Flame Think, Inc.

Suicide is an equal opportunity killer. Society tries to ignore the subject, paying lip service when the victim happens to be of notoriety, apart from which the subject remains taboo. At least up until now because I will be silent no more!

While serving in the military two events transformed me from maintaining the status quo (teaching suicide prevention classes) to aggressively seeking change. For the sake of brevity, I have dedicated a single paragraph to each event.

First Event: Several years ago, I provided pastoral support to a spouse who received notice her husband took his life. I spent five days with her family preparing to receive his body. I conducted numerous counseling sessions for the family, relatives and friends. I conducted the wake, the funeral, and the grave side committal. I tried as best I could to comfort a mourning family not afforded the privilege of touching their loved one, because to do so would have caused his face to fall off.

Second Event: A personal friend committed suicide. Some one told me he left work unexpectedly and never returned. The police located his auto, and upon closer inspection, they found him. I’m told the police report sited death by asphyxiation (carbon monoxide poisoning). The military called it suicide. I called it an avoidable tragedy.

In the span of twenty-four years I dealt with numerous suicides. In every case, commanders asked the same questions. “Why did he/she commit suicide? Did we miss warnings signs? Did we do every thing we could to keep this from happening?” And in every case the same remedy was prescribed. “Let’s implement more suicide prevention classes."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize the status quo was failing. Indicative by the fact that suicides in the military have been on the rise for years and 2010 saw the largest number of suicides in the military since records were first kept during the Civil War era.

In 2004 I became a certified Suicide Intervention instructor and soon discovered if properly trained and implemented, intervention personnel could help reduce the number of "at risks" incidents. However, there was a problem.

The military designated Unit Ministry Teams (consisting of one chaplain and one chaplain assistant) to receive intervention training, but that meant only two people were trained to provide intervention in an entire battalion or brigade. The math did not add up because two people can not effectively provide intervention for an entire battalion (up to as many as 600 soldiers). Seeing the glaring disparity, I implemented a solution within my own brigade.

I  established 'Suicide Intervention Teams’ with a minimum of three and a maximum of five team members per battalion. This gave me a minimum of 15 and up to a maximum of 20 intervention personnel per brigade. Their task was to observe for and indentify potential "at risk soldiers" and when necessary, implement basic intervention. Our number of “at risk incidents” plummeted.

While stationed at Fort Hood, Texas (2004-2008) I trained and implemented Suicide Intervention Teams in several National Guard units preparing to deploy to combat theaters. These teams were credited for helping (rescuing) hundreds of “at risks” individuals.

Having retired from the military I recognize that it’s time to introduce this concept to local churches, schools, colleges and businesses. We can ill afford to ignore the suicide crisis in the D/FW region (in 2010, Dallas suffered the largest number of suicides since records were kept).

Some times we have to do more than talk about suicide prevention. We have to be willing to confront the ‘persons at risk’ before they confront themselves. It’s time to shift our focus from prevention to intervention. It's time to implement Suicide Intervention Teams in the D/FW region.

For more information on Suicide Intervention, or if you would like to acquire basic intervention training, visit our web site at www.flamethink.com

(Image: 'Grieving Woman with Two Children' as found at www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/minne_george.html)