For anyone who needs help now, The national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. The Veterans Crisis Line is available by dialing 1 during a 988 call or by sending a text message to 838255. Online chats are also available at 988lifeline.org.
September marks National Suicide Prevention Month, and several organizations in Kodiak are pushing mental health resources and awareness events as part of it.
Tsunami Lanes, the bowling alley on Base Kodiak, was filled with dozens of U.S. Coast Guard service members in the middle of a cool Sept. 10. They’re here to paint rocks, just one of the events aimed at promoting mental health resources on base.
Justin Gordon, a Coast Guard facility engineer, holds a blue rock.
“The blue colors just kind of spoke to me so I went with three shades of blue and I’m at a point right now where I’m trying to decide what to put next, whether it’s going to be some inspirational words or a little funny character on there,” Gordon said.
He’s here because he’s very aware of how prevalent suicide is, and what the aftermath can look like for friends and families.
“I personally have lost a few shipmates that I’ve known, that I’ve sailed with in my 17 years – three individuals specifically that I’ve been on board with, have taken their own lives,” Gordon said. “And I think one is too many.”
The Coast Guard had a suicide on its Kodiak base as recently as June, which renewed talks about mental health and suicide resources for active military members.
Kodiak’s not alone though, efforts like the rock painting are part of a larger push to promote military mental health services across the state. Other communities like in Bristol Bay and on the Kenai Peninsula also had events to honor lives lost to suicide.
Suicide rates are remarkably high in Alaska – the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council lists the rate in 2017 at 26.9 per 100,000. That’s nearly double the national average of 14 per 100,000.
Jody Carman, an employee assistance program coordinator with the Coast Guard, said the rock painting event is one way she’s trying to spread awareness about the base’s mental health resources.
“We have a lot of resources available on this base,” she said. “We have a behavioral health program provider at the clinic, we have our chaplains that are here.”
She also listed out the base’s specialists for different kinds of adverse situations like domestic violence, stress management, sexual assault, and a myriad of other stressors.
Carman said painting rocks also gives service members an opportunity for recreation and self expression.
“And it tends to be something that people enjoy doing,” she said. “And creativity is really important, creativity matters. So it’s a way for people to get creative and cathart and kind of get some expression out there.”
People could take their rocks home to look at on tough days, or place them on trails like at the Coast Guard’s ruck march up Pillar Mountain at the end of September to remind others.
The Kodiak Area Native Association also had a march for civilians. KANA Wellness Programs Director Matthew Kozak said the association aims to honor lives lost to suicide and reduce stigma on mental health conversations.
“The goal of the march is to raise awareness about how prevalent suicide, and particularly people having suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideation, really is,” he said. “The impact that it has on the people who are left behind when someone is lost due to suicide, and to really give space to have those conversations.”
One of the concerns some people have around mental health resources though, is that counseling services on island can take a long time to access.
Emergency services are always available, but mental health counseling waitlists can take months. When reached in August, KANA’s waitlist can take up to 10 weeks, while Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center ’s waitlist can take up to 8 months.
Kozak said KANA is aware that waiting that long isn’t ideal for some folks, so they have an intake system where they sort people through a mental health triage. KANA also offers suicide specific training for anyone to learn about mental health first aid.
“It’s just really focused on teaching people who aren’t in the behavioral health field,” he said. “So it can be for anyone just how to recognize and respond to somebody who might be, not even necessarily expressing suicidal intent, but just somebody you’re worried about – how to recognize those warning signs and how to address it.”
KANA offers that training up to four times a year.
Some places like the Cohen Clinics in Anchorage and Fairbanks, which primarily service veterans and active military, however do not have waitlists. MaryBeth Goodman, the state director for the Cohen Clinics of Alaska, said the nonprofit is fortunate enough to hire more clinicians as need increases.
“We also have individuals who actually come to the mainland for medical care,” she said. “And they might be here for two weeks, and we would actually see them for an hour a day, five days a week, so we would get 10 sessions of care in two weeks.”
But for some folks like Justin Gordon on Base Kodiak, he said he hopes all of the efforts for Suicide Prevention Month in September can lead to more people understanding the impact of suicide.
“I think even when we don’t know an individual, when we find out about it, it really hits home for everybody,” Gordon said. “Makes us rethink, recheck with all of our members that we interact with, and even the ones that we just see and maybe don’t have interactions with, we kind of double down our efforts. And hopefully we start doing more of that, even without an incident like what happened.”
He said he hopes that his little blue rock can help remind someone who sees it that there are people that care.
“If somebody sees the rock that I paint and just knows that somebody took the time out of their day to be here, painting a rock,” he said. “So one day someone will see it and say ‘hey, y’know it’s not such a bad day.’ There is a little sunshine through all this rain.”
Several emergency resources are available, like crisis phone lines.
