Mental Health Awareness and reducing the 22
Some semblance of normality is cautiously rising, like folks “prairie-dogging” in what used to be their workspace cubicles at work.
With limits on seating, the veterans coffee klatsch is returning to some spaced seats on Tuesday mornings. I heard it was the same for the vets who attend a Monday gathering over at Desert Vineyard and I hope it’s the case for AV Veterans Community Action Coalition. Getting back together is good for mental health and May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
On Tuesday, the Coffee4Vets regulars seated themselves — but did not crowd into — a space at Crazy Otto’s on Avenue I that they had to give up during more than a year of COVID-19 restaurant restrictions.
Among the speakers was a Marine Corps veteran, Dedoceo Habi. His life changed forever on Oct. 22, 1983 when a terrorist from Hezbollah drove a bomb-laden truck into the Marine barracks at Beirut Airport. Most of the dead were Marines still in their bunks when the truck bomb detonated, but there were also soldiers, sailors and airmen in the death toll from the historic attack.
“Dee” Habi was not in the barracks, but he volunteered from the USS Iwo Jima, port side, to work on recovery of the wounded, the remains of the dead and their effects.
For Dee, it was a straight line to a recurrent load of post traumatic stress disorder. Habi writes about his PTSD and recovery in an autobiographical book, “Memoirs In The Moment.”
“Even today I grapple with what happened because it’s so hard to believe it was actually me who saw, felt and experienced the carnage of Beirut in the midst of so much chaos,” he wrote. “To this day I still smell those smells. I can be driving down the highway when, out of nowhere, the memory of the smell strikes me.”
This Marine veteran engaged on a long road of mental health recovery and he shared that we have a duty to help our brothers and sisters and to try and cut down the numbers of veterans — 22 — who commit suicide daily.
He noted, “While we have been gathered here, a veteran somewhere has committed suicide.” This means buddy checks, being present and calling 911 as needed.
Another Marine vet, Krishna Flores, who runs outreach for the VA’s Vet Center for counseling in Palmdale, reminded the group gathered that help is available nearby.
“This is a benefit you have earned from your service in combat or hostile operations zones,” she said.
The Vet Center’s number in Palmdale is 661-267-1026.
Their stories are a testimonial to the need for Mental Health Awareness Month.
The purpose, according to the information flow from groups like Mental Health America and National Alliance for Mental Illness, is to educate the public about mental illnesses, such as the 18.1% of Americans who suffer from depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
That translates to about one out of five among us. The Antelope Valley is blessed and burdened with a number of social conditions, including its until-recently-affordable housing base that is afflicted with higher rates of depression than almost any other area of Los Angeles County.
So, it is a blessing that groups like Mental Health America of the Antelope Valley and NAMI AV, assist the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in work to reduce the number of people whose lives are impaired by severe and persistent mental illness. Those people are your friends, neighbors, family members and it might also at some point in life, be you.
Getting help from one of these locally-run organizations is as close as a Google search, or calling L.A. County’s 211 information service. If you are feeling suicidal, however, the right call is to a suicide hotline or to 911 and make yourself safe.
After many years of advocacy by MHA and NAMI staff and volunteers, Los Angeles County will soon open a psychiatric urgent care and it will operate close by on Avenue I, next door to Los Angeles County’s Antelope Valley Health Center.
On recent travels to visit with family members and friends out of state, it is clear the past year of pandemic restriction has taken a toll on the mental health of the afflicted — and even of those blessed with mental health and stability.
With or without a job, with or without fortunate circumstance, everyone has dealt with added loads of stress and anxiety. To help your loved ones and friends, it starts with being kind. But it also helps to be observant and if somebody you know needs help, or if you need help, help becomes possible by reaching out until you find what is needed.
Dennis Anderson is a licensed clinical social worker at High Desert Medical Group. An Army veteran, he deployed with local National Guard troops to cover the Iraq War for the Antelope Valley Press. He works on veterans and community health initiatives.