Tag Archives: Suicide

Suicidal Alcoholics Anonymous Member Calls Veterans Crisis Line

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Here is a suicide crisis line for veterans, and this one suicidal veteran states he has people in AA he can talk to. AA is not equipped to deal with suicidal, depressed veterans. Lack of real professional help for veterans and depending on 12 step programs is costing lives.

Veterans Crisis Line Seeks To Help Those Struggling With Civilian Life, Unemployment, Post-Combat Stress
Posted: 03/ 8/2012 12:06 pm
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Hi, this is Tricia. Thank you for calling the Veterans Crisis Line. What’s going on tonight?

Tricia, a crisis line operator, is talking with someone we’ll call Steven. Her long black hair frames her face as she bends over her desk, eyes closed, listening and then replying softly.

Steven, will you take a few deep breaths for me, it’s really important that I understand what you are experiencing.

In a few cramped rooms inside a dark red brick veterans mental institution built here in the 1930s, Tricia Lucchesi, along with some two dozen mental health professionals and veterans, fields the calls that come in every minute through the Veterans Crisis Line.

Tricia is 52 and has years of experience in teaching and mental health care; her son is an enlisted airman in the Air Force. Her headset is decorated with blue sparkles. She listens, oblivious to the bustle and ringing phones around her. When she responds she speaks slowly, pouring warmth down the phone line.

What is it Steven, that is making you so desperate that the only way you can think of is to kill yourself?

Seventeen thousand times a month, at all hours of the day and night, the operators answer the callers, listening intently, absorbing the anger and despair, gently shifting them back toward life.

Okay, Steven, I hear that you want to kill yourself tonight and I want to be able to help you not feel that way.

snip

The VA has made huge strides in providing services to the new and Vietnam-era veterans who are demanding medical and mental health help in record numbers. But its facilities, and especially mental health therapists and consultants, are often overwhelmed by the demand.

“Many of the veterans feel very frustrated when the system doesn’t work for them,” said a crisis line responder. “Our VA system is strained, a lot of times there’s not enough staffing. It’s a big job, and often there aren’t enough people to do it.”

Steven, do you have someone you can- … Okay, AA [Alcoholics Anonymous]? Oh, good, you have people in AA. How long have you been sober? Seven years! Good for you! And with everything that’s been going on with you, you haven’t picked up a drink for seven years? … You have a bottle of wine? … Was that today? … Have you been drinking today? … Okay, okay … All right, so you stayed sober for seven years and today you were in so much pain you felt you had to pick up a drink … Okay …. Sure … Sure … I hear you’re in a lot of pain and you want to die right now … We have ways to help you and make your life easier, but you need to work with me on this …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/veterans-crisis-line_n_1322423.html

Josh Powell, 2 Sons Dead In Murder-Suicide Explosion

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A Judge denied Josh Powell custody this past week until after he underwent a psycho-sexual evaluation. His children were 5 year-old Braden and 7 year-old Charles. Josh Powell Killed his children with a hatchet before the explosion…….

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20120206/US.Missing.Mom.Utah/?cid=hero_media

Josh Powell Dead

A Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy and Graham Firefighters work around the smoldering remains of a house near Fredrickson, Wash., Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, where, according to a sheriff’s spokesman, three bodies were were found. The bodies are believed to be Josh Powell and his two sons. The explosion occurred moments after a Child Protective Services worker brought the two boys to the home for a supervised visit. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Peter Haley)

GRAHAM, Wash. — Days after a judge ruled against him in a child custody hearing, a father and his two young sons were killed Sunday when police said he appeared to intentionally blow up a house with all three inside – a tragic ending to a bizarre case that began more than two years ago when the man’s wife went mysteriously missing in Utah.

A social worker brought the two boys to Josh Powell’s home for what was to be a supervised visit, and Powell let his sons inside – but then blocked the social worker from entering, Graham Fire and Rescue Chief Gary Franz told The Associated Press.

The social worker called her supervisors to report that she could smell gas, and moments later the home exploded.

Sgt. Ed Troyer, Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman, said emails that Powell sent authorities seemed to confirm that Powell planned the deadly blast. Troyer didn’t elaborate on the contents of the emails, but said they make police believe “this is intentional, this is planned.”

Authorities said they found three bodies in the home late Sunday afternoon as fire crews and police continued to search the rubble. Troyer said it appeared some sort of accelerant was used to make the house burn faster.

Jeffrey Bassett, who represented Powell in the custody case, said he received a brief email from his client just minutes before Powell and the two boys died. It said, “I’m sorry, goodbye.”

Josh Powell & Two Sons Dead in Planned, Intentional Explosion: Police| Crime & Courts, Death, True Crime, Real People Stories, Susan Powell

The email arrived at 12:05 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes before the explosion, but he didn’t see it until two hours later, when others told him Josh and the boys had been killed. He said he knew Josh was upset after being ordered to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation recently, but he didn’t see this coming.

Powell was under investigation in the disappearance of his 28-year-old wife Susan from their West Valley City, Utah, home in December 2009. He claimed he had taken the boys on a midnight excursion in freezing temperatures when she vanished.

The children, 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charles, had been living with Susan Powell’s parents since Josh Powell’s father, Steven, was arrested on child porn and voyeurism charges last fall. On Wednesday, a judge had denied an attempt by Josh Powell to regain custody, saying she wouldn’t consider returning the two boys to their father until he underwent a psycho-sexual evaluation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/05/josh-powell-susan-powell-home-explosion_n_1256113.html

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20567527,00.html