A few years ago the Department of Veterans Affairs launched a national suicide prevention hotline to ensure veterans in emotional crisis have free, 24/7 access to trained counselors. Veterans can call and get immediate help by pressing 1. This suicide prevention hotline is a step in the right direction to address the alarming rate of military suicides within the United States. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs (2010) approximately 20% of all suicides in the U.S. are conducted by veterans. Given this startling statistic, more efforts in assisting our veterans must be done both at the federal and local level.

To learn more about this troubling trend befalling our nation’s veterans read our previous blog “The Alarming Rate of Suicide in the Military“.

If you have a different opinion or comment please post it here or email me at askthewarrant@thefrontlines.com. Thank you.

Very respectfully,

The “Warrant”

References

Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Outreach Center atwww.doe.health.mil/media/DCoE_News/DCOE_outreach_center.aspx.

O’Connor, C. (2010). Researchers to seek out explanations for higher suicide rate in military. The Denver Post. Retrieved from www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16453182

Military Mental Health Research. (2010). Retrieved from www.militarymentalhealth.org