On any given day, 22 veterans or active duty members commit suicide. Some estimates are even higher as their deaths are recorded as accidental. Most of them are Vietnam veterans, with one active duty member each day. That is why, during the month of May, we want to keep the public aware of the tremendous suicide crisis our veterans are facing.
Brian Kinsella founded Stop Soldier Suicide in 2010 after one of his own soldiers attempted to commit suicide. Since that time, the organization has grown and now supports full time personnel to promote soldier suicide awareness as well as some assistance. They lead in awareness through outreach campaigns to change the way our nation thinks about veteran mental health care and the stigma of receiving treatment. The hope is to reduce or eliminate any fear or career repercussions for seeking treatment.
In support of their effort, Remember Our Heroes is sponsoring a candlelight vigil on May 22 at 22:22 hours (10:22 p.m.) at Lubbock Area Veterans War Memorial, 82nd & Nashville Avenue. We would also like to ask the community to have a moment of silence or prayer at some point on May 22nd to remember that our veterans are in crisis and in need of our help and support.
Remember Our Heroes (ROH) is a grass roots group of community leaders that started several years ago in Lubbock by promoting the Purple Heart Day at Texas Tech University. It turned out to be the largest gathering of Purple Heart recipients at that time on American soil. The ROH consists of volunteers and business owners dedicated to supporting our active duty military members and veterans and their families.
Stop Soldier Suicide is not a crisis center and does not offer direct clinical or counseling services or funding. They do provide a variety or resources for whatever might be triggering suicidal ideations. They do use an evidence-based model to fulfill their mission with assessments, triage, referral services and follow-up. They are a national and local network, helping to curb the epidemic rate of veteran/active duty suicide. For more information, visit http://stopsoldiersuicide.org/.
(News release from Remember Our Heroes)
