As Suicide Prevention month just wrapped up, I wanted to share an article I recently read focusing on the suicide risk for transitioning Service members. Data has shown that the period of transition from military service to civilian life is one of increased risk for Service members.
Like many of you reading this, I am a mental health provider. I have worked with a wide variety of clients dealing with a wide variety of challenges–successfully and competently (or at least I hope). I have had the privilege of bearing witness to and helping people navigate some of the darkest, soul-crushing experiences, sometimes supporting them, sometimes helping them approach rather than avoid, sometimes grieving with them, and always cheering their successes and their strengths. Last fall, I found myself on the other side–well, not exactly.
As providers, we’re trained to do everything we possibly can to prevent suicide. We take continuing education courses, we ask the “right” questions, we provide gun locks, we offer crisis sessions, we collaborate on safety plans, and we document it all. Then we hope and pray that our patients use the tools that we’ve given them and that we don’t receive that dreaded notification. But sometimes all of our best work is not enough.
Suicide Prevention Awareness Month may have officially ended but the efforts being taken by the DoD continue to take shape. In March of 2022, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the establishment of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee (SPRIRC). The final report from the committee was released in February of this year and outlined specific recommendations on how the DoD can improve suicide prevention efforts in areas such as treatment access, training and education, public awareness campaigns, behavioral health staffing, research, and DoD policy and regulatory issues as a whole (Iwamasa et al., 2023).
Professionals and researchers across the behavioral health field agree that preventing suicide is a complex problem that must be addressed at multiple levels. In honor of Suicide Prevention Month, I’d like to reflect on a couple of resources I wish I had known about earlier and share with you some resources that the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP) will release in 2024.