Not only is May an important month because it is Mental Health Awareness Month, it is also Military Appreciation Month. This month invites us to think deeply about our perceptions of and support for the military community - to include their mental health.
Our Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Sonja Batten, is a leading voice for considering the totality of what makes veterans a special group of individuals. Consider her words and wisdom as we all reflect on how to stand with veterans and service members:
Veterans aren’t broken - but how society talks about them is.
This “broken” stereotype often comes down to how the media reduces veterans to extremes: invincible heroes or individuals with their heads in their hands, overcome by challenges.
And with just 6% of Americans having served in the military, many people don’t personally know a veteran - or don’t realize that they do. This distance creates a context for negative caricatures.
After nearly 30 years of working with veterans professionally, here’s what I’ve learned: Their leadership under pressure, commitment to the mission, deep sense of camaraderie, and sharp humor are core to who they are. They’re resourceful, resilient, and committed to the greater good.
They’re my close friends, my dad, my colleagues, my uncles, my beloved cousin Marty, my favorite clients, and they’re who I’d want next to me in times of crisis.
That being said, it's important to acknowledge that military service can also sometimes come with serious mental health challenges, proven by one of the leading causes of death among veterans: suicide.
Ignoring the challenges of the veteran experience would do a disservice to the truth - but so would focusing on the problems alone. Veterans’ strengths and challenges exist side by side, and addressing one without the other fails to capture what it means to serve.
Veterans deserve to be recognized for ALL that they are: resilient, multifaceted, and human.
It’s time we change our broken narrative.
This is our charge; to celebrate veterans fully, and completely, for all their strengths, gifts, lived experiences, and talents. Join us in supporting a narrative that is accurate and honors our veterans.
This is your call to action to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them as they fight unique battles and overcome difficult times. Let’s see every bit of what makes our military community incredible and let’s commit to walk with them, through the good times and challenging moments, together.
