HST043: Serious Talk about Suicide
It\u2019s impossible to talk about Veteran Mental Health without addressing the elephant in the room: veteran suicide. The crisis surrounding veteran suicide is at epic proportions, and have been for quite a while. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin, has made combating veteran suicide the top clinical priority of the organization. It\u2019s a controversial topic; despite many different attempts at addressing the ongoing numbers of veterans taking their own lives, the numbers do not appear to be diminishing. Some veterans point to the system as the problem, others point to uncontrolled substance abuse, still, others point to the focus on veteran suicide in the first place.
\nIn this episode, Duane talks about veteran suicide, identifying the problem to be solved, a common misconception about suicide, and resources to learn more.
\nIn This Particular Episode You Will Learn:\n- \n
- The problem that we should be focused on (in Duane's opinion) \n
- How suicide is an indicator of deeper concerns and not the problem in and of itself \n
- Suicide as a manifestation of a veteran's inability to manage challenges in their life \n
- Suicide happens on a continuum \n
- Resources, including blog posts with more information \n