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| Barry Feldman, PhD |
Facing a significant increase in suicides within its ranks, the Massachusetts Army National Guard is receiving assistance from UMass Medical School with its suicide prevention efforts. UMMS suicidologist Barry Feldman, PhD, who leads the collaboration, talked about the importance of getting people who may be at risk to talk about suicide before it happens in a Sept. 18 story on WBUR-FM radio.
The report also references a joint program of the state Department of Veterans’ Services and the Medical School to help bolster the Guard’s suicide prevention efforts, which is run by Dr. Feldman, assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the UMMS Psychiatry Programs in Public Safety.
“By having an individual discuss their thoughts of suicide, it gets it out into the open and becomes an issue or problem that can potentially be solved,” said Feldman. He emphasized the importance of educating military staff, veterans and their families about suicide, and engaging them in proactive outreach to at-risk soldiers and veterans.
Read the story and hear the full broadcast here.
Related links on UMassMedNow:
Feldman, Doerfler to Telegram: there are ways to prevent suicide
Collaboration announced to help prevent military suicide
Medical and nursing students focus on veterans
