The group gives “hope” to veterans struggling with mental health

America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP) has helped countless veterans access mental health and other resources, providing “hope,” as the nonprofit’s leader puts it Newsweekpeople returning to civilian life, some of whom may struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) asked veterans to contact each other. Veterans and their families were encouraged to make a pledge to talk to 10 veteran friends during Veterans Buddha Check-in Week.

According to the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research and analysis organization that aims to improve policy and decision-making, one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression.

In 2021, suicide was the 13th leading cause of death for veterans overall and the second leading cause of death for veterans under age 45, according to the most recent VA data.

A total of 6,392 veteran suicides were reported in 2021, which was 114 more than in 2020, according to the 2023 National Annual Report on Veteran Suicide Prevention. Firearms were more likely to be a contributing factor in 2021, according to the annual report. veteran suicides than non-veterans.

AWP, which aims to prevent veteran suicide by providing veterans with the resources they need, has helped nearly 61,000 veterans since 2014. Last year alone, AWP connected with 8,000 veterans, approximately 3,000 of whom were struggling with suicidal thoughts. This year, the nonprofit organization has helped 315 veterans struggling with suicidal thoughts.

“We’re trying to get more and more veterans to know who we are so that we can just reach out and say, ‘Hey, can you help me?’ And I always say you’ve never helped anyone you didn’t know,” said Jim Lorraine, president of AWP Newsweek by phone on October 20.

Lorraine served for 22 years in the United States Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel. He was a flight nurse, served in nine combat deployments, and retired as deputy commander surgeon, U.S. Special Operations Command. Lorraine is one of many veterans who have struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He doesn’t see his experience with PSTD as a disability, but rather as something that has made him stronger.

“And I can say that my experiences that influenced me ultimately made me the person I am,” Lorraine said. “That made me, as leader of America’s Warrior Partnership, say to the organization, ‘How can we do better? How can we help people? How can we provide them with access to resources so that they don’t have to struggle with unknowns?”

The people at AWP not only provide veterans with the resources they need, but they build lasting relationships with them, or as Lorraine puts it, “we stick with them.”

The struggles associated with returning to civilian life

Returning to civilian life can be a difficult transition for veterans that can lead to physical problems 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, you are very focused on the mission and the results. And a lot. the moment you get instructions on where you will go and what you will do each day,” Lorraine explained.

He said that when you leave the military, if you don’t have close relationships with others, “you may feel isolated, you may feel like you don’t fit in, that people don’t understand. This is a change. And you don’t understand, you have six months to a year to think it through in a cocoon, and you get thrown out and you say, “Here you go, this is the civilian world.”

Lorraine said that 94 percent of veterans flagged by AWP as having suicidal thoughts “have not reached out to us for mental or behavioral help. They came to us for a different reason, whether they needed access to their VA disability benefits, they needed access to VA health care, they lacked transportation.”

“We focus on hope”

When asked what other mental health conditions veterans struggle with besides post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Lorraine replied, “I think it’s depression. So one of the things we do at America’s Warrior Partnership is 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 that includes assistance with “housing, employment, education, relationships, access to services that improve quality of life, giving you the opportunity to restore your community’s purpose and lead again,” Lorraine said.

“It creates hope, which ultimately reduces suicide,” he said.