Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director for VA Suicide Prevention, Dr. Matthew Miller

The RNJ Morning Program discusses mental wellness and suicide prevention among veterans. Dr. Matthew Miller, the Executive Director of VA Suicide Prevention, emphasizes the importance of addressing the stigma surrounding seeking help. He explains that veterans may feel hesitant to reach out due to beliefs about self-reliance and the perception of heroes not needing assistance. The Don't Wait, Reach Out PSA campaign aims to combat this stigma by promoting messages from veterans to other veterans. The campaign has been successful in changing behaviors and increasing help-seeking rates. Dr. Miller highlights the involvement of Academy Award-winning director Catherine Bigelow in creating the PSAs. He encourages listeners to visit the va.gov/reach website for resources and to share content on social media to spread awareness. He also suggests saving the Veterans Crisis Line contact (988) in phones for easy access in times of need. Dr. Miller concludes by thanking listeners and urging them t It's Northwest Jersey's own RNJ. It's Burt. It is the RNJ Morning Program here on this Friday. A little bit later on this morning, you'll have that chance to win the $50 gift certificate. Center Point Wellness, Willow Grove Street, Hackettstown. Hang on in there for your chance to win. We're going to talk a little bit now about mental wellness with a special guest who is joining me here on the program. You know, September is Suicide Prevention Month. Tragically, our nation's veterans are at a higher risk for suicide compared to the general population. And according to data from a 2022 study, the suicide rate among veterans in 2020, 57% higher than non-veteran adults. Suicide is preventable and there is hope. And joining me this morning here at the RNJ Morning Program, U.S. Air Force Veteran Executive Director of VA Suicide Prevention in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. It is an honor to be joined by Dr. Matthew Miller this morning here at the RNJ Morning Program. Dr. Miller, it is Burt Barron. Good morning. Thank you so much for being here today and giving us a couple minutes of your time and on such an important topic. So thank you again so much. It's my pleasure. As you said, very important topic and I really appreciate the time with you and your audience. The importance of veterans to reach out for help. There's got to still be a stigma, unfortunately, Dr. Miller, that exists. How do we get people to clear these barricades and put the stigma aside and just once and for all reach out and get the help that they need and know that there's nothing to be ashamed of about that? Yeah, you just said it, Burt. I mean, yeah, there's a stigma. There's no use denying it. I think first, better understanding the stigma itself and then second, designing messaging that addresses the stigma is what we need to do. And that's what this campaign embodies. First, understanding the stigma, then second, creating messaging to address the stigma from veteran to other veterans. What did we learn about the stigma? I think we learned in talking with veterans, and I could relate to these things personally, stigma is driven by beliefs that we as veterans hold internally and beliefs that we see externally. Beliefs that we hold internally. Number one, service before self. Number two, resolve things at the lowest level before you have to work them up or outside the chain. These are the kinds of thoughts that drive us and help us to succeed in the military setting, but may get in the way of reaching out for help beyond. Beliefs that we see, I'll call it centering around heroes. We're often referred to as heroes, which is really kind and well-intentioned, I think, by everyone. But there's also this dissonance inside of veterans that says, well, do you ever see Superman or Batman getting calls from debt collectors? Do you ever see them struggling with chronic pain or diagnosed with a malignant tumor? Do they have a kid that won't talk to them? Do they have to go through a compensation and pension examination and VA paperwork? We've got this thing, heroes don't fail and heroes aren't frail. Those kinds of beliefs, we learned through this, they need to be addressed. We also learned that it needs to come from veterans and the outflow of all of that is exactly what you see in our Don't Wait, Reach Out PSAs. Yeah, and I want to talk a little more specifically about the PSA campaign in just a few moments, Dr. Miller. But as someone who has never served, and I have just so much admiration and respect for people like you who have, it's a debt that I could never personally repay for the sacrifices that are made by great people like you. What are some of the common stresses that veterans face when they're transitioning back into civilian life? For the veterans that are listening to this program right now, what are some things that you could say that they will absolutely relate with in terms of experiencing stresses? So let's talk about driving in New York City, okay? And let's use that as an example. Let's say that you have never been to New York City, but you're trying to navigate your way in a vehicle, driving it through the city. And you're trying to listen to directions from Google. You're responding to horns and honks that may be for you, may not be for you. There's lights to your right. There's lights above you. There's all kinds of stuff coming at you. And you've got to maintain processing of it while you're moving forward in the right direction. That to me is a lot like kind of a glimpse of the transitioning process for veterans. We're entering a new place that's got lots of opportunities, lots of possibilities. But it's also got a lot of traffic. It's got a lot of people who seem to know it better. We seem to be new to it. And we've got to figure it out pretty quickly or risk getting in an accident. That has got to be the best and most vivid description of stresses that I've ever heard in my life, doctor. That is really remarkable, the way you just kind of painted that picture. And I can't imagine people who wrestle with that sort of stress constantly, day in and day out. It's just amazing. And it's no surprise the incredible toll that it takes on people. Yeah. And how many of us in those situations stop and ask for directions or help? So that's what we're getting at. Yeah. You've got a pretty big name. In fact, an Academy Award winning director who is assisting with putting these PSAs here together. We're talking about Catherine Bigelow, and she is a groundbreaking motion picture director and what she's been able to do. She is lending her talents to this campaign here from the Ad Council. What does it mean to have someone such a big name in the entertainment industry helping out with something like this? Do they hit the target, Dr. Miller, that you were hoping that they would do? And they send the message out that you're hoping that it would? It means massive, I think. I can't underestimate it. When we started this a couple years ago in the VA, one of my goals was we've got to go big on this. We can't go cheap. This is not something where we can record this in some office. We got to do this right. And that's where the partnership with the Ad Council came in, and that's where our investment started. We've seen it rewarded. And one way we've seen it rewarded is over $40 million donated media, which tells us that media community are interested in partnering with us to get out high quality messaging. We've seen it work in the numbers. We've had 3.5 million visits to our website, va.gov slash reach. We've seen it work in the numbers in terms of changing behaviors. Veterans who have seen our ads report that they are more likely to ask for help and actually pursue help at a statistically significant higher rate than veterans who have not seen our ads. So yeah, I think we're heading in the right direction. Yeah, I think so. Specifically, the campaign is called Don't Wait, Reach Out. It's a PSA campaign from the VA and the Ad Council offering specific resources for veterans and just reminding them that there's tremendous help that is out there. My guest who's joining me this morning, VA's Executive Director of Suicide Prevention, Dr. Matthew Miller is here. We're talking specifically about this campaign here. It's good to hear that it's getting such a reaction and the call to action is being answered, Dr. Miller. How do we follow up? What's next? Are we thinking about what we can do to perhaps further extend this message and extend the services out? This is just the start, I think, of something very special in getting help to people who desperately need it. Absolutely. Let's start with action today. I think there's two things that everyone can do under the heading of We All Have a Role to Play. Number one, I think anyone listening right now could go to our website, va.gov slash reach, and pull social media content that we have packaged ready to go. Take that content, send it out through your social media contacts links, and that is how we're going to spread the word most powerfully, I think. Number two, take out your phone, go into your contacts, create a new contact that says Veterans Crisis Line. For contact number, put 988, put Press 1 for Veterans, and be ready to share it when you need it so you have it good to go. Something so simple that everybody could do right now but could mean so much to so many people, just such a powerful and simple message. Dr. Matthew Miller, thank you again for your service and for your time here today. As we wrap things up, can you give that website out one more time in case folks want to visit that too? You bet. vavictoralpha.gov, G-O-V slash reach, R-E-A-C-H. All right, Dr. Matthew Miller, thank you again for your time this morning here on WRNJ Radio in New Jersey. Have a great weekend and thank you for what you are doing for so many veterans and so many families and so many special people. So thank you again. I greatly appreciate it. Thanks for helping us spread the word, Bert.