Suicide-Prevention Program Recommendations don't go far enough

Twenty-nine years ago, I was introduced to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, initiated into the Vietnam War by a 30 year old veteran. It was 11 years after he came back home part way. Aside from living with it, I've spent all these years tracking it. As an expert, I can tell you that we have never seen so many studies and attempts to help the veterans heal as we have today. While this fills me with great hope, it also serves as warnings because with all that is being done, there are still increased numbers of veterans reaching the point where they feel so much hopelessness, they are on the brink of suicide.

The Suicide Prevention Hotline received over 55,000 calls in the first year according to a report from SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services.

As of March 3, 2011 the Suicide Prevention Hotline numbers

To date, more than 379,000 callers have called the Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline, and more than 200,000 of these callers have identified themselves as Veterans or family members or friends of Veterans. To date, the hotline has led to more than 13,000 rescues of actively suicidal Veterans.

Yet there are still 18 veterans a day committing suicide. What is even more troubling is the fact that until this month, the active duty military did not have access to suicide prevention.

Suicide hotline available for deployed soldiers

Even if it was possible to track all the suicides and attempted suicides, we'd never really know all of them. There are drug overdose deaths that are never really clear if they were accidental or suicide. Accidents are never really clear when they result in death. No one is checking on the incidents involving law enforcement when a veteran with PTSD is involved.

Why, after all these years did over 379,000 calls have to be made in the first place and why were over 200,000 of them from veterans? Why does it still reach that level of pain this keeps happening?

Because the programs they have in place are not working even though they are clearly helping some. What is missing? The families are. Their role in all of this is often overlooked and they are one of the most important resources.


It is troubling something like this is found on the National Suicide Prevention Hotline site.

The Lifeline is featured in Marvel comic
Captain America: A Little Help

"Super heroes fight a lot of battles, but there are few more important than combating suicide," said Tom Brevoort, Senior Vice-President of Publishing. "That’s why we're making Captain America: A Little Help available for free via our digital comics outlets. If even one person calls this number instead of doing something very tragic, we know that means we succeeded."

Suicide Prevention Lifeline.org page tells veterans to press 1 to talk. Yet on the same site, the same page, Captain America is right there at the bottom and he's battling a bunch of guys dressed in green. This is not a good idea no matter who it was intended for to show up on the same page telling veterans to seek help.

Without knowing what to do, families like mine did the best we could without any support or knowledge at all. Most of the mistakes made living with combat PTSD, were all made many years ago and we learned from them. We are yet one more untapped resource in helping the veterans heal because we live with it everyday. Many wives have been married for 30 or 40 years, keeping their veteran alive and raising their families with nothing to lean on other than love. I can tell you first hand, back when all this was new to me, I would have paid any price for the resources available today, especially the online support but too many do not take advantage of it. These are lifelines! They need to reach for them but their excuse is, they have enough to worry about so they discover PTSD when it is too late to avoid a lot of anguish.

Families can make it better when they understand but they are left out of the healing with mental health workers. They need to be included in the therapy as much as they need to be clued in.

These are the key recommendations Rand offered. Families are missing from the action.

Raising awareness and promoting self-care;
Identifying people at high risk, including screening for mental health problems;
Eliminating actual or perceived barriers to quality behavioral health care;
Providing high-quality mental health treatment and specific interventions focused on suicide when needed;
Restricting access to firearms and other lethal means, with attention to how lethal medications are packaged and how door hinges and shower rods are constructed; and
Responding appropriately when suicides occur.

While these are very important, they miss a big one and that is the family. Family can be relatives or it can be very close friends, because facing reality there are many serving without a strong family behind them. We see it when they come home from deployment. They get off the bus without a spouse to greet them, without Mom or Dad showing up to hug them, so they stand with their friends. Their friends are as close to family as there is.



Yet families are not the only problem. There have been suicide reports from across the country when the family knew what PTSD was, got the to go for help and offered all the support in the world, but it was still not enough. This suggests the programs offered to help them heal were not good enough. One more indication changes have to be made to make sure the programs live up to the challenge these veterans come home with.

Study Makes Suicide-Prevention Program Recommendations
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

HAMPTON, Va., March 25, 2011 – A new study commissioned by the Defense Department affirms many of the suicide-prevention efforts being made within DOD and the military services and recommends ways to strengthen them.

In preparing “The War Within: Suicide Prevention in the U.S. Military,” the Rand National Defense Research Institute examined data on military suicides, identified what scientific literature and leaders in the field consider the best prevention strategies and recommended ways to ensure existing programs reflect the state of the art, officials said.

“This is a very thorough effort,” Dr. Mark Barnes, director of the resilience and prevention directorate at the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, said of the report. “Rand interviewed each of the services and went outside the military to look at suicide-prevention practices and identified gaps for the way ahead [and] recommendations for the military suicide-prevention programs.”

The study’s findings track closely with those in the Defense Department’s own DOD Suicide Task Force Report, Barnes told military health care professionals attending the first Armed Forces Public Health Conference held here this week.

“There is no disagreement. They are very complimentary in what they are recommending,” he said. “So we have a nice resource here with quality information that our suicide-prevention folks can refer to as we move forward with the task force recommendations.”

Navy Capt. Paul Hammer, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, called the Rand report an important tool in helping the Defense Department better confront an issue it takes “very seriously.”

“The Rand study helps us to identify areas that need improvement so that we can continue to provide the most comprehensive health care for our service members –- from the inside out,” he said.

The study, written for health policy officials and suicide-prevention program managers, recognized critical factors in a comprehensive prevention program. These include:

-- Raising awareness and promoting self-care;
-- Identifying people at high risk, including screening for mental health problems;
-- Eliminating actual or perceived barriers to quality behavioral health care;
-- Providing high-quality mental health treatment and specific interventions focused on suicide when needed;
-- Restricting access to firearms and other lethal means, with attention to how lethal medications are packaged and how door hinges and shower rods are constructed; and
-- Responding appropriately when suicides occur.

Evaluating the Defense Department’s suicide prevention programs, the study cited the potential benefit of a new DOD-wide surveillance program being used to track suicides and suicide attempts. The DOD Suicide Event Report replaced each service’s individual suicide-reporting system, Barnes explained, helping to ensure “apples to apples” comparisons as information is shared across the services.

“This is a data issue,” he said. “We need good data. The data informs us in how to be effective with prevention and health promotion. So we are continually improving our data systems.”

Rand also called for an evaluation of existing suicide prevention programs, along with a requirement that any new initiatives include an evaluation plan. Barnes acknowledged the challenge of assessing programs’ effectiveness, but called closer collaboration and information sharing across the Defense Department and services a positive step toward sharing best practices and determining what works.

The Rand study recognizes most military suicide-prevention programs’ focus on raising awareness, including telling people where to get help and helping them recognize peers in distress.

However, it emphasizes the importance of also teaching military members how to recognize their own problems and refer themselves if needed to a behavioral health professional or chaplain.

“Raising awareness and promoting self-care is something we do and we can do better,” Barnes said, noting the value of resilience campaigns. “The ideas is to give people skills,” and know how to recognize signs of risk in themselves as well as others, and to know what to do.

The report also identified the importance of partnerships between agencies and organizations responsible for mental health and substance use and other known risk factors for suicide.

“We do fairly well in terms of partnerships,” Barnes said. “One area we are looking at is, on an installation, how well do all the different partners work together in the suicide [prevention] mission? Because often times you have … one person who is the suicide prevention person on an installation. They are not going to be able to check in on everybody. It is really the whole installation that needs to be on board to be effective with this.”

The study also cited the need to ensure there’s no gap in services provided during military members’ transitions -- between military bases, between commands or between active and reserve status.

“Ensuring a continuity of services and care is really important,” Barnes said. “One of the times of increased vulnerability is during transitions. … And we need to be covering all the gaps like this proactively for our service members and their families.”

The study called for formal guidance for commanders so they know how to respond to suicide and suicide attempts. It recognized the lack of any direct policy within the services and the risks of handling these situations improperly.

“It is really about our leadership,” Barnes said. “We need to empower our leadership, because they set the example. They set the tone. So we have to give them the tools. We need to give them the information, the data, so they know what is going on, where we think is the right direction to go, and then get behind them.”

One more important factor in all of this is who was behind all of these programs starting in the first place. Vietnam veterans and their families pushed for help in the beginning. Still we wouldn't know as much as we do now about how huge the problem is had it not been for groups like Veterans For Common Sense and Paul Sullivan making sure they got the right information. They have been filing Freedom of Information Act requests for years to find out what the truth is and it has been pretty dark for the veterans behind the idyllic image of veterans joyous homecomings.

The VA and the DOD can come out with programs without providing any proof these programs work and the general public would take it at face value. The truth would be hidden behind the claims, as it had been until VCS fought to make sure the truth was told. The same truth hundreds of thousands of families live with year after year when the rest of the country has forgotten all about the battles they were sent to fight.

There is hope in all of this as long as the American people refuse to allow more to die when they come home from war than during it.
Demand answers from the media.

Why are so many still committing suicide when so many have been calling suicide prevention?
With all the programs millions of tax payer dollars fund, why aren't they working?
Why do veterans still feel on the brink of suicide they need to call for help?
With all the attempts to address the stigma, why are so many still afraid to ask for help?
Why are so many getting help still committing suicide?

There are very serious questions needing to be asked, but the media doesn't seem interested enough in asking or they lack a clear understanding to even know how serious all of this is. Make sure they discover what the reality is for too many when they come home before it is too late for too many more.

Suicide hotline just now available for deployed soldiers?

What? What did they have before this if they couldn't call in the crisis line already?

Suicide hotline available for deployed soldiers
Staff report
Posted : Saturday Mar 19, 2011 8:26:34 EDT
Access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline has been extended to soldiers and Army civilians serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

The Lifeline, operated by the Health and Human Services Department, is a toll-free, 24-hour, confidential crisis intervention hotline.

Credentialed consultants offer support and solutions to anyone in crisis or emotional distress, including soldiers and family members in overseas locations.
read more here
Suicide hotline available for deployed soldiers

PSA on Suicide Prevention for Veterans

VA Launches New PSA on Suicide Prevention for Veterans

Confidential Crisis Line Provides 24/7 Access to Help

WASHINGTON (March 15, 2011)- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is
reaching out to Veterans in crisis and their families in a new public
service announcement to raise awareness about suicide prevention
resources, such as the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

"As more Veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, the critical need
for mental health care is rising," said Sonja V. Batten, assistant
deputy chief patient care services officer for mental health. "VA is
increasing its efforts to reach out to Veterans in need and their
families, to inform them about available services and programs."

The new television spot encourages Veterans in crisis to call the crisis
hotline number at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and then push 1 on their
telephone keypad to reach a trained VA mental health professional who
can assist the Veteran 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Suicide is preventable," said Batten. "Every Veteran suicide is tragic
and regardless of the numbers or rates, one Veteran suicide is too many.
We feel the responsibility to continue to spread the word throughout the
nation that suicide prevention is everyone's business."

So far, more than 379,000 people have called the hotline, and more than
200,000 of these callers have identified themselves as Veterans, family
members or friends of Veterans. The hotline has led to more than 13,000
rescues of actively suicidal Veterans.

The hotline also operates an online Veterans Chat program, which
provides Veterans, their families and friends with the ability to
communicate anonymously online in real-time with a trained VA mental
health professional. Veterans Chat can be accessed through the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline


Through the hotline and Veterans Chat, VA can connect Veterans and their
families with important services, including suicide prevention
coordinators, as well as general inpatient and outpatient psychiatric
services at VA medical centers and community-based outpatient clinics.

The hotline, which is part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline,
was started in 2007 as a partnership between VA and the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The PSA can be viewed at PSA on Suicide Prevention for Veterans

Solution for an Army epidemic at Fort Gordon

Solution for an Army epidemic Feedback...
Why is it important to give to Combined Federal Campaign?
Staff Sgt. E. Douglas Blair III
Special to The Signal
By Bonnie Heater Feedback...


When I started studying journalism in college I asked my professor what was in a great journalistic piece. He said that the trick was to take a subject and try to answer the questions that the normal person might have by the end of the article. This is no easy task with a subject like suicides in the Army and how to prevent them. The suicide rate has become an epidemic and if that word isn’t scary enough, then numbers like one Soldier every three days commits suicide should mortify you. In fact, according to the Department of Defense, the rate of suicides has increased from a record high of 128 in 2008 to a whopping 147 reported suicides in 2009 and over 170 this fiscal year. Nearly everyone has been touched in some form or fashion by suicide. Soldiers, like myself, are required to attend a class every six months or so and told how to deal with a fellow Soldier that is feeling depressed. Ask, Care and Escort have been the mantra of recent years and each Soldier is required to have an ACE card with them at all times. But what do we ask and how do we care and what if there is no one readily available to deal with a Soldier, friend, loved one, co-worker, etc. that has real feelings of suicide? The ACE card is like putting a bandage on a sucking chest wound (by the way, all chest wounds suck).

read more here

Solution for an Army epidemic

Fort Carson says its suicide rate is falling

Fort Carson says its suicide rate is falling

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 1, 2010 12:34:20 EDT

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Commanders at Fort Carson say the suicide rate among their soldiers is on track to drop by 45 percent.

Fort Carson's deputy commanding general for support, Brig. Gen. Jim Pasquarette, said Wednesday the decrease might be due in part to a campaign to make mental health experts more accessible and to reduce the stigma sometimes associated with seeking help.

He cautions that the rate could still climb. He says officials are still studying the reasons for the declining rate at the post.

Suicide rates are measured in deaths per 100,000 people.

Pasquarette says Fort Carson's rate was 44 per 100,000 in 2008, and this year is on track to be 25 per 100,000.

The Army's overall suicide rate is about 22 per 100,000.
Fort Carson says its suicide rate is falling

Military Suicide Prevention Task Force Report

Military Suicide Prevention Task Force Report
Aug 24, 2010
Department of Defense
Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces

The Armed Services Suicide Prevention Task Force presented its final report. The report contained a number of finding and included recommendations to overhaul the Department of Defense's ability to react to increasing suicide rates and detect potential problems. Congress established the panel in .. Read More
The Armed Services Suicide Prevention Task Force presented its final report. The report contained a number of finding and included recommendations to overhaul the Department of Defense's ability to react to increasing suicide rates and detect potential problems. Congress established the panel in August 2009 to study the issue of suicides in the military. The group has seven members from the military and seven members with professional suicide prevention and mental health backgrounds.
go here for videos
http://c-spanvideo.org/program/295153-1&personid=9274079

Report urges new office for suicide prevention

Report urges new office for suicide prevention

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Aug 25, 2010 9:14:15 EDT

The Defense Department should investigate military suicides more thoroughly and create a new top-level Pentagon office for suicide prevention, according to a new report from a congressional task force.

The military should “pattern suicide investigations on aviation accident investigations, and use the safety investigation process as a model to standardize suicide investigations,” said Bonnie Carroll, co-chair for the task force Congress created last year to examine the spike in military suicides.

The task force’s 14 members — seven military members and seven civilians — spent a year visiting installations and studying military suicides and the efforts in place to prevent them.

Their report, released Tuesday, includes 76 specific recommendations that include increasing troops’ dwell time, adding full-time suicide prevention coordinators and putting suicide prevention elements into broader military education programs.

A new office under the Office of the Secretary of Defense should help coordinate the tracking of suicides and the standardization of suicide prevention efforts, the report said.
read more here
Report urges new office for suicide prevention

900 suicide prevention programs across 400 military installations that don't work

If the task force turns to the same people they've been talking to all along, whatever they come up with will fail as well. It is not a matter of them not trying but they have been getting the wrong answers. Congress has been just as bad when they keep asking people who have suffered and it's too late to save the lives already gone. The only thing Congress hears about then is what has failed instead of what has worked. They have to start thinking outside the box and talk to different people. If they want to repeat failures, then they should be talking to people who failed or were failed. If they want to find out what works and succeeds then they should be talking to the veterans and families who already passed the test of living.

Task force calls military suicide prevention efforts inadequate
By BARBARA BARRETT
McClatchy Newspapers
A Defense Department task force devoted to preventing suicide in the military presented a grim picture of the trend Tuesday, with suicides rising at a near steady pace even as commanders apply various balms to soothe a stressed, exhausted fighting force.

The military has nearly 900 suicide prevention programs across 400 military installations worldwide, but in a report released Tuesday, the task force describes the Defense Department's approach as a safety net riddled with holes.

Last year, 309 men and women slipped through.

In 2008, 267 service members committed suicide. In 2007, the number was 224.

However, the task force also gave a message of hope: Prevention efforts can work, members said, and suicidal behavior after combat deployment isn't normal.

"Having any of our nation's warriors die by suicide is not acceptable - not now, not ever," said Army Maj. Gen. Philip Volpe, a physician and co-chairman of the Department of Defense Task Force on the Prevention of Suicide by Members of the Armed Forces.

Among the task force's findings:

-The military doesn't have enough behavioral specialists and suicide prevention officers, and that those it has need better training.

-Suicide prevention programs aren't streamlined across services.

-Service members still encounter discriminatory and humiliating experiences when seeking psychiatric help.

-Unit-level leaders especially struggle with how to assist the men and women under their guidance.



Read more: Task force calls military suicide prevention efforts inadequate

Counseling center opens with goal of offering peace to safety forces

Counseling center opens with goal of offering peace to safety forces
Idea springs from trial of five sheriff's deputies

By Kathy Antoniotti
Beacon Journal staff writer


Published on Tuesday, Aug 03, 2010


Inside the Furnace Street Mission is a place for those who help others to seek respite for themselves.

The Summit County Chaplaincy Center for safety forces will provide confidential counseling for stress debriefing after incidents involving on-duty safety personnel, including dispatchers.

Renovations began about 18 months ago, said the Rev. Bob Denton, chaplain for the Akron Police Department and executive director of Victim Assistance.

The need for the center is apparent by the escalation in counseling requests from last year to this year, he said.

''There were about 90 sessions last year and 71 sessions just since the first of this year,'' he said.

Most memorable in Denton's mind
are the officers still on the street because they asked for and received help.

''Four officers in the last year are all here because of it. They were going to eat their guns,'' he said.

The idea for the center was born during the trials of five Summit County sheriff's deputies who were accused of contributing to the 2006 death of jail inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr.
read more here
http://www.ohio.com/news/99818554.html

Military brass: Outreach essential to suicide prevention

Military brass: Outreach essential to suicide prevention

Special to the News
Updated: July 16, 2010 9:25 a.m.



Preventing suicide among service members and veterans calls for comprehensive education and communication, Army Col. Robert W. Saum, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, said this week.

Testifying before the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Saum said the Department of Defense’s approach to suicide prevention is “multi-pronged,” and outreach to troops, veterans and their families is essential.

“[The department] has developed many resources and tools for service members, veterans and families,” Saum said in a written statement. “However, we realize utilization of these resources is dependent upon prevention education and communication about their existence.”

Although psychological treatment and counseling are available for those on the brink of suicide, he said, intervention programs also are in place to address stressors that may lead to suicide. Such programs include counseling for substance abuse and for relationship, legal, work and financial issues.

Saum stressed the importance of Defense Department collaboration with Veterans Affairs and private-sector organizations. The colonel’s organization serves as a central point of coordination for these groups, he said.
read more here
Outreach essential to suicide prevention

Bragg steps up suicide intervention training

Bragg steps up suicide intervention training

By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 21, 2010 16:49:27 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Sgt. Mike Quintana was scared every time he was faced with a suicidal soldier. As a chaplain’s assistant, he was trained to help soldiers in crisis but did not know how to stop a soldier from trying to kill himself.

“It was really scary. I was very nervous. This person’s life is in my hands. I didn’t want to be held responsible,” Quintana said.

So, he’d refer soldiers to the chaplain or doctors. But after getting some specialized training, he learned how to talk to a suicidal soldier and stop him from taking his life.

“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. This model helps them get through their temporary problems,” said Quintana, who is now a trainer at Fort Bragg.

Officials met Wednesday to discuss what they are doing to help bring down the number of suicides at the post. So far this year, the base has seen four confirmed suicides, with two other deaths under investigation. The base saw six suicides in 2009, 13 suicides in 2008 and 10 suicides in 2007.
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Bragg steps up suicide intervention training

House Committee Reviews Effectiveness of VA’s Outreach Efforts on Suicide Prevention

Committee Reviews Effectiveness of VA’s Outreach Efforts on Suicide Prevention
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2010

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, July 14, 2010, Chairman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ) conducted a hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to examine the progress of suicide prevention outreach efforts at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Subcommittee evaluated the current state of VA’s ability to educate the public of VA services concerning suicide prevention and discussed the effectiveness of the media campaign to encourage veterans to seek help at the VA.

Public Law 110-110, The Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act, required VA to develop a pilot program encouraging veterans battling suicide to seek help at the VA. As a result, VA advertised its suicide hotline using Washington, D.C. metro area buses and metro subway trains, in addition to creating a Public Service Announcement for network television use.

“As you know, many of our newest generation of veterans, as well as those who served previously, bear wounds that cannot be seen and are hard to diagnose,” said Chairman Mitchell. “Proactively bringing the VA to them, as opposed to waiting for veterans to find the VA, is a critical part of delivering the care they have earned in exchange for their brave service. No veteran should feel they are alone,” said Chairman Mitchell.

The two witnesses of the hearing’s first panel were Warrant Officer Melvin Cintron, USA (Ret.) who has served multiple tours in Iraq, and also Ms. Linda Bean, who tragically lost her son to suicide after he returned from his second tour in Iraq. Mr. Cintron observed that while the VA’s suicide hotline is a valuable and much needed service, there should be other equally accessible resources offered by the VA that service intermediate levels of urgency prior to the final resort of calling the suicide hotline. Ms. Bean stated that to improve suicide prevention and outreach, the VA must publicize civilian mental health counseling alternatives that might better suit some veterans who are either not located near a VA facility, or who may otherwise choose not to approach the VA for help.

Bob Filner (D-CA), Chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said, “The Department of Veterans Affairs has made significant progress in its effort to address the tragic problem of veteran suicide. However, until we can be confident that an effective system is in place to reach 100% of our veterans who may be contemplating suicide, this Committee will not stop in its efforts to ensure that a more robust and all encompassing VA outreach program has been developed and implemented. To only help the veterans who walk through the doors of a VA facility is not enough. The Department must vigorously reach out to the entire veteran population and educate those not currently enrolled in the VA health care system about the services available and how to go about accessing them.”
read more here
Outreach Efforts on Suicide Prevention

Army mounts anti-suicide campaign with soldier who survived

Spc. Joseph Sanders survived thanks to the awareness of Spc. Albert Godding. He took a chance and was more afraid of a friend losing his life than of losing a friendship. After all, when you think about pull out the pin on a rifle in Iraq, it is a dangerous thing to do but it would have been more dangerous for Sanders to be able to fire the bullet into himself. Now this act by Godding could in fact end up saving many more lives. Sanders lived to tell his story and will be part of the campaign to save more lives. Sanders also credits the fact he was able to talk to a mental health worker soon after. Wonderful story all the way around.

A victory as Army mounts anti-suicide campaign

By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer
Jun 19, 10:27 am ET
DENVER – Army Spc. Joseph Sanders was despondent over the breakup of his marriage and feeling alone in the oppressive heat of an Iraqi summer when he turned his rifle on himself and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. His buddy, Spc. Albert Godding, had disabled the rifle by removing the firing pin after Sanders told him he was thinking of killing himself.

It was a singular but welcome victory in the Army's battle against suicides, which last year claimed the lives of 163 soldiers on active duty and 82 Guard and Reserve soldiers not on active duty.

Congress ordered the Defense Department in 2008 to study ways to address the problem, and the Army started its own task force last year after an alarming spike in suicides in January and February.

The Army also launched a campaign to teach soldiers how to spot suicide warning signs and what to do about them. Godding credits that training for making him aware of the danger Sanders was in.

"Feeling better took time," said Sanders. "I believe a lot had to do with that I had a mental health specialist to speak to right away."

Sanders has agreed to appear in an upcoming video for the Army's suicide-prevention campaign, said Col. Chris Philbrick, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force.

also on this
Carson GI cited for preventing suicide in Iraq

Six years of "mental health strategic plan" saved 250 lives a year?

One life saved is wonderful but when you think that 18 a day have taken their own lives, discovering that after six years of "mental health strategic plan" has only produced this, we should all be very, very concerned. The suicide prevention hotline has been up and running a couple of years now yet we still see the numbers of suicides in the military and among the veteran population go up along with more and more veterans calling the hotline. If the military and the VA had it finally right, why then would they ever reach the point where they were calling a "suicide" prevention line instead of a doctor or mental health provider? Anyone bother asking this question? Any reporters out there ever even begin to wonder? How could they just keep saying they have a plan, they have a system, they have a program, when the results are this lousy?

VA Strives to Prevent Veteran Suicides
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2010 – With more than 6,000 veterans committing suicide every year –- and 98 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan taking their own lives during fiscal 2009 alone -- the Department of Veterans Affairs is redoubling its outreach to veterans and promoting its toll-free suicide-prevention hotline.

National statistics show that veterans constitute about 20 percent of the 30,000 to 32,000 U.S. deaths each year from suicide. Of an average of 18 veterans who commit suicide each day, about five receive care through the VA health-care system. More than 60 percent of those five had diagnosed mental-health conditions.

Dr. Janet E. Kemp, VA’s national suicide prevention coordinator, is committed to improving those statistics. She’s heading up an aggressive outreach program to address problems that lead to suicide, and to ensure veterans as well as their loved ones know where to turn for help.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Kemp cited mounting evidence that veterans in the 18- to 29-year-old age group who use VA health-care services are less likely to commit suicide than those who don’t.

Based on statistical comparisons between the two groups, she estimated that 250 fewer veterans enrolled in the VA system take their own lives each year. She credited VA’s screening and assessment processes designed to identify high-risk patients and provide intervention, as needed.

Yet, during fiscal 2009, 707 members of the general veteran population died at their own hands, and another 10,665 made unsuccessful suicide attempts. In addition to the 98 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who committed suicide – 94 men and four women – there were 1,868 who made non-fatal attempts on their lives. Of these, 1,621 were men and 247 were women, reflecting trends in the general U.S. population.

“Just one death is one too many,” said Dr. Antonette Zeiss, deputy chief for mental health services at VA’s central office. “The bottom line is, the efforts we put into enhancing overall mental health services have correlated with the reduction of suicide,” especially among males who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Alarmed by an increase in suicides among this population between 2003 and 2004, VA adopted a comprehensive mental health strategic plan in 2004 that has helped to bring the numbers down.
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Army and Marines should learn from Air Force programs

Marines and Soldiers face more than the Air Force, but it is the Air Force with the best programs. How is this possible? They deal with trauma the way the rest of the country does. They take action and understand the men and women serving are still humans. They take fast action understanding that the sooner they start to heal, the better the results. The Army and Marines face more traumatic events more often and on the ground but the Air Force is way ahead of them. Just doesn't seem right at all.

Air Force Prevention Program reduces suicide rates significantly


The U.S. Air Force Suicide Prevention Program (AFSPP) has reduced suicide rates significantly since it was launched in 1996, according to a new study that examined almost three decades of data.
"The enduring public health message from 12 years of this program is that suicide rates can be reduced, and that program success requires interventions to be consistently supported, maintained, and monitored for compliance," the researchers conclude in the study published by the American Journal of Public Health.
Kerry L. Knox, Ph.D., associate professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, led the study. She also directed a landmark assessment of the AFSPP almost seven years ago.
In the current study, which examined suicide rates in the Air Force from 1981 to 2008, Knox and her colleagues found a reduction in the mean suicide rate after the implementation of the prevention program of about 21 percent that was consistent except for one year, 2004.
Still, the researchers called the AFSPP "the first long-term sustained effort of its kind to serve as an example of what communities can accomplish in reducing morbidity and mortality attributable to suicidal behaviors if there is ongoing commitment to do so."
The AFSPP encourages members of the Air Force to seek help, promotes the development of coping skills and fights the stigma associated with receiving mental health care. The program stresses the absence of negative career consequences for seeking and receiving treatment.
Through the AFSPP, suicide prevention is included in all military training. Commanders receive training on how and when to use mental health services, and their role in encouraging early help-seeking behavior. Trauma stress response teams were established worldwide to respond to traumatic incidents such as terrorist attacks, serious accidents, or suicide. These teams help personnel deal with the emotions they experience in reaction to traumatic incidents.
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Air Force Prevention Program reduces suicide rates

Suicide prevention bill a tribute to Sgt. Coleman Bean

Suicide prevention bill a tribute to local veteran

Holt says government failed Army sergeant from East Brunswick
BY BRIAN DONAHUE Staff Writer

After two combat tours in Iraq, Coleman Bean of East Brunswick sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but he did not receive the support that is in place for many returning veterans.

Bean was a member of the U.S. Army’s Individual Ready Reserve, with which he had signed a four-year commitment after completing his first tour of duty. This meant that Bean, who fought in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, could be called back to active duty at any time and assigned anywhere the military had a need. Bean was called back in 2007 and assigned to a unit of the Maryland National Guard, with whom he served his second tour in Iraq.

Bean fought in Northern Iraq through much of 2007 and early 2008. Upon returning that May, the Maryland soldiers had access to the services and help of their Army base, but the IRR soldiers went back to their home states, basically left to their own devices. A few months after returning to New Jersey, Bean, whose PTSD symptoms included extreme anxiety attacks and depression, took his life in the early hours of Sept. 6, 2008, at the age of 25.

Bean’s parents, Greg and Linda, of East Brunswick, have corresponded with Holt since Coleman’s passing, and support the legislation.

“It is important not only as a suicide prevention measure, but because it also will help Individual Ready Reserve soldiers find the assistance they are currently lacking in other areas of their lives, like career and medical needs,” said Greg Bean, former executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. “These fine men and women served America with courage and integrity, and now it is up to us to make sure that their needs are met as well. Too many IRR veterans have slipped through the safety net provided to other returning members of the armed forces, and this legislation will help close the gaps.”

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Suicide prevention bill a tribute to local veteran

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos save teen via Twitter

Actresses Demi Moore, Nia Vardalos use Twitter to stave off suicide attempt in Casselberry

The Associated Press

11:17 a.m. EDT, March 19, 2010


CASSELBERRY — Actresses Demi Moore and Nia Vardalos were linked to an online chain of Twitter posts that ultimately led to Florida authorities intervening when a young man threatened to commit suicide.

Moore's Twitter account, mrskutcher, was among those responding to a message from a young man threatening to hang himself early Friday in Casselberry.

Moore — with 2.5 million followers — and husband Ashton Kutcher are both active on the social network.

Vardalos' eponymous account included a message that she had called a suicide hotline and been connected to Florida police. "I gave his name+city. They went to home, helped him," one message read.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office said authorities received two calls around 2:30 a.m., one from California and one from Vancouver, British Columbia. Both callers reported the suicide threat on Twitter. There was no record of the callers' names, Lt. Sonia Pisano said.

Deputies went to a home and took an uninjured juvenile male to a hospital, Pisano said. She said she could not provide more specifics.

Calls to representatives for Moore and for Vardalos, who starred in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," went unanswered early Friday.
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Twitter to stave off suicide attempt

Parents of suicide find 'immediate bond' in each other

Parents of suicide find 'immediate bond' in each other
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
March 4, 2010 3:43 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NIMH: There are about 33,000 suicides per year in the United States
Marie Osmond's son, Michael, 18, apparently took his life last week in Los Angeles, California
Survivors say support groups, online networks, keeping busy help
Guilt often plays role in lives of parents of suicides, expert says

(CNN) -- Margaret Pelleriti's son Michael was a straight-A student in 11th grade. His mother didn't know anything was wrong the day he took a gun to the train tracks and shot himself in the head.

More than 16 years have passed since then, but she would not say she has "moved on." She has found comfort in counseling and participating in outreach activities, but still mentally beats herself up sometimes.

"You do take those steps forward, but something will always stop you, and you'll go back to remembering," said Pelleriti, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"When I had heard about Marie Osmond's son, I was like, 'Whether it's from the top of the pinnacle or to the average Joe, the circle goes around,' " she said. Pelleriti shared her story with CNN's iReport
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/04/suicide.parents.osmond/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Robert E. Litman, co-founder of suicide prevention center, dies at 88

Robert E. Litman, co-founder of suicide prevention center, dies at 88
Dr. Litman opened the pioneering L.A. center, the first of its kind, in 1958, when research into suicide was almost nonexistent; its innovations include a 24-hour suicide hotline.

By Valerie J. Nelson

March 7, 2010


Dr. Robert E. Litman, a psychiatrist who co-founded the nation's first comprehensive suicide prevention center more than 50 years ago in Los Angeles and carried out groundbreaking work there, has died. He was 88.

Litman died Feb. 14 of acute leukemia at a daughter's Manhattan Beach home, said his wife, Connie.

"He was something of a genius," said Sam Heilig, a social worker who helped establish the center. "He was a prominent psychoanalyst . . . and a very creative thinker. He did strong, imaginative, adventurous work."

In 1958, when research into suicide was almost nonexistent and largely discouraged, the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center opened in a dilapidated, abandoned tuberculosis ward on the grounds of Los Angeles County Hospital.
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Robert E. Litman

Poll shows sailors think seeking help hurts career

One of the strongest messages given by an Iraq veteran regarding suicide prevention is that it should not be when a life is on the line but there needs to be a PTSD hotline they can call before it reaches the point where suicide is even thought about.

There is much discussion about the number of calls the suicide prevention hotline receives but there should be more discussion on how it has gotten so bad that there are so many on the verge of suicide in the first place!

Now we read that even after all these years, along with millions of dollars, they still think seeking help will harm their career.

Navy Leadership Focuses on Suicide Prevention
Posted February 20th, 2010 by USNavySeals
In a previous post, we talked about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and shared a feature on Time.com on the experiences of Retired Navy SEAL Commander Mark Waddell, where PTSD was described as “an invisible wound of war.” And in yet another previous post, we shared with you a Navy Times editorial that talked about the apparent lack of sympathy and support for the families of service members who are victims of suicide.

In a Poll, Sailors expect that seeking help for stress reactions and suicidal thoughts may have a negative impact to their career.

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Navy Leadership Focuses on Suicide Prevention