Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) completed applied suicide intervention skills training (ASIST), part of a Navy-wide effort to reduce the amount of suicides by training Sailors in suicide intervention skills.
ASIST is offered at military bases around the world as a way to reduce Sailor suicides that, according to the Navy Personnel Command’s (NPC) suicide prevention website, average four each month.
Every year more people die by suicide world-wide than from all of the armed conflicts around the world combined according to NPC. The effects of suicide can be devastating to a family, command and even a whole community. The question many people are asking is “how can we prevent someone from taking his/her own life?” One resource available to Sailors in the prevention of suicide is ASIST.
“We are in a difficult environment,” said Capt. Karl Thomas, commanding officer of Lincoln. “A lot of people have different challenges and all that stress can build up to where they need to have someone they know they can reach out to for assistance.”
The two-day workshop concentrates on training people to intervene with someone who is contemplating suicide. “Applied suicide intervention skills training made me feel more aware of the symptoms of suicide,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Michael Weinmann. “It also taught me how to approach and deal with Sailors who are having these same problems.”
ASIST inspired a Lincoln Sailor who has gone through the program to help others outside of the Navy.
“Seaman Cecilia Allen was on leave in San Francisco where she put a hundred stickers all along the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Lt. David Duprey, Lincoln Chaplain. “The sticker says ‘It’s a long way down but it’s a short walk back,’ along with the suicide prevention hotline number on the bottom.”
Lincoln is currently undergoing RCOH at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Lincoln is the fifth ship of the Nimitz class to undergo a RCOH, a major life-cycle milestone. Once RCOH is complete, Lincoln will be one of the most modern and technologically advanced Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in the fleet and will continue to be a vital part of the nation’s defense.
[mappress] Press Release, October 07, 2013