September is National Suicide Awareness Month. In a recent conversation, an acquaintance questioned the need for all of these “awareness months.” Why a specific month for checking on your buddy? Why not all the time? Absolutely correct, of course, but having a specific time period that brings it into the Read more…
There is an epidemic of veteran suicide in our nation, and around the world. As has been identified by several different studies, the rate of veteran suicide compared to those who have never served in the military is significant. There are a lot of discussions about it, attempts to overcome Read more…
It’s impossible to talk about Veteran Mental Health without addressing the elephant in the room: veteran suicide. The crisis surrounding veteran suicide is at epic proportions, and have been for quite a while. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin, has made combating veteran suicide the top clinical priority of Read more…
Today’s resource is one that has been written for an external source. Before retiring from the Army, one of my roles in my unit was as a suicide prevention coordinator, and I went through the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) that helps leaders, first responders, community members, etc., to Read more…
Our country can’t have a discussion about veteran mental health without talking about the extreme outcome of failure to address it: veteran suicide. On August 3rd, 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a 45-page summary of a study by the Office of Suicide Prevention, titled Suicide Among Veterans and Read more…
I don’t know who they were, but they odds are nearly 100% perfect that it’s true. It will be true on the day I post this, and it will be true on the day that you read it. Another Veteran will have succumbed to the struggle and died by suicide. Read more…