The US Army is strengthening its suicide prevention with awareness raising, policy reviews and more intervention training in the wake of reports indicating that the suicide rate this year could reach an all time high.
This week, 7-13 September, is National Suicide Prevention Week, and US army officials said they are reviewing current policies under the theme “Shoulder-to-Shoulder: No Soldier Stands Alone” to emphasize how junior leaders and fellow soldiers can help a colleague in crisis.
Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum, assistant surgeon general for force protection, said teamwork was an important way to combat suicide, as she and other Army officials told reporters last week that the number of soldiers who committed suicide in 2008 may exceed the 115 who did so in 2007, an increase from 102 in 2006.
As of August this year, there have been 62 confirmed suicides, with another 31 pending, higher numbers than at the same time last year, said Colonel Eddie Stephens, who is deputy director for human resource policy for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, G-1.
Cornum told reporters:
“This week offers us the opportunity across the entire Army to recharge and re-invigorate our efforts, as well as continue our efforts in decreasing the stigma associated with seeking help.”
She said that in previous years the Army had focused on education and awareness, but this year they are going to focus on training soldiers, families and civilians to “actively intervene”, and to make sure that “people are aware of what professional assets are available”.
According to CNN, army officials said the rise in suicide rates was due to the increased pace of combat operations and the number of deployments, as well as financial and family problems linked to deployments. Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren told the news organization that:
“This stress on the force is validated by recent studies of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.”
The Army already conducts a number of suicide prevention programs. It trains soldiers and family members how to recognize the danger signs; it provides mental health staff in the field; there are more behavioral-health specialists; and it is working to reduce the stigma associated with asking for help.
One of the new initiatives is an interactive prevention-training DVD developed with the Lincoln University in Missouri where soldiers become characters in a story whose outcome changes depending on which options they choose. Another initiative will be each soldier will carry an “Ace” card to remind them to never leave a colleague alone to get help, but to accompany them personally. In 2009, the Army plans to start training soldiers in resilience as well as suicide prevention as part of basic training.
However, junior leaders and chaplains also have key roles in suicide prevention, which is why they are the focus of this year’s campaign.
“We’re targeting our junior officers and noncommissioned officers because that’s the face of the Army to those thousands and thousands of privates out there,” said Stephens.
Stephens stressed the importance of the one to one relationship between junior leaders and their troops, and the skills of listening, building trust and confidence.
Colonel David Reese, director for ministry initiatives for Office of the Chief of Chaplains, stressed the role of Army chaplains. They help soldiers find balance and hope, he said. They offer a safe place to go, with no stigma attached, and through the Strong Bonds program chaplains are helping to restore failing relationships, which the Army has identified as a leading cause of suicide among soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel Carleton Burch, in strategic communications for the chief of chaplains, told a story about a soldier he met on a plane between Kuweit and Afghanistan, on the way into theater. He said the soldier’s story was typical and “kind of tragic”.
The soldier had gone home on R&R leave and found his wife with someone else. He became depressed and lonely, and when alone in a friend’s house, he found a gun, pulled the trigger on himself but there was just a click and nothing happened. He thought “maybe God wants me to live a little while longer”, but he was still in depression, still wanting to kill himself, and now going back into theatre with his weapon. But a fellow soldier who listened to him, said “I’ve got to get this guy some help,” and alerted the assistant chaplain who told Burch and now the soldier is getting the help he needs.
“So thanks to that type of intervention…by that savvy Soldier who was listening to the Soldier beside him,” said Burch, “He went into the mental-health community. He got the help he needed.”
Stephens said that in early 2009 the Army is creating a suicide analytical capability at the Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine to bring together all the information and reports on Army suicides, in order to provide a better basis for future programs, to determine what success looks like and to measure it.
Cornum said that while one suicide is one too many, if the Army did not have existing programs in place, the count would be higher. She also said that prevention, while important, is not enough, and more needs to be done to build resilience, change lifestyles, increase social confidence and help soldiers improve their problem solving skills, as well as encourage a sense of purpose for the future and build a path toward it.
“Our goal is to develop an approach that builds life-long resilience in our recruits, makes them successful Soldiers, as well as successful citizens, long after they leave the Army, and makes strong mental health as much of a priority as physical health,” she said.
Source: US Army, CNN.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD