About AMEDD - AMEDD Innovations Since Desert Storm

The U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine developed two suicide awareness/prevention training packages, one targeted to Army leaders and one to Soldiers.

These materials train Soldiers and leaders to recognize when a fellow Soldier is in distress and respond effectively.  The packages are designed to empower Soldiers and leaders to be part of the solution in reducing Army suicides.  Additionally, the awareness/prevention training provides an explanation of the negative effects of stigma, and its negative impact on help-seeking behavior.  It emphasizes that help-seeking behavior and assisting others must be normalized and made compatible with warrior ethos.  To deliver this message of help seeking and assisting others, celebrity spokespersons were used to encourage Soldiers to seek assistance from chaplains and behavioral health professionals.

These materials are available online at the Army's limited-access AKO Web site, https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/334798 .  As well, CHPPM maintains a public suicide awareness page that includes many of these materials at http://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/healthyliving/bh/Pages/SuicidePreventionEducation.aspx .