To mark Army/Department of Defense Suicide Prevention Week, the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine added a new poster to its line-up of educational materials for Soldiers, leaders and Family members.
The poster, available for downloading now, touts this year's Army suicide prevention theme, "Shoulder to Shoulder: No Soldier Stands Alone." It emphasizes the idea that suicide prevention is about Soldiers taking care of Soldiers.
"I wanted the poster to show the kind of unity that Soldiers who have been in combat together have," said Ethel Kefauver, CHPPM visual information specialist and the poster's designer. "That's the idea behind suicide prevention-we all have a responsibility to help each other."
CHPPM offers a range of educational and awareness products to assist units with suicide prevention training. These include the ACE intervention card, a pocket-size reminder of buddy assistance tips; a half-dozen posters in addition to the new one; Army-sanctioned leader and Soldier training briefs and supplemental training aids; and information for Family members.
The materials are Army-focused but available to other military services as well.
"We serve the Army primarily, and most of our materials depict Soldiers," said Shawn Bowman, chief of CHPPM's Health Information Operations Branch. "We know, though, that suicide prevention is important to all the services, so we provide these materials to requesting Navy, Marine and Air Force units, too."
CHPPM's product distributors expect that demand for the new poster and related materials will swell during September due to the emphasis Army leaders are placing on suicide prevention.
"Suicide materials are our top priority during Suicide Prevention Week," according to Anne Gibson, who oversees CHPPM's mail room. "We would ask that our customers ordering other materials be patient with us in September, given the importance of the suicide prevention effort."
Gibson estimates that suicide prevention materials ordered through CHPPM's Web site would ship in five to seven working days.
Visit the CHPPM site at http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/ to view, download or order suicide prevention materials.
A printed version of the "Shoulder to Shoulder" poster should be available by the end of the month.
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