Group offers ‘hope’ to veterans struggling with mental health

America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP) has helped countless veterans access mental health care and other resources, offering “hope,” as the nonprofit’s leader put it Newsweekfor those re-entering civilian life, some of whom may be struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

This past week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) asked veterans to contact each other. Veterans and their families were encouraged to pledge to talk to 10 veteran friends during Veteran Buddy Check Week.

According to the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research and analysis organization aimed at improving policy and decision-making, one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan experience PTSD or major depression.

According to the latest data from the VA, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death for veterans overall in 2021, and the second leading cause of death among veterans under the age of 45.

There were a total of 6,392 suicide deaths among veterans in 2021, 114 more than in 2020, according to the National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report 2023. According to the annual report, firearms were more likely to be involved in suicide deaths among veterans than non-veterans in 2021.

AWP, which aims to prevent suicide among veterans by providing veterans with the resources they need, has helped nearly 61,000 veterans since 2014. Last year alone, the AWP contacted 8,000 veterans, about 3,000 of whom struggled with thoughts of suicide. The nonprofit has helped 315 veterans struggling with suicidal thoughts so far this year.

“What we’re trying to do is let more and more veterans know who we are – just to reach out and say, ‘Hey, can you help me?’ And I always say, you never helped anyone you didn’t know,” said Jim Lorraine, president of AWP Newsweek by telephone on October 20.

Lorraine served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force for 22 years. He was a flight nurse with nine combat deployments and retired as a deputy command surgeon for the United States Special Operations Command. Lorraine is one of many veterans who have struggled with PSTD.

He does not see his experience with PSTD as a disability, but rather as something that has made him stronger.

“And I can tell you that my experiences that impacted me ultimately made me the person I am,” Lorraine said. “It made me, as the leader of America’s Warrior Partnership, push the organization to say, ‘How are we going to do better than this? How can we help people? ‘not have to struggle with the unknown?'”

People at AWP not only connect veterans to the resources they need, but also build lasting relationships with them, or as Lorraine puts it, “we stay with them.”

Struggle related to the return to civilian life

Re-entering civilian life can be a difficult transition for veterans that can lead to physical challenges such as financial problems, food insecurity and homelessness.

“When you join the military, it takes six months to a year to become military-friendly… you trust the person to your right and left and you’re very mission-oriented and results-oriented. And a lot of the time you’re getting directions about where you’re going and what you’re going to do every day,” Lorraine explained.

He said that when you leave the military, unless you have close relationships with others, “you may feel isolated, you may feel like you don’t belong, that people don’t understand. It’s a change. If you’re given six months to a year to figure this out in a cocoon, you’re pushed out and you’re like, “Here you go, here’s the civilian world.”

Lorraine said that 94 percent of veterans identified by the AWP as having suicidal ideation “didn’t contact us for mental or behavioral help. They contacted us for some other reason, whether that was, they had needed access to their VA disability benefits, they needed access to VA health care, they don’t have transportation.”

‘We focus on hope’

When asked what other mental health disorders veterans face besides PTSD, Lorraine said, “I think depression. So one of the things we do at America’s Warrior Partnership is we focus on hope. How hopeful is a veteran and how hopeless is a veteran,” adding that “hopelessness correlates with suicide.”

AWP looks at suicide prevention from a holistic approach, which includes assistance with “housing, employment, education, relationships, access to services that improve your quality of life, giving you the opportunity to re-purpose and lead your community” , said Lorraine. .

“That creates hope, which ultimately reduces the number of suicides,” he said.