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Let's go ahead and get started with today's session.

I'm so excited for our partnership, collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration office of mental health and suicide prevention.

And I'm excited to introduce our presenters today, Ms. Lillie Mells is the education and training program coordinator, and Shurhonda Love is the community relations specialist with Partnerships and Community Relations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Welcome to both of you, so happy to have you both here.

Welcome.

>> LILLIE MELLS: Thank you, and good afternoon.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: If you'd like to turn on your video, that's fine as well.

Thank you.

Shurhonda, I'll turn it over to you.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Good afternoon, everyone.

I think I'm clicking here.

Welcome to the presentation.

First person that will be presenting today will be Ms. Mells, and Lillie, if you would let me know when you're ready I'm prepared to drive your slides.

>> LILLIE MELLS: Again, I want to say good afternoon to everyone and a special thank you to WebJunction for having both of us here today to present.

We love giving out information on veterans and resources, so we're excited about being here.

So I'm going to shut off my video because sometimes I get a little technical difficulties, and I'll turn it back on when we're done.

We can go ahead and get started.

One of the first things I want to do, I know question have quite a few people out in the audience, I like to know if we have any service members, former service members in the audience.

So you can type in the chat box and let me know if we have any army folks there.

I know we have Shurhonda, who is Army.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Yep.

>> LILLIE MELLS: I see we have AGR officer, okay.

Oh, wow, we got the Air National Guard, we've got a lot going on here.

What about the Navy?

Any folks from the Navy?

Navy mom, great.

Any MaMarines?

Any of my brothers and sisters in the blue?

I'm Air Force.

Coast Guard?

And then the Guard and Reserve.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: One more.

Metadata oh, wow.

Shurhonda, we are well represented today.

This is awesome.

This is awesome.

One of the things I like to share with people is that I'm always especially excited when I see so many people who either know someone in the -- that served, or has served themselves.

And one of the things about serving, our service members, I have a deeper appreciation for all branches of the armed forces, because when you serve alongside each branch, you have a deeper appreciation, and I will tell you, I served alongside each branch, including the Guard and Reserve and I deployed alongside each branch, so you have a deeper appreciation.

I just wanted to acknowledge the folks in the audience today.

But thank you.

So we're going to go ahead and get started.

So today we're -- by participating in this session, you're going to learn the steps of suicide prevention from the V.A. perspective, our V.A. S.A.V.E. training, which is our one-on-one gate keeper suicide prevention training.

And Ms. Love is going to bring you the military culture, tell you about different aspects of military culture, and then at the end we're going to give you some resources that you can utilize and share alike.

Next slide, please.

So steps of suicide prevention.

This is our S.A.V.E. briefing.

So S.A.V.E., we start with S.

Which is Signs of suicidal thinking.

So when we talk about Signs of suicidal thinking, you want to learn how to recognize these warning signs.

Because they're going to help you act with care and compassion, and identify somebody who is at risk and get them to the right resources at the right time.

So learn how to recognize these warning signs.

Hopelesses in.

We see a lot of that.

Especially when people are dealing with medical issues, financial issues, a lot of hopelessness.

Feeling like there's no way out of their situation.

So you will see a lot of that.

Anxiety.

Anybody know what anxiety is?

You can drop it in the box.

It's that feeling of nervousness, something is about to happen, usual not sure what, you're not sure who, you're not sure when.

Some people will have physical symptoms.

Some people may be nauseated, some people start to feel claustrophobic, some people will have sweaty palms, some people have a racing heart rate.

And they'll actually go into a full-blown panic attack.

So it varies from people to people, but usually those key signs are pretty similar.

Agitation, you'll see a lot of that.

Sleeplessness or mood swings.

Next, feeling like there's no reason to live.

And especially when people are dealing with crises and challenges, they start to feel like there's no reason to live.

Rage or anger.

One of the things we know about rage and anger that is usually a mask for some other disorders, and usually what we see is once we pull back the layers of rage and anger, we will probably find a lot of depression and anxiety underneath.

And the reason we see the rage and anger is because it's a learned behavior.

You learn how to you mask things when you're younger, and they manifest themselves differently.

Next, engaging in risky activities without thinking.

I will tell you, two weeks ago I was in New York City, and I'm from New York City, and I saw a lot of stuff going on, and I was thinking to myself, this is a lot of risky activities.

But when we're talking about suicidal behavior, we're talking about behaviors that lead to people having thoughts of wanting to kill themselves or actually engaging in those acts.

I've seen people ride on motorcycles at high rates of speed, weaving in and out of traffic, no helmet, those kinds of things.

Increasing alcohol or drug use.

Many times when people are dealing with issues they don't want to deal with the realities and for some, they feel like it's better to just be high or under the influence of alcohol, and they don't have to deal with these issues.

But I will tell you this, once you sober up, those issues are still there, and sometimes they're even more greater than when you started out.

Then withdrawing from family and friends.

So you will see a lot of that, because people who are around you, they can see the withdrawal.

They can see the difference in the behavior.

And so people who are feeling this way or engaging in those activities, they tend to stay away from family and friends.

More signs of suicidal thinking.

The presence of any of the following signs requires immediate attention.

So thinking about hurting or killing themselves.

You need to provide immediate attention.

Looking for ways to die.

And believe me, there's a million and one things you can do to a-- don't think just because that person doesn't have a weapon or they don't have pills or those kind of things, there's other things that people can do and have done.

Talking about death, dying, or suicide.

When someone is mentioning these things and even if they don't have a plan or intent, it tells you that they are dealing with some challenging issues, and they're giving you cues that they are in distress and need help.

Self-destructive risk-taking behavior, especially when it involves drugs, alcohol, or weapons.

So think about this scenario.

Someone is going through financial issues, they may be going through relationship issues, they may be going through employment issues, housing issues.

And they decide, I don't want to deal with this anymore.

I'm going to get drunk.

They may have a weapon.

And one of the things about being under the influence of alcohol and drugs is that your judgment is off.

And when you have impaired judgment, people tend to do things that they would not normally do.

Because their judgment is impaired.

So man the same scenario where that person is depressed, drinking or using drugs, they have their weapon, and they say oh, maybe I should clean my weapon.

This is a good time to clean my weapon.

And then maybe a few minutes later, you know what?

I'm so depressed, I can't take it, maybe I should just use my weapon on myself?

Those kinds of things.

Asking the question.

So I want to ask you all to type in the chat box -- know how to ask the most important question of all.

What is that question?

I want someone to tell me what that question is.

Know how to ask the most important question.

So I see someone says, are you thinking of hurting yourself?

Are you planning on killing yourself?

Are you wanting to kill yourself, or are you thinking of attempting suicide?

We've got some good answers in that box.

Let me give you our answer.

The answers to that question is, are you thinking about killing yourself?

And the reason we want to ask this question is that we want to be clear about what that individual is thinking and planning on doing.

If I just ask, are you thinking about hurting yourself, "hurt" can mean many different things to many different people.

You could burn yourself on a cigarette and hurt yourself.

That doesn't mean necessarily that you're going to kill yourself.

But when we ask, are you thinking about killing yourself, there's no other answer that can come from that.

That's either yes or no.

And even though it may be difficult to ask that question, that's the question that we want to ask, that's the question that we need the answer to.

So we want to be straightforward as possible, we don't want to leave any room for error, we want to ask that question exactly the way it is.

Are you thinking of killing yourself?

And the other questions like, are you okay and do you need to talk, we want to get specific to it.

Because "okay" is the same thing.

It could mean something different for you than what it means for me.

If you grow up in a chaotic household, that may be your way of life.

So chaos to you may be normal, and it may be different for me.

So that's why I want to be specific and say, are you thinking of killing yourself?

Next, validate the veteran's experience.

The individual's experience.

You warn to talk openly about suicide and are they -- be willing to listen and allow that person to express his own feelings.

One of the things I can tell you about validating people is that you really make them feel they're important.

They feel -- their feelings are important, their opinions are important.

When you validate someone.

You want to recognize that the situation is serious, don't pass judgment, and reassure them that help is available.

When we talk about validating, think about this.

You grow up, and one of the things I've heard it very often, I'm not sure if you have heard it, Shurhonda, when usual little the first thing you learn is children should be seen and not heard.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Of course.

>> LILLIE MELLS: That's the first introduction of be silent.

Your opinion doesn't matter, your feelings don't matter.

Think about veterans.

We have people that join the Armed Forces, 18, 19 years old, you're coming from home where you've been told to be silent.

Now you join the military.

And if you have the opportunity to go through basic training, what is one of the things they tell you?

Shut up and be quiet.

So here again, you're being told, be quiet.

Shut up.

Just shut up and do what I tell you to do.

And it's almost putting that individual back into a childlike state.

I've been told this my whole life.

Shut up.

Here I am, 18, 21 years old, and I'm still being told to shut up.

Okay.

They make it through basic training, they end up at their unit, guess what?

If you're coming from basic training you're joining the military at 18, 19 years old, you're probably the low man on the totem pole, right?

So what happens again?

Shut up.

I'm the boss here.

I'm in charge.

You be quiet.

So for the majority of their life they've been told to be quiet, your voice doesn't matter, your opinion doesn't matter.

And many times when people are in crisis, they just want to be heard.

They just want to be heard.

Most people know that there's nothing singularly that you can do to change their situation, however, if you can be a good listener and be compassionate, and just hear them out, it could change -- make a huge change for them.

So we want to make shr that we validate that individual.

And I'll give you an example of that.

Shurhonda, I grew up in New York City.

A lot of things going on in New York City.

One of the things we have there is these potholes.

And they are man made holes and they cover them with these metal tops that they put on it.

And it's for drainage and all kinds of things under ground.

And a lot of times there's steam coming from these holes, and many times those manhole covers get too hot and they actually blow.

The lid comes off.

But these are heavy, iron cast tops.

So when they blow, they actually sound like a bomb.

They really do.

Or maybe a huge truck crashing or backing up or something of that nature.

So let's say if I'm sitting in the DC office, and they have some manhole covers up there on the streets, and if one of those things blows, let's say if Shurhonda is not from an urban city like myself and she's from a rural area, never heard that kind of sound, she might jump up and run and get under the table.

I can't turn to her and say, get over it!

It's just a manhole cover.

Because you know what I'm doing there?

I'm dismissing her.

I'm dismissing how she felt at that moment.

My experience is different from her.

I cannot put my experience into her.

So I have to let her express how she felt during that situation.

So we want to make sure we can validate people.

Next, encourage treatment and expedite getting help.

Next slide, please.

So encourage treatment and expedite getting help.

So what should you do if you think someone is suicidal?

You don't want to keep that individual's concern a secret.

Or that behavior a secret.

These are not the type of secrets that we want to keep.

Don't leave that person alone.

And like I said before, there's many things that people can use and have done to themselves, so you don't want to leave them alone.

Try to get that person to seek immediate help from his own doctor, or the nearest emergency room.

Call 9-1-1 if you need to.

Reassure them that help is available.

Call the veterans crisis line at 98, that just came out this July.

It's amazing, because 988 takes away from the 1-800-273-8255.

Now individuals can just dial 988 as if they're dialing 9-1-1.

And be connected to the citesis line or the national suicide prevention lifeline.

It's the same number.

The only difference is that if you're a veteran or service member, you press number one and you'll be connected to a peer responder.

Everybody else, you'll get connected to a civilian responder.

But one of the things that I do want to say also is that don't leave that person alone, and if you're a good friend, and you want to help someone, even if you have to escort them to the emergency room, I'm going to be honest, the emergency room, it's not always pleasant.

You got sick people in the emergency room.

Typically if you go to the ER, if you come by ambulance, guess what?

You're going to be seen first.

You're going to be seen first.

So with mental health issues, typically folks can walk in on their own.

Or escorted in.

They don't need to be carried in on a stretcher.

So typically there's a waiting period.

There's also a big shortage of psychiatry in this country, so it's a little bit of a wait.

So I would say if you have someone who is in that kind of crisis, sit and wait with them.

Sit and wait with them.

Show them you care.

You don't want to have them waiting by themselves.

And typically if people have to wait by themselves, they probably won't.

So you can definitely do that.

Next, when talking with an Israel at risk for suicide, what are some of the things you want to do?

First you want to remain calm.

In many situations, if you can remain calm, your thought process can be more clear.

You can act and know what to do.

When we get riled up, it doesn't help the situation.

It really doesn't.

Take, for example, you have a toddler or infant who is learning how to walk.

Let's say the infant is about, I don't know, 10, 11 months old.

With infants, they wobble, they roll to the left, they roll to the right when they're starting to walk, right?

So let's say this infant is trying to walk.

Mom is sitting across the room.

If that infant gets up and starts walking and falls down, if mom starts to -- oh, my god, the baby fell!

And runs over to grab the baby, guess what's going to happen?

That baby is going to start to cry.

Because they're feeding off what's happening with mom.

If mom would just sit down and turn the other way, that baby will look for the cue, they don't see it, they will get up and try and walk again.

So that's why we want to remain calm.

Don't get excited, don't get out of sorts when this situation occurs.

You want to listen more than you speak.

Remember what I said earlier -- sometimes people just want to be able to express themselves, they want to get their point of view out.

They want to be heard.

Let them vent.

Maintain good eye contact.

The worst thing ever that I have seen is that you walk into an establishment and you're at the front desk, and the person is either on the phone, writing something, and they say, how can I help you?

Well, it's a dismissive behavior.

And you really want to connect with that individual.

So you want to be able to maintain good eye contact.

Act with confidence.

Even if you don't know how, you want to act with confidence.

I'll tell you guys a funny story.

When I was stationed in California, my kids were very little then, and I was a single mom, and you know, you just learn to do a whole lot of things by yourself.

And so anybody those about cats, we had a couple of stray cats that would come around the house.

I never fed them or things like that, because I didn't want to have a whole host of cats roaming in front of my house.

But this one cat in particular, I guess he wanted us to adopt him.

So he would come round every day, whatever, and I didn't pay him any mind.

This particular day I pull up in test test test driveway, guess what?

If a cat wants you to take him in, what do they do?

Do you know what they do, Shurhonda?

If a cat wants you to take them in?

Any idea?

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: I don't.

I guess meow?

>> LILLIE MELLS: No.

They bring you gifts!

They bring you gifts!

You know what kind of -- someone got it.

They bring you dead animals.

So this cat put a dead mouse in front of my driveway.

And he was just sitting there.

I thought to myself, are you kidding me?

Now, why should I be afraid of a dead mouse?

I have no idea.

But I went to get out of the car, the kids were in the back, I jumped back in the car.

I wanted no part of this dead mouse.

But I had my kids in the car and I had to get in the house.

So I'm thinking to myself, how am I going to get through this situation?

Mind you, it's a dead mouse.

It's not alive.

It's not going to do anything to me.

So I thought, okay.

What can I do?

What can I do?

Meanwhile the kids are watching.

And I realize, oh, there's a rake over on the other side of the house.

So I climb over to the passenger's side of the seat of the car, get out that door, and go and get this rake.

Come around the back end of the car, to the front, and I took that rake and I pushed this dead mouse out into the road.

Dropped the rake and jumped back in the car.

And guess what the kids said?

Oh, mom!

You're a hero!

They were so excited that I did it.

And I was scared to death, shaking.

I don't know why.

It was a dead mouse.

But obviously I showed them some confidence and they believed in me.

And they believed in me.

And we got rid of that mouse.

So, you know, you have to act with confidence even if you -- it's not in you.

Okay?

Next, don't argue with the individual.

There are so many hot topics floating around today, you don't want to get involved in any of those topics.

Politics, COVID, abortion, religion, all these things, stay away from those topics.

Because this is a no-win situation.

You're not doing to win in these arguments.

Everybody has their heels dug in, it's a no-win situation.

So I would stay away from those topics.

Use open body language.

You don't want to be like McCallly Kaul kin on home alone with the shock face.

Don't do that.

You want to limit your questions, let that individual do the talking.

But you do want to use supportive and encouraging comments.

You want to be honest, and let them know that there's no quick solution, but help is available.

We've had some areas where people will call the V.A. and say, you know what?

I'm eight months behind in my mortgage, I'm going to kill myself.

I gotta be honest, the V.A. is not going to pay eight months of your mortgage.

It's not going to happen.

However, we do have resources, we have some options where we can help you.

I don't want to lie to that person, because most of us, if you're good, you can pick out a liar real quick.

And so that's not what you want to do.

Next slide.

So what do you do if a person expresses suicidal ideation during a phone call?

So you want, first thing you want to do is keep the caller on the line.

Don't hang up or transfer that call.

Do not.

And I will tell you this, even though most of us are working remote now, when we were in the office, I was never really good at transferring calls.

And I've worked in a number of offices and hospitals, never really good at transferring calls.

Every time it was my opportunity to transfer a call, I couldn't remember the right steps.

Do I press hashtag?

Do I press release?

Do I dial the number?

Next thing I know, disconnected.

I just don't transfer enough calls throughout the year to become really good at it.

So when it comes to transferring calls, leave it to a call center operator, leave it to our switchboard operators, don't attempt yourself unless you really know what you're doing.

Remain calm again, try to obtain as much identifying information on the caller as you can.

Their name, their phone number, and their current location.

It doesn't matter if they don't give you the whole thing.

Take what you, get.

We have other mechanisms of trying to find that individual.

You can conference call to the veterans crisis line, but again, like I said, if you know how to do this now, when you conference a call, you actually still have that individual on the line, and they can hear you dialing, and you can wait until the other person picks up and say, hey, you got this call, and they'll say yes, I have the call.

But only if you really are good at doing that.

You can enlist coworkers for assistance, using any type of messaging you have via Teams, we use it all the time.

I remember a scenario when I was working at a V.A. facility, and this is before instant messaging came along and all of that, we only had email.

And someone had a suicidal person on the phone.

And what they did was they just remembered when they walked in that day, who did they see in the office?

And they just emailed 10 people.

I need your help.

Come to my office, I have somebody on the line, I need your help.

And that's how they were able to get help.

So with technology, our Darrel phones, Microsoft Teams, we have many ways to contact other people.

So even if I'm at my home, I can contact Shurhonda and say, hey, I got this caller on the line, send police to this location, or call rescue, what have you.

So you can get help.

And even if you work from home, if you have a cell phone, we have government cell phones, we can text people on that phone, and get help.

If the caller disconnects, call them back immediately.

If you get no answer, then you want to dispatch 9-1-1, tell them you were having a conversation with that individual, they might have been in distress, somehow the call just got disconnected, and you just want a welfare check.

You can also call the crisis line, just dial that 9-8-8, give them all the information and they'll reach out as well.

That's it for my piece of the presentation.

We're going to go on to military culture, and then after the military culture, then we will get into some of the resources we have available.

Shurhonda, take it from there.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Thank you, Lillie, thank you for an excellent presentation on S.A.V.E.

All right.

My name is Shurhonda Love, and I am a member of the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Partnerships Team, retired, United States Army, noncommissioned officer and we'll talk about that a little bit later.

MOS was 91 whiskey, which is a medic, which is now probably a 68 series, I think.

And today I want to take you on a little bit of journey for a brief, a very brief introduction to the military culture.

It's my intention to make this fun, and make this a memorable experience for you while educating you a little bit on our culture and covering a few recommended don'ts in the process.

Because I believe it's most effective to talk from a place of experience, much of my presentation will be told from the perspective of being in the Army, however some of the content Lillie may be able to add in comments in the chat box or after questions from the -- answer questions from the perspective of the Air Force.

With that said, we will jump right in.

Present!

That does not mean hold your arms up.

So it means -- that is the hand salute to be rendered when you hear that command.

The hand salute is primarily rendered to commissioned officers 01, W1, to W-5, warrant officers, or 0-10.

The hand salute is also rendered during other specific occasions, like reporting to the board.

Or saluting the colors.

Or the pledge of allegiance, or a few other times.

But let's get into a little specifics.

According to four U.S. code, paragraph four, the pledge of allegiance to the flag, the manner much delivery persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag and render the military salute.

Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans may also render the hand salute.

In the manner provided for persons in uniform.

Men and women not in the military, men will uncover and remove any nonreligious headdresses and place their hand over the -- over their left shoulder or over their heart.

Hand salute.

There you d go.

I think I just shrunk that slide.

There we go.

All right.

So some common statements that can be kind of aggravating.

When you see a service member and you're curious about what they did, what are some questions that come to your mind?

What does a veteran look ?riek I've actually was asked this question.

Actually, I was on a phone call trying to help a veteran with his needs, and he said, you don't sound like a veteran.

I was like, hmm.

What does a veteran sound like?

So let's explore some of the comments that we hear.

Due to stigma associated with military service members, many think that people serving that all people serving in the military have PTSD or some other mental health challenge.

Well, that's a false statement.

And it's harmful.

And it helps to create the perception that military service women and men are damaged as a result of their service.

Even those who may be surviving and thriving with mental health challenges, they are far from being broken, and are essential members and contributors to their communities.

Another one that is very common, everyone in the military is a soldier.

Well, that's not true.

A soldier is a service member of the army.

And we'll go over this a little bit more when we look at definitions of some commonly used words and acronyms.

Another one that you may hear, and it's glamorized in the movies, did you kill someone?

This could be a trigger for someone that as a result of their service, actually had to take a life.

This is not something you ask haphazardly.

These are sensitive questions.

This is an example of a question that you might not be prepared for the response.

As as rule of thumb, for intimate questions such as this one, think about your relationship with the person you're speaking to.

Do you have trust established?

Or is this just a service member that you're just meeting something are you prepared to support -- are you prepared to provide support if that question triggers an emotional response?

Remember, the act of taking a life can go against many religious and core beliefs, a good rule of thumb would be to simply avoid asking this question.

And be an active listener.

Let the veteran tell their story and you manage their own feelings and emotions.

The other one, what does a veteran look like?

We talked about that earlier.

Some automatically picture a muscular male.

Well, women that have served are also veterans.

And veterans come from various races, genders, and social economic backgrounds.

Another one that is very offensive is that you're not a veteran if you didn't go to combat.

Remember to never devalue any veteran's service, because they did not serve in combat.

Although serving in combat is very important and very necessary, surfing in the military in any specialty of training, combat, or not, comes with sacrifice.

Sacrifice of family, and friends, their current communities, their social networks, are just a few to name.

Corado according to a general in a statement he gave, at a convention here in the National Harbor in Maryland, he state second degree only 1% of our pop today will ever wear the uniform in this nation in any of its inCarnations.

That's being a marine, a soldier, an active guard or reserve, so please remember, all service is valuable and all service is to be appreciated.

So understanding a few military terms and definitions.

Let's talk about what is a veteran.

So according to title 38 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, a veteran is defined as a person who served in the military -- in the active military, naval, air, or space service, and who was discharge canned or released under conditions other than dishonorable.

So this could get a little tricky.

So for benefits, and V.A. compensation, that means V.A. compensation or pension, there are additional definitions and K.s that may be applicable.

Because this could become more technical, it's recommended that you direct the veteran to the amnesiaest V.A. regional office, a V.A. benefit website, or an accredited veterans service organization.

Short VSO.

So what is a combat veteran?

Well, that's a veteran that actually served in a combat zone.

Earlier we talked about MOS.

Let's break that down.

MOS is a Military Occupational Specialty, so if you ask a service member, what was your MOS, it is the equivalent of asking them, hey, what was your job in the military?

Active duty.

That means currently serving or serving in a full-time branch of the military.

Reserves.

The reserves are components of the active duty military service branches, and they augment the needs of the active duty in times of conflict or declared war.

Reserve duty is similar to a part-time job.

You serve part-time, usually one weekend a month, each month, and two weeks at an established time a year.

In this case, you are able to have a civilian -- have civilian employment while receiving military training or serving in an area where you live in a part-time status.

National Guard.

So the National Guard consists of two branches.

That is the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard.

Each state and the District of Columbia have its own national guard forces.

Their primary job is to defend the state to which they belong.

Responding to natural disasters and pandemics and so forth.

The guard can be federalized to respond to federal needs as well.

You saw this a hot in some states in a response to the Gulf War, where guard units were activated and deployed.

Big take-aways in understanding the Edward and the reserves, giewrdz are not federal, and they work for the government.

Primarily to protect the state to which it belongs.

You see them most memorably in the public, like I said, in times of disasters and pandemics and so forth.

Reserves, they are federal, and they augment the active duty services in war.

Both guard and reserves serve in part-time statuses one weekend per month or two weeks per year for active duty training.

So let's look at the reserve components of the Air Force.

They have the Air National Guard, and the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve -- this is the reserve components -- of the Armed Forces.

The Army National Guard, the United States Army, the Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force Reserve and also the Coast Guard Reserve.

I got a little tongue twisted.

Let's talk about a few just terms that you may hear when you're talking to, or if you overhear the conversation between veterans.

I'm taking leave.

Taking leave means, is the give lent of saying I'm going on vacation.

I'm taking a leave of absence.

Taking leave means it's authorized.

If you take leave and it's not authorized, you hear a term called AWOL.

AWOL, and that means Absent Without Leave.

The person just left.

Let's talk about another term that you may hear, deployment.

To deploy means to be sent on a tour.

She is deployed to career.

He is on tour in Japan.

You can have combat and noncombat deployments.

Outside of the continental United States, CONUS.

Outside of the continental United Nations is OCONUS, and inside of the continental United States is CONUS.

Often you see on military movies, and you may see in other movies you hear the term "missing in action."

During an action, a person cannot be found, a military action, a person cannot be found.

Killed in action means the person was killed during an action.

And POW means a person was captured by the enemy during war.

Prisoner of War.

Something that you also see in Hollywood is, hey, watch your six.

Does anybody know what watch your six means?

If you could type that in the chat box.

In short, it means I got your back.

One other thing you may see commonly is AAFES.

That's the Army Air Force Exchange Service.

That is where we go shopping.

It's our military mini-shopping mall.

And a Class Six would be the store that you obtain alcohol.

A Shoppette is the equivalent of a 7-Eleven.

It serves alcohol, gas, and other quick eats, cleaning supplies and things of that nature.

One final thing, if a serviceman walks up to your desk and asks where's your latrine, where's your head?

They're not asking you are you crazy, where's your head.

They're asking you where's the bathroom?

All right.

So let's talk about these terms.

The Army, soldiers.

Air Force, airmen.

The Navy, they're sailors.

Marine Corps, Marines.

Coast Guard, Coast Guardian.

So I have a question for you.

What do you call members of the Space Force?

Could you type that in the chat box?

Did anybody get that right, Lillie?

We call them guardians.

So remember, like I said earlier, contrary to popular belief, all service members are not soldiers.

So let's talk a little bit about basic training and that experience.

Basic training, combat training, basic combat training, BCT or AIT, Advanced Individual Training, or one station unit training, for the Army, they last for 10 weeks.

It begins with the in-processing at the reception station, vaccination, record building, the issue of I.D. tags, and I.D. medical cards, medical examinations, and this is normally the first phase, this is the first phase where for me, I was likes oh, my god, what's happening here?

And in the army when I went through, there were three faiths, and I believe this still true today.

Three phases, and they are labeled by their colors.

Red, white, and blue.

For those in the red phase, that's the first phase.

Weeks one through three.

Overnight field training, first aid, radio map reading military law, drill and ceremony, first confidence course, also the familiarize Apples to Apples with the M-16, NDC, which is chemical, learning how to use chemical gear.

Unarmed combat.

Bayonet training, back in my time.

In weeks -- you have M-16 qualification and other weapons familiarize Apples to Apples, unarmed combat, and other familiarize Apples to Apples with weapons.

In the blue phase, week seven through 10, you have a platoon obstacle course, individual tact cl movement, night infiltration course, and a seven-day field training, a 10-mile road march, breech training, and mock combat training.

This is very, very very exhausting, but it's very, very, very fun.

My AI ti. was in the 1990s, so this are a number of things that may be different today.

I went through combat medical specialist training, and that consisted of CPR, advanced life saving training, resulting in EMS -- EMT certification and basic anatomy and physiology training.

Today's medics receive 16 weeks of training.

We received I believe 10 weeks of training.

So let's talk about rank.

So understanding rank is important.

And there's -- there are hyperlinks embedded into this chart.

So noncommissioned or missioned.

 commissioned.

Junior enlisted are E-1 through E4.

Noncommissioned or E5-E9.

And in the -- the Marines I believe corporals are E4 through E9, and those would be noncommissioned.

Warrant officers, they are commissioned.

I'm sorry, they're not commissioned.

And they are warrant office W01-CW5, chief warrant officer.

The chief warrant officer five supports the higher level of operations to the command level.

And they provide technical and tactical expertise as well as leadership and mentoring.

Noncommissioned officers are usually military officer that has not pursued a commission, but NCO, and they usually earn their rank through promotion and through the enlisted ranks.

I was an NCO.

Commissioned officers hold the higher ranks in the military, and they lead soldiers in all situations.

Their duties include planning missions, giving orders, and assigning tasks and duties to complete their missions.

Their posts require a bachelor's degree, then a master's degree for promotions.

And they are separate into -- separated into three tiers, company grade, field grade, and general officers.

And company grade officers are second lieutenant and first lieutenant captain, major, lieutenant colonel, and lieutenant colonel 05.

>> LILLIE MELLS: Got to correct you on that.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Which one?

>> LILLIE MELLS: Company grade is first lieutenant, second lieutenant and captain.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Sorry.

Yeah, I got it.

I got to move that down.

Thank you.

Thank you, that's why we're a team.

So on with that, I will turn it back over to Lillie, and we both will go over some resources.

Here are some links to the services so you can click each one of them and they will take you directly to the branches.

>> LILLIE MELLS: Thank you, Shurhonda.

And I will say this, I was on the commission officer side, and there's a different schooling for commission officers.

Little different than the listed school, but you do go to school, you do the training, and it was for several weeks as well.

So just wanted to adds that as well.

And so now we're going to cover some of our resources.

So let's go ahead and hit that first slide.

So our veterans crisis line.

As I mentioned earlier, the number changed in July to 9-8-8, which is a wonderful thing for all, because now you can just dial those three numbers.

And sort of like 9-1-1.

Just 9-8-8.

And so anybody can actually call this crisis line, it's open, it's free, first of all, confidential support is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year.

We actually have three locations, they're call centers, the first one opened in upstate New York, the second one opened up in Atlanta, Georgia, and our last one opened in Topeka, Kansas.

So basically these are call centers, they take calls all day long and all evening long from veterans and service members, and family members, friends, anonymous, from all over the country.

And what they do is, they farm those calls to the local area where that veteran resides.

And so as I said, they farm the calls, so what happens is, let's say, for example, someone calls the crisis line and says, hey, I want to kill myself.

I'm going to do it right now.

They will assess that individual and if they need to, they will send out rescue immediately.

They will dispatch emergency services to that individual's home.

If the person says, well, I am having thoughts of wanting to kill myself, but I don't want to do it, I need help.

They will again assess that individual, safety plan with them, if that person can safety plan, then they will send a referral to our suicide prevention coordinator, and we have at least one at each medical facility, each V.A. medical facility in some cases more than one.

And they have 24 hours to respond to that call.

And when they respond to that call, they will reach out to that individual and provide them resources, get them connected with the V.A. if they have not been connected already.

Next slide.

So when we look at our crisis line, it actually stood up in 2007, and it's been going strong ever since.

We've had over 6 million calls, 700,000 chats, over 250,000 texts, and over 1 million referrals, and over 230,000 dispatchers of emergency services.

So it's been a busy, busy service, but a much-needed service.

Next slide.

Our local resources, so as I said earlier, we have at least one suicide prevention coordinator at each V.A. medical facility and in some cases more.

It depends on how large the area is, and they also have a whole team.

They have case managers, they have support services, so they have a whole team.

And if you go to this local resource page, you can put in the ZIP code and it will give you the nearest suicide prevention coordinator and the nearest V.A. facility.

Next slide.

This is some of our V.A. mobile apps.

And so we have some great apps here, they're all free.

You can download them on your phone, we have the PTSD codes, which has a safety plan, we have the COVID coach, one thing about this app, these apps I will say is that we encourage people to use it in conjunction with their therapist.

So make sure if you're going to use these apps, let your therapist know, and they will work with you, maybe on those off weeks you can use the app and then come in the following week or two weeks or whatever, and have a discussion about it.

We also have mindfulness on there as well.

So they're great apps.

Great apps.

Next slide.

Don't wait, reach out.

Shurhonda, do you want to talk about this one?

Don't wait, reach out.

This is the latest of the V.A.'s suicide prevention campaigns.

And really, what we're saying here is that we don't want people to sit and suffer in silence.

We want them to get out there and get the help that's needed.

No mission should be fought alone, so that means anything a veteran is struggling with, we have services that can help.

So if you go on this website, type in the search engine, this will come up.

And the neat thing about this website is that the resources will be individualized for the person.

So they'll have different components like if you click on education, housing, and maybe you need medical care, once you press submit, an individual page of resources will come up for you instead of a thousand resources from the V.A.

It will be those specific ones that you clicked on.

And the video, you can do to the website and check out some of the videos, these are real veterans talking about how they decided to reach out and get help.

Next slide.

Coaching into care.

So if you found someone who is struggling with receiving services, a lot of times people in different -- receiving mental health care, this organization can really help you in terms of how to encourage a veteran to seek support.

And you'll get a live person, they'll give you tips on how to get that person into care, and if you still are having difficulty, they will talk to that veteran themselves, and encourage them into getting care.

Next, practice safe storage of firearms, medications, and other lethal means.

So this is big for the V.A.

One of the things that we're promoting over the last two years I would say is lethal means safety, lethal means safety and storage.

We want to get the word out about how firearms are the number one methods that people, veterans are using to kill themselves.

And so we want to make sure that veterans and others are practice can safe storage of firearms, medications, and other lethal means.

And so this is a website that you can go to, we have also partnered with the National Sports and Shooting Foundation, they have put up Addison for us, the Ad Council has put up Addison, and you may have seen some of those Addison.

I know sure showing during big sporting events, NASCAR events, NFL football, so you'll see the Addison out there promoting safe storage and keep it secure.

Next slide.

Psycharmor, someone asked about the training.

This is the Psycharmor Institute, they partner with the V.A. in terms of providing this training.

You can go online, it's about 25 minutes, it's free.

But you can take that training and the other thing is that they have some other trainings on there that are also free, the only thing is that they just ask you to register on the site, and once you register, you can go in and take these courses for free.

We encourage communities to take them, clergy to take them.

Anybody who comes in contact with veterans or a population that may be vulnerable to suicide.

We just encourage them to take this training.

And I think that's all that we have for today.

And so if there's any questions, Shurhonda and I are open to questions.

Take it away, Jen.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Fantastic.

Thank you so much, both of you, such valuable information, a lot of it.

So I appreciate that folks will have time to digest, go through, I've posted the link to the very comprehensive resource list that the team has worked with us to collect.

Those resources for you.

I know there's a lot, but hopefully as you maybe think about other ways to add support systems for your communities' veterans, thinking about the kinds of resources you could perhaps add links to on your website, many of these are available for us to just direct folks to through our libraries, and then also thinking about how you can maybe take some of those steps to increase your connections with the veterans community, all of the great learning that we did with Shurhonda in terms of understanding the veteran community, lots of different ways to start those conversations.

Certainly lots of opportunities to partner.

The team, this team at the V.A. is eager to help libraries learn and figure out ways to connect with their communities.

So we can be sure and connect folks as well.

I don't know if anyone wants to provide an email in case any of our attendees do want to follow up with you all directly.

And I see -- let's have you reflect on this one question, because I know the question around how, if you know a homeless veteran, or if a homeless veteran comes to you in the library, what are some of those first steps to supporting item?

Shurhonda, why don't we have you start?

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: So V.A. has a number of veteran programs, and V.A. homelessness programs is one.

It's important to know that these programs are available both on VHA, which is the Veteran Health Administration side of the house, as well as the Veteran Benefit side of the house.

You have homeless veteran benefit coordinators, and you also have personnel that are inside of the Medical Centers.

And also, there's a website that will provide you with a number of resources.

And if you type in va homeless programs you'll be able to reach that website and maybe find answers to your questions if you -- should you have them.

Lillie?

>> LILLIE MELLS: Yeah.

One other thing that people don't know is that they can also dial that 9-8-8 number, because it is a crisis.

And we do have a homeless hotline, they will patch it on to them, and someone from the homeless program will reach out to them in that local city where they're at.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: And that number is -- there's a center for homeless veterans also.

That number is 877-4AID- 877-424-3838.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: We'll be sure to get that added.

We can add that to test test test event page as well.

Fantastic.

Thank you both so much.

And to your team and Clairmont, thanks for your --

>> LILLIE MELLS: Can I say one other thing?

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Absolutely .

>> LILLIE MELLS: We just had Veterans Day that just passed last Friday, and you know, oftentimes I get messages, thank you for your service, or memorial day people say thank you for your service.

And you know, I just encourage people to really look at the two different holidays and what they mean.

Memorial means that we're celebrating someone who has gone on.

And then Veterans Day, you want to acknowledge those that are serving and those that have served.

And so one of the things that I would say is that for people, you know, get to know a veteran.

Ask them what their job was while they were in the service.

Give them an opportunity to tell you.

Versus just saying "thank you for your service."

Because we say it so often, people really have no idea what people do in the military, so I would say that.

Also, if you want to do something in your community, visit a veterans cemetery.

Each state has at least one or more.

And so take the time to visit a veterans cemetery, take the time to visit one of the V.A. hospitals, or community living centers, which is equivalent to our nursing home, there's a lot of veterans in there.

And then one last bit of history that I want to leave is that our oldest living World War II veteran is 110 years old.

So those World War II veterans are slowly attritioning out, but they are still alive and when you see those gentlemen walking around with those hats, they are connected and those hats mean a lot to them.

And so, you know, acknowledge them and ask them, what they did while they served.

And you would be astounded by the stories and the information that you can get.

So I just wanted to share that.

And thank you for having us today.

We look forward to partnering with you guys.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Absolutely .

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: I have one thing too.

I just saw a question in the chat box, and I thought that was probably the most important question.

How can your community help V.A.?

Get connected.

Take advantage of these resources that Lillie has explained to you all, visit the website, ask questions.

And just stay connected to us.

And disseminate the information.

Don't keep it to yourself, but share it.

And pass it on.

That's all I have.

>> JENNIFER PETERSON: Absolutely .

Thank you so much.

And Lillie, as you were listing the different ways that people could connect and learn more, I saw all sorts of opportunities for library programming.

So we'll keep talking about this, I want to put a link into chat, there's a wonderful toolkit that explores different programming ideas, so there's lots and lots of opportunities for us to continue to explore ways to connect with the veteran community, and also certainly we really appreciate the time and focus today on serving folks that are dealing with suicide.

So thank you so much.

Everyone have a great rest of your week.

And I'll send an email to everyone who attended today later on once the recording is posted, and I'll also automatically send you a certificate for attending today, I'll send than that out later.

And I'm going to send you to a short survey as you leave, this survey is a way for us to connect -- collect your feedback.

We'll share that with our presenters, and it helps us guide our ongoing programming.

So thank you all so much.

Thank you again, to Shurhonda and Lillie and we'll see you again soon.

Thanks.

>> LILLIE MELLS: Have a great day.

>> SHURHONDA LOVE: Bye bye, y'all.