Suicide Prevention Month is 30 days each year in September when we receive reminders of how to look and listen for the signs. Posters, graphics and videos cover bulletin boards, emails, and social media platforms with phone numbers and web links directing their audience on how and where to reach out.
But is this enough?
Colorado National Guard leaders from across the state gathered to ask this question at the annual Suicide Intervention Officer Symposium, presented by the CONG Suicide Prevention, Substance Abuse, and Resiliency team, Sept. 20, 2024, at Fort Carson, Colorado. Soldiers and Airmen discussed the issues impacting suicide within the force and the resources and prevention methods available.
“Suicide prevention is something we want to think about every single day,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Amanda Hill, CONG Joint Resiliency Directorate (J9) director. “Our goal is zero. Losing one person is too many.”
Many of the symposium attendees had already received specialized training through other programs, such as Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, to recognize the signs to combat suicide. Through the assistance of the J9, SIOs have access to prevention resources to aid in their effort to get ahead of suicide.
“The J9 was formed for prevention purposes,” Hill said. “We’re here to make sure that we’re spreading the word, that people understand there are resources available. There is always someone that you can go to.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is a leading cause of death and affects people of all ages. It is a serious public health problem and has far-reaching impact.
The Defense Suicide Prevention Office reported 492 servicemember deaths and 168 family member deaths by suicide in 2022, the most current data available.
In fact, suicide is so common in America that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed a new 10-year, comprehensive, whole-of-society approach to suicide prevention that provides concrete recommendations for addressing gaps in the suicide prevention field in the 2024 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention.
The SIO symposium is one more resource, one more tool to educate CONG members in the fight against suicide.
“Many of us or all of us here have been impacted by suicide,” Grayson Vevon, risk reduction coordinator, Colorado Army National Guard, said. “As Suicide Intervention Officers you are leaders who are entrusted to combat stigma related to seeking help while encouraging and engaging in discussions about suicide. You are the front line in this battle, and the work you do undoubtedly saves lives.”
This structured symposium was not just an opportunity for a prevention refresher on problems facing men and women in uniform. It was an opportunity to share stories, brainstorm new ideas, hear firsthand experience, and explore emotions on past events surrounding suicide.
“SIO’s are unspoken heroes,” said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Assaad, state command sergeant major, CONG. “Not everyone is going to have symptoms. Sometimes they just come out of the blue, which makes your job that much harder. So, we need to try the best we can to help one another out when we find someone in need.”
The symposium’s presenters included a wide pool of professionals who spoke on their current efforts for prevention such as the Fort Carson Installation Director for Psychological Health U.S. Army Lt. Col. Shamecca Scott, U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Mental Health Clinic Officer-in-Charge U.S. Air Force Maj. Esther Williams, two non-profits committed to helping servicemembers, and CONG resources from the J9.
“Typically, it’s not one thing that leads people to contemplate suicide,” Hill said. “Mental health may just be one aspect of it, there are multiple other factors like relationship or financial issues.”
In a nearly silent and emotional instructional block, COARNG Staff Sgt. Alfred Roberson III presented his personal experiences working for the Aurora Police Department and the stressors that he faced as a responding officer, from one of his first ever calls, a child’s murder, to the 2012 Century 16 movie theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado.
“This is supposed to be home, this is supposed to be safe,” he said. “but dealing with this evil on a daily basis…you have to push it to the back and deal with the rest of society.”
His experiences with trauma built over time and began to eat him alive, but it was encountering a near death experience where he learned he had a problem. It was then that a nurse asked him: “Are you okay?”
Roberson attributes that moment to realizing a change was necessary and help was available.
“As leaders, if supervising people and you notice a change, ask the question,” he said. “Ask if they’re okay, that’s what saved my life.”
Ask, Care, Escort or ACE was introduced in 2009 to update then existing suicide prevention training and to respond to a rise in suicide rates among military members. That training is still implemented today, but it doesn’t stand alone.
With firearms as the leading method of suicide due to availability and success rate, heavy focus has been put into safe storage. Hill stated that through this resource a person can acquire a gun safe or gun lock, commanders are authorized to store privately own firearms in unit vaults, and that many gun stores, other private sector businesses as well as first responders are able to store firearms to remove access when someone is suicidal.
“Everyone’s situation is so unique, but there are resources out there,” Hill said. “We have mental health teams, chaplains, military family life counselors, private clinics, veterans’ clinics, SIOs that are embedded in their units. There are multiple options for support, and we want our resources to be utilized. All someone needs to do is call.”
Resources are readily available by dialing 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or the CONG J9 Resource line at 1-866-333-8844.