On Veterans Day, we honor those who serve and have served in the U.S. military. For two University of Colorado School of Medicine researchers, Veterans Day is also a time to reflect on the importance of mental health support for veterans at risk for suicide. Through intervention strategies and close collaboration with veterans and clinicians, they are working on strategies and tactics to prevent veteran suicides by firearm.
To learn more about their work, we interviewed Ian Stanley, PhD, assistant research professor of emergency medicine and psychological health lead for the CU Anschutz Center for Combat Medicine and Battlefield (COMBAT) Research, and Joseph Simonetti, MD, MPH, director of education for the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative (FIPI) and clinical investigator at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) for Suicide Prevention.