Eventually, it became evident to me from my IG and SPS experiences,
that much could be accomplished through a carefully designed system
for collaboration between military bases (or other federal agencies) in
any given geographic area and the crisis intervention/suicide prevention
(ci/sp) resources of adjacent civilian communities. The potential for
good was enormous, not only for and within the military community, but
national as well. I learned in time that I was not alone; many others,
professionals and lay, were thinking and active along similar lines.
I was convinced that the time was long past for both military and civilian
managers and supervisors, in both the public and private sectors to
acquire basic indoctrination in ci/sp as it pertained to the people that they
commanded or supervised. I wrote numerous letters on the issue,
recommending specific actions, and continued doing so after I retired in
1974. My appeals went to the Federal Executive, Congress, and the
media. I stressed the urgent need for proactive command (or agency)-
wide training and motivational programs to confront the suicide
phenomenon, and get organized to reduce suicide attempts and deliberate
self-destructive behavior among military personnel, members of their
families, and DoD and other Departments' employees.
The essence of my appeal was, first, for a set of formal objectives for the
federal military and civil services to move them toward collaboration with
community resources that were engaged in grass roots suicide
prevention; in essence, collaboration and teamwork between the federal
government, as an employer of people, and the communities in which
their people lived and worked. If the concept could get a foot in the door
at the federal level, then state and county governments might hitch a ride
on the system, and ultimately, so would private sector employers. In
made no difference which level took the initiative, cross feed and human
nature would eventually get the others interested. The suicide trend, the
way I read the Public Health Service's statistics of the early and mid-70s,
was heading up.
Many government and private sector employers already had in-house
programs for stress management. They also had employees who,
although lay persons, had been trained and qualified to give emergency
CPR and other forms of first aid at the work site. So why not someone
in the shop or office who was basically trained in suicide prevention and
crisis intervention? As with other on-site emergency services, this person,
who would have been trained and qualified to recognize discernible and
professionally recognized signs that might precede a suicide attempt,
would consult with a supervisor, and exercise his/her judgment in getting
the person-in-distress ASAP to professional help.
Community suicide prevention programs (certified SP Centers, informal
hotlines, Community Mental Health Centers, etc.) had by that time
become a fact of life: they existed, and were part of the system, organized
or ad hoc. Proactive 'suicide prevention,' would generate its own force
for being: it would not get canceled like an aircraft, ship, or construction
program, to the contrary. With oversight by reasonable and
conscientious leaders, managers, and supporters, suicide prevention
would become ingrained, omnipresent, and a way of life in which
everyone would play a vital role. Naive? Maybe, maybe not.
What is vital to sustain 'suicide prevention' is to spread the idea, and
make it 'everybody's business.' Making the idea acceptable as
'everybody's business' would be 'everybody's job.' The 'everybody'
would include parents and teachers and counselors of children and
youth, police officers and rescue workers on the street, and supervisors,
staff, and union officials in the workplace. It would be where people
played, in their neighborhoods, and go along with each age group to
where they would spend their retirement years.
For the elderly (among whom depression and suicide rates are very
high) crisis intervention resources, and suicide prevention and risk-
reduction depends on leaders and staff of health care institutions,
administrators and staff in retirement residence and convalescent
communities, senior centers, AARP chapters, and anywhere the elderly
gather. The reality would also depend on the elderly themselves,
individually and collectively, e.g., to get past the long history they
inherited of bigotry, superstition, and ignorance when it comes to mental
health, suicide, and helping survivors of suicide. Emphasis on adult
education, support group discussions, and motivational training can help
to reduce such barriers among middle year's adults (parents of school
age children) as well as the elderly.
An article I wrote in 1984 Suicide Prevention Must Be Everybody's
Business was published in the January 14, 1985 issue of the Army,
Navy and Air Force Times. It advocated an organized suicide prevention
program within the military which would include training and
involvement of all active duty military, not confined to those in the
medical and mental health fields. I posed the questions:
'a. Does your base have a program whereby supervisors and co-workers
who might be confronted with suicidal people are trained to recognize
the warning signs and refer potential suicides to professionals?
'b. Are any base personnel, especially security police, social actions or
family support workers, trained in crisis intervention techniques? Are
any of them volunteer workers in the local community's suicide
prevention program?
'c. Does your base have any sort of arrangement with local suicide
prevention centers or hotlines so that a civilian crisis worker can contact
the base for information or assistance? Do civilian volunteers know
exactly whom to call for help when a military person or dependent
threatens suicide?
'd. Do your base officials routinely check with local crisis clinics to find
out the number and types of distress calls being received from military
people? Is this information analyzed to determine trends or patterns?
'e. Do your base mental health workers give talks to active duty and
dependents' groups on this subject? Are civilian experts in suicide
prevention brought on base to explain their services?'
The following month (February 22, 1985), the Secretary of the Army
and the Chief of Staff issued a Memorandum for Major Commands and
Staff Agencies which stated in part, 'The Department of the Army has
developed a Suicide Prevention Strategy designed to help commanders
deal with this problem. Commanders must use this plan and complement
it with initiatives tailored to specific needs.' Over the following months
the Army issued implementing Departmental, major command, and
subordinate level Regulations, programs, and guides.
Later that same year (1985), I secured copies of studies, plans, directives,
motivational guides and other documents published by NIMH, the
American Association of Suicidology (AAS), and the Army on their in-
house suicide prevention programs and which they provided to me in
response to my appeals. I published in book form the material that I
received, and marketed it on a not-for-profit basis to cover my printing
and related costs. My initial report, printed on Feb 26, 1971 (during Viet
Nam) was 'Summary and Commentary on the Institute in Suicidology in
Los Angeles January 23-27 1971' and had limited distribution within the
Air Force, and the next compilation was in June 1985, 'Military-Civilian
Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.' A subsequent update was published in
1988 'Suicide Prevention Programs in the Department of Defense', and
the last update, in 1994, returned to the original title 'Military-Civilian
Teamwork in Suicide Prevention.'
My intent, in collecting and disseminating to the general public the
suicide prevention programs and practices of the Armed Forces, NIMH,
and other contributors was to join the many lay persons like myself who
had become involved. Wide distribution might also promote cross feed
and disclose conflicting policies and procedures. The process, itself, I
felt, would encourage collaboration among professionals,
paraprofessionals, and administrators and directors of suicide prevention
entities in neighboring civilian communities. Further, I hoped that
publicizing the Armed Forces' plans and procedures for suicide
prevention and crisis intervention would encourage other government
entities to explore their need for comparable programs, and that
potentially beneficial methodologies might spin off to the private sector.
My continuing interest in proactive and organized suicide prevention
efforts in the Armed Forces led me to write to then Secretary of Defense
Les Aspin, and to Senator Sam Nunn and Congressman Ronald
Dellums in their responsibilities as Senate and House chairmen,
respectively, of committees charged with the oversight of military affairs.
A copy of my letter to and the response from the Office of the Secretary
of Defense is attached.