spend reducing their stress.

Heroes Below is not just a non-profit organization that provides underwater stress reduction and relaxation, it is also a place to learn new skills, find camaraderie, healing, challenge, and serenity.

Through the use of basic SCUBA gear in a confined heated indoor pool setting, Heroes Below offers an underwater zero gravity experience while participants listen to their bubbles.

President and Founder Paul McLaughlin has been diving for the last 48 years and has successfully completed over 3,400 dives.

​Paul’s two greatest passions are giving back to others and SCUBA diving. Driven by these passions and wanting to share his dive adventures with others, Paul has been teaching SCUBA for the last 18 years so more people can experience the calm, beauty, peace and serenity that he has come to love.

​Paul has 28 unique certifications and has assisted students affected by PTSD, TBI, paraplegia, and blindness. Paul has helped Boy Scout troops and a host of friends and family members into their SCUBA lifestyle. And now, he brings his “A game” fulfilling a life-long dream by creating a non-profit organization that serves Active Duty Military, Veterans, First Responders, their spouses and caregivers, so they can experience a new level of peacefulness.

Paul emphasizes that the simplicity of the program is that participants need not know how to swim, because all we do is float.

In a recent interview, Paul shared that he wanted those who put themselves in harm’s way and defend our freedoms to know their service is not in vain. Helping them to reduce stress is the primary mission of Heroes Below.

​Paul is quick to offer his gratitude to Tom’s Dive & Swim and the team of talented dive instructors who volunteer their time and energy to Heroes Below on an on-going basis. Without them, Heroes Below would just be a dream.