- Coming up next on IGI we discussed the mental health challenges that impact the brave service members in our communities.

And we feature a unique community design to help improve the lives of homeless veterans.

Stay with us.

(cheerful music) - [Announcer] KNEA, empowering educators so that educators can empower Kansas students.

- [Narrator] This program is brought to you with support from the Lewis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust and from The Friends of KTWU.

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to IGI.

I'm your host, LeTiffany Obozele.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and traumatic brain injury.

These are the three most common mental health concerns among veterans, yet many suffer in silence.

Hesitant to seek help.

On today's show we discuss the impact of mental health challenges on veterans and their families, the stigma associated with mental illness and what resources are available to veterans in need of help.

We also feature a community created to help provide stability and a roof over the heads of homeless veterans.

Joining us remotely are Dr. Stephanie Davis suicide prevention coordinator for the Veterans Affairs Eastern Kansas Mental Health Clinics and Wes Williams, director of veteran services for the Veterans Community Project.

Thank you all for joining me on IGI and thank you Stephanie and Wes for joining us today.

Is there a stigma associated with mental health to veterans and does it serve as a barrier?

Do they worry about disclosing their mental health issues and how it will have an impact on their careers?

- Absolutely.

I believe that there's still a very large stigma around that.

It's something that I'm seeing some positive changes and the way that people are getting access and seeking out that mental health treatment.

But just in my time in the military I know working with the Marines that were in my unit they would often come to me and they wanna disclose things that they're going through but also ask that we keep it off record cause they were worried about it affecting their ability to continue to be promotable and to be deployable and all of those things.

And so it's a thing that I think is a stigma across the board still.

And in some ways I believe that men are a little bit more like more prone to avoid asking for help.

And especially when it has to deal with emotions and things like that.

I think that that's a very common thing.

And so when you tack on that, you're a guy that's a warrior going into battle.

You wanna believe that you are so strong that you don't need that help.

And so it's something that we get to do here every day and working with the men and women that come in the door and encouraging them to continue to seek higher understanding of themselves and to be able to understand their emotions better.

And we're seeing real growth from that.

And so I'm hoping to see this trend continue as we learn and grow in our knowledge of the brain and the effects of trauma on the brain.

And so I think we're heading the right direction but we still got a long ways to go.

- Well, even though we still have a long ways to go I'm glad to hear we're heading in the right direction.

And I think Stephanie can tell us some of the ways that the VA's helping us get in that right direction.

What are some ways you're helping veterans de-stigmatize?

Some of these things that Wes just talked about with their mental health?

- Thank you.

And I was like to say, emotions are like armpits.

We just have them, even big strong men have emotions.

We have them because we're human beings.

And it's what we do with them that matters.

And we need to be able to get to a point where we talk about mental health issues the same way that we talk about physical health issues.

You know, if somebody is running and they wrench their knee we recognize there's probably gonna be some damage.

There's gonna be a recovery period and there may be specialized treatment that's necessary in order to help somebody get back to full functioning.

And it's the same way with trauma.

If somebody experiences trauma there's going to be psychological damage.

There's gonna be a recovery period and people may need specialized treatment in order to get back to their full functioning.

And if somebody saw their buddy and they were walking with a limp they wouldn't hesitate to say, "Hey, what's going on?

What happened to your leg?"

But for some reason we don't do the same thing with mental health issues.

You know, somebody starts to look sad or they start withdrawing from friends and family.

We have to be able to just in the same caring but maybe even nonchalant way say, "Hey, what's going on?

You're different than you used to be.

Are you doing okay?"

And the more we can just talk about mental health issues the same way we talk about physical health issues.

I think we start to advance as a society.

I think one of the most important things that we can do is just be willing to talk about your own struggles with mental health issues.

You know, none of us ever gets to just arrive and suddenly be fully self-actualized.

We all struggle and we all need each other as human beings.

One of the best things that people can do is when we have high profile people who are willing to share their struggles.

And I know that Mr. Jason Kander is associated with Veterans Community Projects.

I hope I'm not pandering here but I oftentimes reference him because Mr. Kander was the former secretary of state for Missouri and was in a high profile governor sorry, mayor's race for Kansas City.

And in 2018, he publicly dropped out citing PTSD issues and struggles with suicidal ideation.

And he posted something when he dropped out and he acknowledged that he had just called the veterans crisis line the night before with thoughts of suicide.

And when I read that, I just went, "Oh, my gosh Jason Kander has just done more to de-stigmatize talking about mental health than I can never do in my entire career."

And I just got goosebumps.

- So you talked about the veterans crisis line.

Are there some other resources that the VA has that are available to veterans that are struggling with mental health?

- Absolutely.

If you can go to va.gov and apply for health benefits.

And I think a lot of times people don't recognize that they are eligible for VA healthcare.

So I would recommend anybody going on to va.gov or just call our VA (785) 350-3111 and ask for eligibility and you can connect with us.

We have so many programs available for people that are struggling with mental health issues.

If it's more of a crisis situation we have same day access.

And so if somebody is an eligible veteran and they are struggling and in crisis they can walk into our mental health clinic and somebody will see them that day.

We have the full range of treatment programming from an acute psych unit where people usually stay just a couple of days for stabilization but then we have other programming.

We have residential programming.

We have the PRWP program which is the psychiatric recovery and wellness program.

It's a four-week residential program.

We have the fresh start program, which is a four-week residential substance use disorders program.

We typically have the stress disorders treatment program which is a nationally renowned PTSD program.

That's a seven-week program.

It had been temporarily closed down due to COVID and I'm not sure exactly when it's coming back up and running, but it will be.

And then we have a wide range of outpatient services.

We have the outpatient mental health clinic.

We have the outpatient PTSD clinic.

Oh, I was remiss.

We have for veterans struggling with homelessness we have the domiciliary in Leavenworth that also does does mental health programming.

We have temporary emergency housing for individuals who find themselves emergently without housing.

We have different programming for recently transitioning members.

We're really beefing up our caregiver support program.

So for people who have a caregiver, because they need help with some of their daily life.

We have the suicide prevention program and women's programming.

We have intimate partner violence programming programming for individuals who have experienced military sexual trauma.

We just have a wide range of services.

And one of the most important things to remember is that treatment works.

The treatment that we have these days is based purely on empirical evidence that we know when people engage in the treatment, it works.

- It's so wonderful to hear that there's so many resources at the VA's providing and trying to help our veterans.

I have a question for you Wes.

Having served in the military and intimately working with veterans what are the causes for some of these psychological difficulties that individuals have?

I think family and friends are waiting for them to come back sometimes.

And maybe depending on their level of support they've got people waiting for them to come back and people think I'm gonna get the same person or dad's gonna be the same person or mom's gonna be the same person.

What are some of these causes for psychological difficulties?

- Yeah, I think that there's any number of causes for that.

I think the guys that I got to serve with I'm hearing feedback from that I know went through combat zones and experienced really traumatic stuff is they're going home and expecting it to be like normal.

But I think the thing that they're realizing is that they have changed and things are the same back there but they're having a harder time being able to relate or get back kind of in the swing of things.

And that's all, they haven't resolved.

All unresolved things that they endured while either overseas or in the service.

You know, Stephanie brought up a number of resources for trauma but she also mentioned a military sexual trauma as MST.

That's like a really huge thing that we see with folks that are experiencing homelessness all the time.

It's just they experienced that they're coming home.

They realizing that I'm not the same person that I was.

And a lot of the folks here are still the same and I'm really having a hard time being able to relate or even have that outlet where I feel safe to be able to talk about it.

And so I think it's really important that folks find support groups or other other peer groups that have other folks that have gone through similar things like served in the military.

It's just a lot more of a safe space to be able to talk through what you've gone through with somebody that can actually conceptualize what that looks like and what that experience is like.

And so I've seen that a lot.

I think my heart hurts every single time I know people go home and they feel like a stranger in their own home or in their own town.

But I think that's a really good indication that maybe seeking out some individualized treatment and in some talk therapy would be really beneficial and working through that.

- Thank you for sharing that with us.

This next question is for both of you but I'm gonna start with Wes and then Stephanie, if you have something to add I would love to hear from you as well.

But how can friends and colleagues and families help a veteran who's in need of help, but may not realize it?

And also how can they help somebody who is just trying to manage their mental health as a return of coming back from service?

- Yeah, I think being aware of the resources that are out there is one of the best ways that you can support those that you care about from anywhere from seeing somebody flying a sign of inside of the highway to having a dear friend that's coming home.

I think the best way you can help any of those vets out is putting them in touch with the correct services.

I think everybody has this desire and this want to come up with an immediate solution and to be able to solve it, whether that's throwing money at the situation or just trying to be there.

But I think getting them connected to the professionals that can help them kind of work through and process all of the changes that are coming and that they're going through, I think is the thing that's gonna be the most beneficial.

And Stephanie, I know you have a lot more to say about this.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on that as well.

- Yeah, I want to piggyback on that.

I would say my thought is just talk, talk, talk.

Be there for that individual who might be struggling and validate what they're going through.

You may not understand exactly what they're going through but what you can say to that person is, I see you I hear you, you're struggling, you're hurting.

And I don't know how to fix this, but I'm walking beside you in this pain and I'm not gonna leave you.

And people have to find help on their own timeline.

And so sometimes people may be really wanting to rush somebody into treatment but it's important to help that person who might be feeling out of control to hold onto their personal power.

And so just continuously being there and listening and then when the time is right and when they're ready helping to connect them with care.

I would also say that as you're listening to somebody, if you have any concerns that they might be having thoughts about suicide it's important to bring that up directly.

If you are seeing somebody with just real out of character mood swings or maybe somebody who's talking about death or dying or suicide.

Somebody who's been seeing best to lethal means, or just truly if your gut is telling you that something's off, don't shy away from it and ask directly.

Ask are you in any thoughts about suicide?

Sometimes people are hesitant to say that word because they're afraid when it enters somebody's brain but we know that asking about thoughts of suicide isn't gonna cause suicidal ideation any more than asking about chest pain is gonna cause a heart attack.

If they are experiencing thoughts about suicide.

they're frankly gonna be pretty relieved that you've asked and you've opened the door for them to talk about it.

And then if somebody is struggling with thoughts about suicide, being able to recognize is this an emergency situation?

Do we need to get somebody to the hospital or can I just help them find resources?

Can I help connect them with resources?

Do they wanna go to the VA?

Do they have private insurance and they wanna use that?

Just being there as a sounding board and working with them.

And then one other important thing is that if somebody is struggling with thoughts about suicide one of the most important things is to ask them if they have a firearm just during that time of crisis can you hold onto it for them?

I think that's a huge, tangible step that people can take and sometimes they don't think about it, but 85 to 90% of the time of firearm is used in a suicide attempt, the results are lethal.

And in almost a quarter of suicide attempts, the time between the initial urge to act on thoughts of suicide and actually acting on it was less than five minutes.

And so anything we can do to just put as many barriers as possible in between an urge to act on thoughts of suicide and the ability to act on it, we can save lives.

And so just being that person who will hold onto somebody's firearms for them temporarily you can save a life.

- Well, I wanna thank you both for sharing your opinions on mental health and providing people with resources and ways to help.

Stephanie, you mentioned earlier a little bit about resources that the VA has for homelessness.

So that's what I wanna talk about now because not everybody has family and friends to come back home to.

And I don't think veteran homelessness gets talked about a lot.

And so Wes, I wanna talk with you about the Veterans Community Project.

What is the mission and purpose of the Veterans Community Project?

- Yeah, so veteran's community project was founded back in 2016.

Our first 13 houses opened up a couple of years later in January of 2018.

And end of 2019 we have 49 houses in our community center down here in a village of tiny homes in Kansas City.

Our mission and our purpose is to of fill the gaps that are out there.

It was the intention of the founding members of this organization that they were all working in some capacity with veterans.

And I think there was this kind of overarching belief that there are so many people that are slipping through the cracks.

And so not trying to reinvent the wheel or recreate services that are already out there, we we wanna be that colander at the bottom that's able to catch all those that are kind of slipping through.

And so capturing the veterans as they are starting their therapy.

I think one of the things that people don't really understand is that it's a pretty gradual thing.

It's not overnight very often where somebody has one event and then all of a sudden they have no support no housing, no anything.

And so we wanna get awareness out there.

We want people to know what is available, how they can get assistance, whether that is if they're getting behind on rent because of job loss due to COVID or any other reason, there's resources out there that can help you get caught up before it gets too far gone and you ended up on the streets and become chronically homeless.

And so our mission is pretty simple.

It's about creating and connecting veterans to services around this area.

And so as we're growing nationally I think the services that we provide in each city will look a little bit differently because like I said before, we don't wanna recreate services that are already out there.

We think that there's a really incredible heart here in the Kansas City area and a lot of really incredible services and service providers that are out there.

The VA is a wonderful partner of ours and so are many other homeless service providers in town and private businesses.

And so if we're able to connect veterans to things that are able to elevate their situation and keep them from continuing to drift further and further away we're doing our job.

And so for us it's about creating community in our village where people feel like they've got a battle buddy that they can reach out to anytime that they're experiencing any type of crisis but also it's the community around them that the other businesses, other veterans that are in this city.

We wanna be able to connect folks to it and give them a new mission because that's what got them to raise their right hand in the first place.

They wanted to serve this country and be a part of something bigger than them.

And coming in and being a part of this community we tell them "You are a part of something again."

And this is a lot that we're working towards.

And so being supportive member of the community looking out for your brother and sister to your left and your right is essential for the overall success of everybody that's here.

So I kind got off on a little bit of a tangent there, but I hope that helped.

- No, it's clear that you're very passionate about the work that you do and the veterans are lucky to get to work with you.

And so the Veterans Community Project for people who wanna help but may not know where to start when it comes to veterans that are homeless.

Sometimes I think we see them on the side of the road with signs, but if you wanna support and help veterans that are homeless with something other than money, where can people start?

- This is a question that I get asked pretty often.

And I think folks feel guilty for not giving the cash in their wallet every single time they drive by somebody.

And honestly, I don't believe that that's really helping a whole lot anyway.

One of the things that I do, I see people paying, handling around the city all the time.

I always carry probably 10 to 15 different bags of snacks and hygiene and then just little pamphlets of resource information that's all in those bag together.

And so when I run across those folks I wanna make sure first and foremost that some of their basic necessities are being met and they're able to put nutritious food into their body.

And then also that beyond that food, they know where to go to be able to get help with housing or anything to get an ID card to be able to start to get housing.

You know, just being able to know where that help is is a really good start for any of the folks that are out there.

- Okay.

Thank you Wes.

So I'm gonna ask you both the same question and in 30 seconds or less for a veteran that's maybe watching the show.

That's either struggling with mental health or homelessness.

Stephanie, you first.

What piece of advice do you have to give to them?

If they could take one thing away from what you're saying today?

- I think the one thing that I want them to take away is the fact that treatment works.

We are here whenever you are ready to engage in care.

When you're ready to take that first step on your healing journey, we're here and ready to accept you with open arms and nonjudgmental stances and smiles.

And so treatment works whenever you're ready.

- Wes.

- Yes, my message would be you're worth it.

And there's so many people out there that could benefit from being able to engage with you and get to know you on a deeper level and that change is absolutely possible.

And regardless of the situation that you're in surrounding yourself with a community that is supportive is something that I would be seeking out if I were in your shoes.

And so if you're struggling to find that, please come find us at Veterans Community Project.

And if you're not here in South Kansas City, and you're a little bit further west, go see Dr. Stephanie over there at the VA.

I know she'd love to talk to you too.

- Well, Wes and Stephanie, thank you guys so much for the work that you do, and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with people on the episode today.

That's all the time we have for this episode of IGI.

If you have any comments or suggestions for future topics please send us an email at issues@ktwu.org.

If you'd like to view this program again or any previous episodes of IGI visit us online at watch.ktwu.org.

For IGI, I'm LeTiffany Obozele and thank you for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] KNEA, empowering educators so that educators can empower Kansas students.

- [Narrator] This program is brought to you with support from the Lewis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust and from The Friends of KTWU.