Illinois
Suicide Prevention Alliance and stakeholders,
The Suicide Prevention Resource Center created the attached list of resources
for working with service members, veterans and their families. The document
includes links to research articles, online webinars and a list of national
organizations targeting this population.
If you are fortunate
enough to have veterans on your department here are some resources. In addition
there are many tools here too that can be used for First Responders.
Resources for
Addressing Suicide Prevention for Service Members, Veterans, and their Families
Below are resources that address suicide prevention for
service members, veterans, and their families. The SPRC online library also has
many more resources, and the SPRC library staff is constantly updating the
website. Please visit the online library at
http://www.sprc.org/search/library/military?filters=type%3Alibrary_resource.
Please note that this is a partial resource scan and
materials have not been fully reviewed by SPRC.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention
http://www.sprc.org/search/bpr/military?filters=sm_resource_type%3Abpr_listing
This is a listing of programs addressing military issues from SPRC’s Best
Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention.
Center for Deployment Psychology (Online Course)
http://deploymentpsych.org/training/online-courses The CDP provides interactive
web-based training to educate professionals working with service members and
their families.
Coming Home: Supporting Military Service Members, Veterans,
and Their Families (Webinar) http://store.samhsa.gov/product/SMA12-4677DVD This
webinar describes the challenges facing military personnel, veterans, and their
families, the mental health and substance abuse support available from the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs and civilian health systems, and highlights the
need to expand family-centered services.
Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order to Improve
Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military
Families
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/31/fact-sheet-president-obama-signs-executive-order-improve-access-mental-h
President Obama has signed an Executive Order directing key federal departments
to expand suicide prevention strategies and take steps to meet the current and
future demand for mental health and substance abuse treatment services for
veterans, service members, and their families.
Military Terms & Acronyms
http://jedfoundation.org/veterans/attachments/Military%20Terms%20&%20Acronyms.pdf
This Jed Foundation handout defines common acronyms used by the military.
Parity for Patriots: The mental health needs of military
personnel, veterans and their families
http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Public_Policy/Policy_Reports/ParityforPatriots.pdf
This report calls for: Purple Heart medals to be awarded for psychological
wounds like posttraumatic.
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stress disorder (PTSD); for military commanders at all
levels to be accountable for suicide prevention and elimination of stigma; for
increasing the VA’s service capacity; and for having the U.S Department of
Health & Human Services fully implement the 2008 mental health insurance
parity law.
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and TBI (Traumatic
Brain Injury) Resources http://jedfoundation.org/veterans/attachments/PTSD%20&%20TBI%20Resources.pdf
The Jed Foundation has put together a list of resources on PTSD and TBI.
Quick Reference Guide to Military Culture
http://jedfoundation.org/veterans/attachments/Quick%20Reference%20Guide%20to%20Military%20Culture.pdf
This guide by the Jed Foundation outlines the different branches of the
military.
Screening for Mental Health
http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org/programs/military/resources/past-webinars.aspx
SMH has a series of webinars geared towards service providers who work with the
military.
Understanding and Preventing Military Suicide
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22551041 (Abstract). The continual rise in
the U.S. military’s suicide rate since 2004 is one of the most vexing issues
currently facing military leaders, mental health professionals, and suicide
experts. Despite considerable efforts to address this problem, however, suicide
rates have not decreased. The authors consider possible reasons for this
frustrating reality, and question common assumptions and approaches to military
suicide prevention.
The War Within: Preventing Suicides in the Military
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG953.html This report, which was produced
by Rand National Defense Resource Institute under contract with the Department
of Defense (DoD), reviews the current evidence detailing suicide epidemiology
in the military, identifies “best-practice” suicide-prevention programs,
describes and catalogs suicide-prevention activities in DoD and across each
service, and recommends ways to ensure that the activities in DoD and across
each service reflect best practices.
MILITARY FAMILIES
Children of Deployed Parents: Health Care Provider
Strategies for Enhancing Coping Skills (Webinar hosted by the Defense Centers
of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury [DCoE])
(Webinar) Since the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi
Freedom, military families have experienced multiple and extended deployments.
Although many children adjust well, the stress of parental deployment may
increase the risk for adjustment problems, emotional difficulties and
internalizing/externalizing behaviors (e.g., physical aggression/substance
abuse). This webinar will discuss the impact of parental deployment on
children’s psychological health and identify strategies and resources relevant
to coping.
Presentation:
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Content/Navigation/Documents/DCoE_SCOutreach_AprSLIDE%20DECK_FINAL_2012-04-25.pdf
Resources:
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Content/Navigation/Documents/DCoE_April_2012_Webinar_Resources.pdf
Listen to the audio of the webinar:
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/MediaRoom/default.aspx?id=131&page=1&cat=2
Children of Military Service Members Resource Guide
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Content/Navigation/Documents/DCoE%20Children%20of%20Military%20Service%20Members%20Resource%20Guide.pdf
The Children of Military Service Members Resource Guide is designed to assist
parents, other family members and health care providers in addressing the
mental and emotional health needs of military children through topic-specific,
age-related, public-domain literature.
Non-Government: Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors
(TAPS) http://www.taps.org/ TAPS provides information and services to those who
have suffered the loss of a military loved one, due to any cause. They offer
webinar-based courses, six of which concern suicide, for mental health
professionals. Other resources include crisis services, online support groups,
seminars for survivors and the Good Grief Camp for children grieving the loss
of a loved one in the military.
Support for Military Children & Adolescents (American
Academy of Pediatrics)
http://www2.aap.org/sections/uniformedservices/deployment/videos.html This
website serves Military Pediatricians and Youth Serving Professionals working
to attain optimal physical, mental and social health and well-being for all
military dependent infants, children, adolescents and young adults.
Views from the Homefront: The Experiences of Youth and
Spouses from Military Families
http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR913.html This report summarizes
research showing that children from military families experience above-average
levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties and that longer parental
deployments are associated with greater difficulties
NEW MEDIA/SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook and suicide prevention
http://www.slideshare.net/USArmySocialMedia/social-media-roundup-facebook-and-suicide-prevention
(Online Slide Presentation) Facebook offers suicide prevention services
tailored to active-duty military, veterans, and their families. Concerned
family and friends of service members and veterans can connect to a crisis line
through Facebook. VA personnel will respond via phone, online chat, or text
message.
4
LifeArmor – Mobile Application
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/NewsArticle.aspx?id=3526 The Department of Defense
has a smartphone mobile application to help service members and their families
manage the challenges of military life. “LifeArmor” is a
comprehensive learning and self-management tool to assist members of the
military community with common mental health concerns.
Make the Connection http://maketheconnection.net/ Make the
Connection is a public awareness campaign by the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) that provides personal testimonials and resources to help Veterans
discover ways to improve their lives. Many of our Nation’s Veterans—from those who
served in World War II to those involved in current conflicts—return not only
with physical wounds but also mental health issues they may not recognize.
Mobile App: PTSD Coach
http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/PTSDCoach.asp The PTSD Coach application, created
by VA and DoD, allows phone users to manage their symptoms, links them with
local sources of support and provides information on post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
Vets4Warriors http://www.vets4warriors.com Vets4Warriors is
a peer support service staffed by veterans and sponsored by the Office of the
Secretary of Defense, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, and Air Force
Reserve. Military can access the service through chat, email or phone. They
offer referrals, ongoing support and have a resource library. The service is
confidential and available 24/7.
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Clinical Practice Guidelines & Other Training
Opportunities
http://jedfoundation.org/veterans/attachments/Clinical%20Practice%20Guidelines%20and%20Other%20Training%20Opportunites.pdf
The Jed Foundation has put together a list of trainings for clinical providers.
Community Provider Toolkit
http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/communityproviders/ This site is for clinicians
and features key tools to support them in providing mental health services to
Veterans. It features information on connecting with VA, understanding military
culture and experience, as well as tools for working with a variety of mental
health conditions.
Crack the Code (Online Course)
http://www.restofthewayhome.com/page/crack-the-code/ 4 courses to help
clinicians understand service members.
From the War Zone to the Home Front: Supporting the Mental
Health of Veterans and Families (Online Course)
http://mghcme.org/courses/course-detail/from_the_war_zone_to_the_home_front_supporting_the_mental_health_of_veteran
The Home Base Program, in collaboration with the Department of Veteran
Affairs’s National Center for PTSD, is providing this free, CME-certified
educational series to assist clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of the
silent wounds of war in returning veterans and their families.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Toolkit
http://dcoe.health.mil/MDDToolkit.aspx This toolkit is a comprehensive resource
for primary care providers working with service members and veterans, promoting
accurate screening and diagnosis, symptom management and referrals.
RESPECT-Mil (Re-Engineering Systems of Primary Care Treatment
in the Military) http://www.pdhealth.mil/respect-mil/index1.asp RESPECT-Mil is
a treatment model designed by the United States Department of Defenses’
Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) to screen, assess and treat active
duty soldiers with depression and/or PTSD, modeled after a program that has
been proven to be effective in treating civilian patients with depression.
Suicide Risk Assessment Guide
http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/docs/VA029AssessmentGuide.pdf This guide was
developed to assist clinicians in all areas, but especially in primary care and
the emergency room/triage area. The Guide can assist clinicians in making
assessments and care decisions regarding patients who present with suicidal
ideation or provide reason to believe that there is cause for concern.
Treating the Invisible Wounds of War (Online Course)
http://www.aheconnect.com/citizensoldier/ This series of three online courses
is designed to assist primary care physicians, case workers, and mental health
providers – who may see a veteran or family member on an unrelated issue – to
develop a better understanding of the culture in which veterans and their
families live and work, and to provide best practices for identifying,
assessing and treating mental health disorders that result from the trauma of
war: Part 1 – Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Part 2 – Traumatic Brain Injury;
Part 3 – Issues of Women Returning from Combat. Courses are free of charge but
registration is required.
STUDENT VETERANS
Understanding and Supporting the Emotional Health of Student
Veterans
http://www.jedfoundation.org/professionals/programs-and-research/helping-our-student-veterans-succeed
This is a training tool that helps campus health professionals best understand
the student veteran perspective, engage with them on campus, and provide the
resources and support they need to succeed.
From Soldier to Student II: Assessing Campus Programs for
Veterans and Service Members
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Programs_and_Services&TEMPLATE=%2FCM%2FHTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=44390
This report offers an update of the 2009 edition of From Soldier to Student,
which provided the first national snapshot of the programs, services, and
policies that colleges and universities had in place to serve veterans and
military personnel.
VA Campus Toolkit
http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/studentveteran/index.asp This toolkit provides
faculty, staff, and administrators resources to support student Veterans. The
Post 9/11 GI Bill is bringing student Veterans to campuses in record numbers.
The goal of this toolkit aim is to help campuses welcome these men and women by
recognizing who they are, and understanding their unique experiences,
adjustments, and needs.
VETERANS
Guide to VA Mental Health Services for Veterans &
Families http://www.mirecc.va.gov/VISN16/docs/Guide_to_VA_Mental_Health_Srvcs_FINAL12-20-10.pdf
This brochure provides information about the types of treatments available for
the most common mental health problems of veterans (such as depression,
substance abuse, and posttraumatic stress disorder) and describes the special
programs offered for particular groups of veterans (such as women veterans,
homeless veterans or older veterans).
Recovery and the Military: Treating Veterans and Their
Families (Webinar) http://store.samhsa.gov/product/DVD251 This webcast explores
alcohol and drug addiction among veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder and
other contributing stressors, and the effect of addiction on families. It
discusses addiction treatment issues and the service options available to vets
and their families.
SAMHSA News: Paving the Road Home: Returning Veterans and
Behavioral Health http://store.samhsa.gov/product/SAM08-165 This issue of
SAMHSA News covers a conference on returning veterans and their families that
addressed suicide prevention, employment, homelessness, and traumatic brain
injury. Also discusses bullying, mutual support groups, and mental health
services in primary care settings.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health
and Traumatic Brain Injury http://www.dcoe.health.mil/
They have a section on Suicide Prevention:
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/SuicidePreventionWarriors.aspx
They host regular webinars:
(http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Training/MonthlyWebinars/2012Webinars.aspx) and
they have a news update.
The Department of Defense: Restoring Hope
http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2010/0810_restoringhope_resources/ The DoD
suicide prevention page lists mental health services, self-help resources, and
awareness materials for providers, military, veterans and their families, most
of which are provided by the DoD or VA.
The Distress Line http://www.dstressline.com/ From the
everyday stressors of life to the stressors related to combat, stress can
affect even the strongest Marine. The DSTRESS Line was developed by the Corps
to provide professional, anonymous counseling for Marines, attached Sailors,
and families when it’s needed most.
DOD/VA Suicide Outreach http://www.suicideoutreach.org/ This
website has ready to access to support hotlines, assessments and treatment
options, professional resources and forums, and various multimedia tools – all
designed to connect you to information that meets your specific needs. This
site supports all members of the U.S. military – active and reserve, veterans,
families, friends, and providers.
FOCUS http://www.focusproject.org/ FOCUS (Families
OverComing Under Stress™) provides resiliency training to military children and
families. It teaches practical skills to meet the challenges of deployment and
reintegration, to communicate and solve problems effectively, and to
successfully set goals together and create a shared family story.
Give an Hour http://www.giveanhour.org/skins/gah/home.aspx A
nonprofit organization providing free mental health services to U.S. military
personnel affected by the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Military Suicide Research Consortium https://msrc.fsu.edu/
The MSRC Research Program runs cutting-edge empirical studies to further the
knowledge base on topics such as risk assessment, treatment, and prevention, as
they pertain to suicidal behavior in the military.
NAMI Veterans and Military Resource Center http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=Veterans_Resources
This webpage contains online resources for veterans and
active duty military members, as well as their families, friends, and advocates
on topics like PTSD, mental illness, and obtaining VA benefits.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
http://learn.nctsn.org/course/category.php?id=10 They run a “Military Families
Learning Community” where you can get access to podcasts, webinars and speaker
series on a variety of military-related topics.
SAMHSA’s Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families
Technical Assistance Center To subscribe to their mailing list, please email
Jody Zabel at [email protected]. They send out webinar announcements, news
articles and other SMVF resources of interest.
Staying Strong: Parent Guidance for Military Connected
Families http://stayingstrong.org/splash Educational tools for military
families focused on how moving, a parent’s deployment, and other factors can
affect a child’s emotional development.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs http://www.va.gov/ The
VA has several different websites that specialize in different issues:
Suicide prevention awareness website
http://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ This website contains information on the
veterans feature of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, suicide warning
signs, and links to other mental health resources for veterans.
The National Center for PTSD http://www.ptsd.va.gov/ The
VA National Center for PTSD conducts research and provides education on the
prevention, understanding and treatment of PTSD.
U.S. Air Force Suicide Prevention Program (AFSPP)
http://afspp.afms.mil/ The AFSPP is listed on SAMHSA’s National Registry of
Evidence-based Programs and Practices. There are 11 elements of the AFSPP,
beginning with the involvement of leadership in the program. The Air Force
requires annual suicide prevention training of all active duty, reserve, guard,
and civilian employees.
U.S. Army Suicide Prevention Program
http://www.armyg1.army.mil/hr/suicide/default.asp The Army Suicide Prevention
Program uses Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) training
which prepares designated “gatekeepers” to recognize suicide risk and
intervene. All Army personnel, including civilians are required to participate
in Ask, Care, and Escort (ACE) training, developed by Public Health Command,
for suicide prevention and awareness. The website also includes awareness
materials, data and tools for commanders to develop suicide prevention
programs.
Resources for Addressing Suicide Prevention for Service
Members, Veterans, and their Families, October 2012
