To address mental health US military seeks, as suicides rise

 In 2013 after finishing a tour in Afghanistan, Dionne Williamson felt emotionally numb. During several years of subsequent overseas postings more warning signs appeared.

“It’s like I lost me somewhere”, Williamson said, a Navy lieutenant commander who experienced disorientation, depression, memory loss and chronic exhaustion. ‘Sir, I need help, ‘I went to my captain and said. Something’s wrong”. 

Williamson’s experiences shine a light on the realities for service members seeking mental health help, as the Pentagon seeks to confront spiralling suicide rates in the military ranks. Simply acknowledging their difficulties can be intimidating, for most. And what comes next can be frustrating and dispiriting.

Williamson, 46, eventually found stability through a month-long hospitalization and a therapeutic program that incorporates horseback riding. To get the help she needed she had to fight for years. She said “It’s a wonder how I made it through”.

The creation of an independent committee in March to review the military’s mental health and suicide prevention programs, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced.

Suicides among active-duty service members increased by more than 40% between 2015 and 2020, according to Defence Department data. In 2020 alone the numbers jumped by 15%. With extreme isolation and a harsh climate the rate has doubled in long time suicide hotspot postings such as Alaska service members and their families contend.

Four times as many service members and veterans have died by suicide as have perished in combat, by the Cost of War Project a 2021 study concluded that since 9/11. 

“High exposure to trauma the influence of the military’s hegemonic masculine culture — mental, physical, moral, and sexual — stress and burnout, continued access to guns, and the difficulty of reintegrating into civilian life, the study detailed stress factors particular to military life”. 

To repeated requests for comment the Pentagon did not respond. The Pentagon’s current mental health offerings including a Defence Suicide Prevention Office established in 2011 have proven insufficient but Austin has publicly acknowledged.

Austin wrote in March “We take care of all our teammates it is imperative and can continue to reinforce that mental health and suicide prevention remain a key priority”. “To do this clearly we have more work.”

On how to handle mental health issues in the ranks, complete with briefing slides and a script last year the Army issued fresh guidelines to its commanders. 

But daunting long-term challenges remain. Within the internal military culture of self-sufficiency many soldiers fear the stigma of admitting to mental health issues. And those who seek help are compounded by bureaucratic obstacles but often find that stigma is not only real. 

A network of military-adjacent charitable organizations has tried to fill the gaps with a variety of programs and outreach efforts, much like the issue of food insecurity in military families.

In Alaska, such as an annual fishing tournament designed to provide fresh air and socialization for service members, some are purely recreational. Like an Armed Services YMCA program that offers free childcare so that military parents can attend therapy sessions, others are more focused on self-care.

The situation in Alaska is particularly dire. Command Sgt. Maj. Phil Blaisdell addressed his soldiers in an emotional Instagram post in January, after a string of suicides. “When did suicide become the answer”, he asked. “If you need something Please send me a DM. Please”. 

It’s a solitary nightmare for others that needs to be addressed, While posting to Alaska can be a dream for some service members, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said.

“You’ve got to be paying attention to this when you see the statistics jump as they are”, Murkowski said. “You’ve got everybody, right now. You’ve got the Joint Chiefs looking at Alaska and saying, ‘Holy smokes, what’s going on up there?”. 

“We have people who need our services and we can’t get to them”. “We need staff and until we get them, we will continue to have soldiers die”, One long time counsellor told Wormuth during a meeting. 

In Seward the annual Combat Fishing Tournament, Alaska, was formed to “get the kids out of the barracks, get them off the base for the day and get them out of their heads”, co-founder Keith Manternach said.

In 2007 the tournament, which has begun now involves more than 300 service members, includes a day of deep-water fishing followed by a celebratory banquet with prizes for the largest catch, smallest catch and the person who gets the sickest.

Rivera said, 48, who is assigned to Fort Hood in Texas “I know that I need help. There’s signs and I’ve waited long enough,”. “I don’t want my children to suffer because of me not going to get help.”

To get assistance others who speak up say it’s a struggle. Williamson said she found herself fighting for years to get time off and therapy, despite the on-base presence of “tons of briefings and brochures on suicide and PTSD”. 

Eventually, she entered a month-long in-patient program in Arizona. When she returned, a therapist recommended equine-assisted therapy, which proved to be a breakthrough.

At the Cloverleaf Equine Center in Clifton, Virginia now Williamson is a regular, where riding sessions can be combined with a variety of therapeutic practices and exercises. 

With physical or mental disabilities and children diagnosed with autism as a form for therapy working horses have long been used for people. In recent years, it has been embraced for helping service members with anxiety and PTSD.

“You need to be able to regulate your emotions, in order to be able to work with horses. Through body language and energy they communicate”, Shelby Morrison, Cloverleaf’s communications director said. “They respond to energies around them. They respond to negativity, positivity, anxiety, excitement.”

Source:- https://usnewscap.com/to-address-mental-health-us-military-seeks-as-suicides-rise/

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Created on Oct 12th 2022 04:13. Viewed 63 times.

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