Content warning: this story includes a discussion of the topic of suicide.
This season of Veterans’ Voices focuses on the stories of people affected by and working to prevent veteran suicide. The third conversation of the season features Jason Hughes, who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years. He is now the program manager and veteran liaison at the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation. Veterans’ Voices lead producer Seth Gordon spoke with Hughes about why suicide prevention services need to focus on the unique needs of veterans.
The following transcript is lightly edited for length and clarity.
Jason Hughes: At Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, we serve all demographics. Our goal is to make sure that no one is left behind and that everyone is just as crucial because one suicide is one too many. We've got a lot of veterans that live in Ohio. In 2020, the VA reported that 230 veterans in Ohio died by suicide. That's why we need to try to bridge that gap on what we can do for veterans because we know that 230 veterans are a high number of veterans that we've lost by suicide.
Seth Gordon: If there is a way to try to explain why suicide rates are higher in the veteran population, what is your or your organization's current understanding of why that is?
Hughes: It could be survivor's guilt. While they were in the service, they could have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan or maybe even Somalia or Vietnam, depending on their age bracket and the fact that they came home and one or two, maybe even 10 of their fellow service members, they didn't come home. Mainly, we know from data and research that typically, when we're looking at veterans, they may have access to lethal means. Veterans are a population that does have access to firearms, similar to a first responder.
We obviously know PTSD is a factor, but PTSD, sometimes we get tunnel vision on that, and we assume that all veterans have PTSD, and that's not always the case. PTSD is slightly more common among veterans than civilians. At some point in their life, seven out of every 100 veterans will have PTSD. And also stigma. Stigma is always the key thing for any demographic in general: we don't talk about mental health, or I don't want to address my mental health because my peers might think I'm weak. This is all stigma. It's not true.
Gordon: Let's talk about the prevention that you do. Why is it necessary and how do we help prevent this from happening?
Hughes: Our biggest goal is to do what we call upstream prevention. In other words, we want to mitigate these situations at the earliest stages before they become so severe that we're more reactive than proactive.
That starts with things such as that transition period. Hey, we know you love the military. You're about to transition into civilian life, whether you have a job or whatever it is you will do. These are some things you might want to consider. Listening to the veteran. That is one thing that sometimes we forget. When I say listening to the veteran, I mean listening to hear and not to respond. Let them tell their story, and don't make the habit of trying to plug in what you think their story looks like.
Listen to the veteran. Listen to hear and not to respond. Let them tell their story and don't make the habit of trying to plug in what you think their story looks like.
The biggest suggestion I always give people is not to get tunnel vision on how you ask the question or how you said it. Focus on the fact that you said it, or you asked it. What I mean by that is don't play that dialog in your head. Oh, I want to say this, this, this and this. And then when you do it, that's not what you said. You fumbled over your words. You were nervous because you were worried that they were suicidal. And then you're thinking, what’s next after that?
I recommend you don't get tunnel vision when asking the question. Focus more on why you're asking the question: because you value their life. You're saying, 'Hey, are you thinking of suicide'? Let's say they're not, and that upsets them. You can say, 'I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just letting you know that I care for you and that's why I ask that very difficult question, because you matter.'
Ohio is a very unique state. I say that because we have Appalachian counties. We know the resources in Franklin County, Hamilton County, Greene County, and Cuyahoga County. They're not seeing that in Highland County or Ross County. We can have this awesome website that's got all these resources. But if you're in a county that may not even have WiFi, it's almost as if that resource doesn't exist. That's why it's very important to have different agencies across the state because every area is a little different.
Veterans' Voices is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO. Support for the series comes from Wright-Patt Credit Union and the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988 and dial 1 to access the Veterans Crisis Line.
