November 14 – Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
JAMESTOWN — Jamestown University is partnering with the Governor’s Challenge to help prevent suicides among veterans.
The initiative is made possible by the North Dakota Cares program and aims to prevent suicide among service members, veterans and their families.
North Dakota Cares and the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve recognized the university’s efforts with a signing ceremony.
“I am so incredibly proud of this university and what is happening today in support of North Dakota Cares and our support of veterans who have served our country and given us the opportunity to do what we do here at the University of Jamestown,” said UJ President Polly Peterson.
The university’s Master of Clinical Counseling Program began its partnership with North Dakota Cares in February. The partnership focused on providing advice on access to lethal means (CALM). CALM training reduces access to methods used in suicide. To date, this initiative has trained more than 100 individuals, with UJ’s Master of Clinical Counseling Program awarding more than 90 continuing education units to accredited professionals including counsellors, addiction specialists and social workers.
The Governor’s Challenge emphasizes identifying individuals at risk, promoting connectedness and care transitions, and improving safety planning. UJ plans to further expand this initiative in 2025 and offer new training focused on security planning, reinforcing its commitment to serving those who have served the nation.
Elsie Motter, director of clinical counseling and behavioral health at UJ, said counselors are advocates within their communities.
“We identify areas where we can improve services for the community and remove barriers to accessing services in our efforts to promote social change,” she said.
Motter said partnering with North Dakota Cares and offering the CALM training at UJ was in line with her vision for the Master of Clinical Counseling Program.
“Within three months we delivered our first training to over 60 people,” she says. “Our program has now become an approved provider for the North Dakota Board of Addiction Counseling Examiners, the North Dakota Board of Social Work Examiners, and the CALM training has been approved by the North Dakota Board of Counselor Examiners.
“So this means that as an agency we can provide clinical training and all counselors who attend can receive CEUs (continuing education units),” she said. “Not only does that make the training more attractive to administrators who need to send their physicians to training because it is free, it also increases the number of people who attend the training, which then increases the reach of the people who receive the training.”
She said the CALM training is a two-hour workshop that includes learning and understanding how to have difficult conversations when someone is suicidal, what substances the person might use and how to have conversations to remove those lethal substances.
“So that could be like having a safe place where they can secure their weapons, a safe place where they can go so that they don’t have that access at a time when their emotions are high,” Motter said.
North Dakota Cares is a coalition of individuals, agencies, organizations, counties, cities and businesses in North Dakota with the goal of supporting service members, veterans and their families, said Cynthia Whitesell, co-chair of North Dakota Cares.
“Some of the things we do regularly in recruitment is work together to identify gaps in service and look for ways to improve service,” she said. “…One of our largest initiatives is partnering with the Governor’s Challenge to reduce suicides among service members, veterans and families.”
Col. Benjamin Cleghorn, chief of staff of the North Dakota Army National Guard, said the timing of the partnership is “impeccable,” with members of the 817th Engineer Co. (Sapper) from Jamestown returning from their one-year deployment to the southwestern border.
“For the men and women who serve in this state in both the military and air, and especially those who serve in this great community, it is great to have such a great institution sign and partner with ND Cares” , he said.
Cleghorn said it’s important for servicemembers, veterans and their families to know the university is there to help them when they need it.
“The things that a veteran goes through, depending on their tour and what they go through, are very difficult for a lot of people to understand,” he said.
He said the suicide rate among veterans in the US is “out of control.”
“One is too many, but more than 6,000 nationally (per year) is obviously ridiculous,” he said.
Rob Keller, vice president of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, said there are 56,000 veterans living in North Dakota. He said there are more than 50 communities that are “North Dakota Cares communities.”
“That means any businesses could have posted signs there,” he said. “That means a lot to a service member who has served because it’s not just someone coming up to you and talking to you, it’s also a sign that they support that as well.”
For more information about this program, please contact Sarah Kemp-Tabbut, community engagement and partnerships coordinator at Public Health Suicide Prevention for Veterans, at Keptabbut@va.gov. The next training is scheduled for December 11.
