Veterans Response team created to reach at-risk people
In situations where a military veteran is in crisis, the person may be most responsive to someone who has similar experiences, such as another military veteran. That’s the idea behind the Veterans Response team.
The VA Butler Healthcare System is partnering with the Butler County Sheriff’s office, Butler County Human Services and other agencies to create a Veterans Response team in Butler County.
The team is being launched on Veterans Day, and there is a two-day training course for military first responders on Nov. 14 and 15, where they will be filled in on the team’s practices.
Christie Lucas, with the Butler VA’s Veterans Justice Outreach program, said Wednesday, Nov. 6, that this will be the second Veterans Response team in Pennsylvania, and it will be made up of responders of other agencies who are military veterans themselves.
Lucas noted that the response unit on which Butler is modeling its own unit, Montgomery County’s, has been “extremely successful” in reducing harm via a peer-to-peer response, and it has intervened in five potential veteran suicides in one year.
“For first responders who are also military themselves, and have already seen crisis and intervention training as well, then they receive the response training where they learn issues as well as the resources available to veterans,” Lucas said. “It's a deflection initiative to help keep veterans away from the criminal justice system. It is also to reduce veteran suicide.”
According to Lucas, the team will focus on proactive responses to veterans who may or may not be enrolled in any other VA Butler services.
Sgt. Anthony Sawl, who works with the Butler VA, said veterans who don’t pursue aid from the system could be at particular risk of harm, self-inflicted or otherwise. Making contact with them through the response team could prevent a negative outcome, Sawl said.
“A lot of veterans will not register at the VA. They feel they are taking up space that other veterans will need,” Sawl said. “I'm tired of losing brothers and sisters veterans to suicide and other things.”
Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe said his office is involved in facilitating training with Butler VA Healthcare System. He said the idea was brought to him, and it fits in with the sheriff’s office’s ongoing initiatives to provide general crisis intervention training.
“We openly embraced this process and project really,” Slupe said. “If we could prevent just one suicide, it's a win.”
Lucas said 14 first responders are set to attend the training sessions, and the VA has already created pins to be worn by its members so they are easily identifiable to the people they are responding to. The launch of this initiative is in hopes that early outreach will cut down on veteran harm, Lucas added.
“The point is to avoid that crisis, avoid that shooting, homelessness,” she said. “We shouldn't wait until something bad happens; we want to get them connected before that happens.”
