“Service changes the way you see the world. The question is what you do with that new perspective.”
A Decision Shaped in the Aftermath of 9/11
Nobody who watched September 11, 2001 unfold walked away from it unchanged. For April Krowel, a young woman in Indianapolis, it did something specific. It made her certain. She joined the U.S. Army.
In 2003, she deployed to Iraq. The environment she stepped into was defined by uncertainty at every level, operationally, emotionally, and personally. It was also where she met her husband Justin, who was serving alongside her. Two people finding something steady in each other in one of the most demanding places in the world. They each completed a combat tour, and came home carrying the kind of experience that quietly shapes the rest of a person’s life.
The War Ended. The Weight Did Not.
Coming home after her deployment was its own kind of journey. April found navigating civilian life challenging after returning from Iraq. She felt that few people around her fully understood what she had experienced, and that sense of disconnection was something many of her military friends shared as well. Several of them struggled deeply with reintegration. A couple made the heartbreaking decision to end their lives.
The loss of friends after coming home had a profound effect on her, and it was that experience that drove her to make a decision that would shape the rest of her career. She would become a psychologist. She would be there for the people the system was not yet reaching.
That decision was made not in a lecture hall or a counselor’s office, but in the quiet aftermath of loss, carried home from a war zone and transformed into a lifetime of purpose.
Building the Knowledge to Match the Mission
After returning from Iraq in 2003, April changed her major to psychology and completed her Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees in California. She then returned to Indiana to pursue her Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Ball State University, graduating in 2017, a journey spanning over a decade of dedicated academic and clinical work.
Along the way, she earned recognition that reflected both her academic strength and her commitment to the veteran community. In 2013, she was named a Pat Tillman Military Scholar, the same year she received the APA Division 19 Student Travel Award, the Military Suicide Research Consortium Travel Fellowship, the American Mental Health Counselors Association Travel Scholarship, and the National Psychologist Trainee Register Credentialing Scholarship.
Each honor was a reflection of the depth of her commitment, not just to the field, but to the people she had set out to serve.
After completing her Ph.D. in 2017, she undertook her predoctoral internship at the VA Illiana Healthcare System in Danville, Illinois, working directly with veterans in a clinical setting, followed by a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at a private practice in Carmel, Indiana from 2017 to 2019, where she deepened her specialization in neuropsychology.
The Brain Center: Built for the People Who Need It Most
In 2019, April founded The Brain Center in Indianapolis, a neuropsychology and psychology practice built around a belief she has held since the day she came home from Iraq: that every person deserves access to specialist care, regardless of their background or circumstances. The practice was designed from the ground up to make sure that access is real, not just theoretical.
April specializes in neuropsychological and psychological assessment across a wide range of conditions, including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, ADHD, and mood and anxiety disorders. She also holds specialized training in FAA evaluations and offers telehealth services across state lines as a PsyPact provider. She approaches every case with warmth and authenticity, helping clients and their families feel genuinely understood while equipping them with meaningful next steps.
Her Leadership Goes Beyond the Practice
April’s commitment to her community extends well beyond her clinic walls. She chairs the Greater Lawrence Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Indiana Psychological Association’s Governmental Affairs Committee, and serves as the Indiana Psychological Association’s Federal Advocacy Coordinator, working at the policy level to shape the future of psychological care in her state. She is also an adjunct professor at Marian University, investing in the next generation of clinicians with the same dedication she brings to everything else.
Outside of her professional life, April treasures time with her family and friends, and loves to travel.
What April’s Story Leaves Us With
April Krowel’s journey is defined less by movement and more by accumulation, of experience, training, and perspective.
She moved from military service into academia, and from academia into clinical practice, without losing continuity in purpose: understanding how people think, adapt, and rebuild.
Her story reflects something often missed in narratives of service, that what follows can be just as demanding, just as disciplined, and just as meaningful as what came before.
April did not step away from service.
She transformed it into a different form of care, one that continues through every patient she helps understand their own mind.
