The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs is hosting a Combating Veteran Suicide forum on Monday at the Brookfield Conference Center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The goal of the forum is to “give people some tools on their tool belts,” according to Wisconsin VA supervisor Cal Stammer.
“We’re just trying to bring the community here together and the surrounding counties to bring awareness to veteran mental health and veteran suicide,” Stammer said. “Hopefully we can just give people some tools that they can take home and really help people; veterans or non-veterans.”
Those “tools” include Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training, which will be given at the event.
“We have a QPR training and it’s a suicide prevention tool,” Stammer said. “What we’re able to do is identify when somebody is really, really struggling in their life and then ask that real question, which is an intimidating thing to do. We’re persuading people to live. Once you find that out, what do you do next? You’re referring those people to the appropriate resources.”
Stammer thinks the problem is bigger than people realize.
“There’s just so many struggling in the world, Milwaukee and the surrounding counties,” Stammer said. “What we’ve decided to do is just really bring that awareness. The number fluctuates between 17-22; 22’s the really, really popular number. But 20 veterans a day is way too many. So if we can save one life because of the thing people receive today, that would be the ultimate success.”
Stammer says everyone’s welcomed: veterans, community providers, non-profits and anyone who wants to work with veterans in some way, shape or form.
“Let’s say the mother that has a son or daughter that’s struggling,” Stammer said. “If she walked through these doors today and said ‘Hey my son or daughter is struggling; they’re not coming outside or leaving the house,’ that’s an amazing thing. Hopefully we can give her something to really, really help her and help her son or daughter out.”
Another Suicide and Prevention forum will be held in Madison on June 22 starting at 9 a.m.
