September is Suicide Prevention Month, a time where VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System (VASNHS) stresses the importance of suicide prevention and connects Veterans and their families with the resources they need.
With the stressors of 2020, VA is encouraging friends and family to #BeThere for Veterans. Every day, nearly 20 Veterans or active-duty servicemembers take their own lives, but of those, about 14 are either not connected or have not received recent VA care.
To help reach those Veterans, VASNHS wants to raise awareness about how to recognize the signs and how to intervene through #BeThere.
VASNHS encourages Veterans and their loved ones to take action, start a conversation, and share available resources when the signs of suicidal ideation are apparent.
Here are some steps you can take while spreading awareness with the hastag:
• Direct Veterans to appropriate resources, such as safe gun and medication storage, to work towards suicide prevention in your community.
• Normalize and speak openly about suicide with Veterans. This does not make them want to die by suicide or plant those ideas—and it can reduce the stigma of suicide.
▪ Visit ReportingOnSuicide.org for important guidance on how to safely communicate about suicide.
