For pondering:

Statistics:

• About 6,100 veterans died by suicide in 2017, the latest year for which data is available. That number stayed roughly steady over the previous decade, even as the total number of veterans in America has dropped by about 15 percent.

• Department officials have repeatedly emphasized that cutting down the number of veterans suicides will require more than just government programs, noting that nearly two-thirds of those deaths are among veterans who are not using VA health services. “We cannot do this alone,” Dr. Richard Stone, executive in charge of the Veterans Health Administration, wrote in an open letter accompanying the department’s suicide report release last month. “We call on our community partners to join us in this effort.”

•  Although the bulk of veteran suicides are among individuals 55 and older, that’s largely a reflection of how much of the population is from earlier generations. The rate of suicide among those older veterans is about 25 per 100,000 individuals. Among 18- to 34-year-old veterans, that figure is almost 45 per 100,000.

For full article please visit:

https://www.stripes.com/news/va-leaves-nearly-5-million-unused-in-2018-campaign-to-battle-suicide-watchdog-

Beyond mental health:

In finding new ways to approach the crisis, not every solution should focus on mental health treatment.

“The biggest blind spot involves continuing to view suicide only from the lens of mental health,” Bryan said. “So long as we continue to assume that suicide results from mental illness and can only be prevented via mental health treatment, we’ll continue to fall short.”

In some situations, simply leaving a military environment can cause veterans to feel out of sync with society. Combat is one of the most complicated dynamics of war, where veterans can miss the rush of adrenaline and the human cohesion.

“When service members leave the military, they leave a team-first culture that has a very clear mission, recognizable symbols of status and achievement, and more than 240 years of history and culture,” said Joe Plenzler, communications director for the nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project.

Plenzler suggested it is critical for veterans returning from service to find a new mission in life. “It’s unrealistic to find these same experiences in the civilian world, but it is possible to find a sense of purpose and community – a sense of tribe.”

James LaPorta, an Afghanistan war veteran who served as an infantryman in the Marine Corps, says he has been in therapy for 10 years because of his combat experiences, but he misses the community it builds.

“In many ways, the stress of combat is easier to deal with when you’re in it, compared to the stress of everyday life. I think that’s because in combat, you don’t go through it as an individual, you have a tribe — a community with you,” he said. “I miss the simplicity of war. The intimacy of it. Where the bonds forged in adversity are so strong, one can identify an individual by their silhouette during a night patrol.”

American Veterans’ Brown praised some of the VA’s suicide prevention services but said there needs to be more attention paid to alternative approaches, such as the VA paying for tai chi.

“How are we ever going to get a handle on this problem if we are spending more than 90 percent of our resources on approaches that fail?” Brown said. “We need to stop doing the same actions and expecting fewer deaths.”

To read the full article please visit:

https://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/after-years-of-failure-to-end-the-crisis-veteran-suicide-takes-center-stage-on-capitol-hill-