“GAH built and provided Team RWB a Crisis Intervention Plan for our leaders, in addition to working with us to build more capacity through SafeTalk and ASIST training. This past May, one of our volunteer Eagle Leaders in California contacted one of our Full-Time Program Managers about a member expressing suicidal thoughts on social media. Our volunteer leader was able to use the Crisis Intervention Plan to calmly share resources with this member. Our Program Manager was able to refer to the Crisis Intervention Plan while guiding and coaching the volunteer leader through the situation, and recommending one of the resources on the CIP list. In retrospect, our volunteer leader was able to spot the Five Signs of emotional suffering put out by Give an Hour, and take action. In a great example of peer-to-peer support, our regional team connected this distressed veteran was a friend with another Eagle Leader, who was about to contact the distressed member. Another Eagle Leader was able to find out the location of the distressed member, who was connected to a VA health provider that picked up the veteran and took him to the hospital. During this entire time of communicating with the team, our Program Manager continued to refer to the CIP Flowchart, to make sure all aspects of the intervention was covered. Our Program Manager was further confident to handle the situation, continuously relying on her SafeTalk and ASIST training to confidently give guidance. This is just one example of an impact on a veteran’s life through the GAH/Team RWB partnership and effective peer-to-peer support.”
-John Pinter, Executive Director, Team Red White & Blue
