1 00:00:02,190 --> 00:00:04,750 Hi I'm Major EJ Vontran , mental health 2 00:00:04,750 --> 00:00:06,417 flight commander and clinical 3 00:00:06,417 --> 00:00:08,417 psychologist at Misawa Air base and 4 00:00:08,417 --> 00:00:10,583 I've been providing mental health care 5 00:00:10,583 --> 00:00:12,694 for military members and families for 6 00:00:12,694 --> 00:00:14,583 nine years . A lot of people have 7 00:00:14,583 --> 00:00:16,806 stories on how they've helped those who 8 00:00:16,806 --> 00:00:18,806 are dealing with suicide as part of 9 00:00:18,806 --> 00:00:20,861 suicide prevention month . I want to 10 00:00:20,861 --> 00:00:20,610 focus on one of those stories from our 11 00:00:20,610 --> 00:00:23,270 very own command chief Lamberg this 12 00:00:23,270 --> 00:00:25,492 particular day I came to work just like 13 00:00:25,492 --> 00:00:27,603 I would any other day and I wasn't in 14 00:00:27,603 --> 00:00:29,714 uniform because we weren't allowed to 15 00:00:29,714 --> 00:00:31,881 wear uniforms off base . I was meeting 16 00:00:31,881 --> 00:00:33,992 the night shift . The night shift was 17 00:00:33,992 --> 00:00:36,103 leaving as I was coming in and one of 18 00:00:36,103 --> 00:00:38,326 my night shift N . C . O . S asked if I 19 00:00:38,326 --> 00:00:38,310 could talk to if he could talk to me 20 00:00:38,310 --> 00:00:40,810 for a minute . Um I looked at the clock 21 00:00:40,820 --> 00:00:43,280 and I wasn't dressed . I had a meeting 22 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,630 and I told him I didn't have time um 23 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:47,751 that I needed to get dressed so I can 24 00:00:47,751 --> 00:00:50,084 make the meeting with the command chief . 25 00:00:50,084 --> 00:00:52,251 We could talk later and he said okay . 26 00:00:52,251 --> 00:00:54,196 I closed my door and I went to get 27 00:00:54,196 --> 00:00:56,710 dressed and something in my gut told me 28 00:00:56,710 --> 00:00:58,821 to run and catch them . So one of the 29 00:00:58,821 --> 00:01:00,766 things I really like hearing about 30 00:01:00,766 --> 00:01:02,710 right there is chief blank . We're 31 00:01:02,710 --> 00:01:04,877 trusting her instincts . All right . A 32 00:01:04,877 --> 00:01:07,043 lot of times we know ourselves well we 33 00:01:07,043 --> 00:01:09,210 know the people around us well we know 34 00:01:09,210 --> 00:01:11,321 our airmen and trust yourself on that 35 00:01:11,321 --> 00:01:13,654 if you see something that's out of line . 36 00:01:13,654 --> 00:01:15,821 If you see something that just doesn't 37 00:01:15,821 --> 00:01:15,720 feel right , Ask those difficult 38 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:18,440 questions . Worst case scenario in that 39 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,607 situation is they let you know they're 40 00:01:20,607 --> 00:01:22,607 okay and they know that you're just 41 00:01:22,607 --> 00:01:24,496 supporting them all that better . 42 00:01:24,496 --> 00:01:26,718 Alright , so ask those hard questions , 43 00:01:26,718 --> 00:01:28,718 trust your instincts and ultimately 44 00:01:28,718 --> 00:01:30,690 look out for our folks . And so I 45 00:01:30,700 --> 00:01:32,922 quickly ran out to see if I could catch 46 00:01:32,922 --> 00:01:34,978 him before he got to the parking lot 47 00:01:34,978 --> 00:01:36,978 And I asked him to come back in , I 48 00:01:36,978 --> 00:01:39,089 wasn't completely dressed , so I told 49 00:01:39,089 --> 00:01:41,311 him to give me a few minutes and let me 50 00:01:41,311 --> 00:01:43,256 get my uniform and boots on and we 51 00:01:43,256 --> 00:01:45,478 would chat . But at the time I only had 52 00:01:45,478 --> 00:01:47,478 about 20 minutes , um I brought him 53 00:01:47,478 --> 00:01:49,589 into my office and asked him what was 54 00:01:49,589 --> 00:01:51,644 going on and he looked me in my eyes 55 00:01:51,644 --> 00:01:53,756 and told me that every single morning 56 00:01:53,756 --> 00:01:55,922 he wakes up , he has to come up with a 57 00:01:55,922 --> 00:01:58,144 reason to live and he no longer had any 58 00:01:58,144 --> 00:02:00,390 more reasons . It rocked me to my core 59 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,260 because a piece of me feels like had I 60 00:02:04,260 --> 00:02:06,720 let him go home or or had I not taken 61 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,110 the time to catch him before he went 62 00:02:09,110 --> 00:02:11,332 home , that he wouldn't be here today . 63 00:02:11,332 --> 00:02:13,600 Um I picked up the phone , quickly 64 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,822 called the command chief and told him I 65 00:02:15,822 --> 00:02:17,822 wasn't gonna make the eight o'clock 66 00:02:17,822 --> 00:02:19,690 meeting and I ended up having a 67 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:21,912 conversation with him figuring out what 68 00:02:21,912 --> 00:02:23,968 was going on and I took them over to 69 00:02:23,968 --> 00:02:26,190 mental health . Such an impactful story 70 00:02:26,190 --> 00:02:28,357 by Chief Lamberg here . As you can see 71 00:02:28,357 --> 00:02:30,468 she ask the difficult questions , she 72 00:02:30,468 --> 00:02:32,690 trusts her instincts and ultimately she 73 00:02:32,690 --> 00:02:34,912 got that person to where they needed to 74 00:02:34,912 --> 00:02:37,023 go kind of leads us to our acronym of 75 00:02:37,023 --> 00:02:38,968 ask care is asking those difficult 76 00:02:38,968 --> 00:02:41,023 questions , taking care of our folks 77 00:02:41,023 --> 00:02:43,190 and then making sure that we take that 78 00:02:43,190 --> 00:02:45,301 extra step to lead them to where they 79 00:02:45,301 --> 00:02:47,468 need to go . Well , we've got a lot of 80 00:02:47,468 --> 00:02:47,280 things going on . As you can see , 81 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,730 Command Chief Bland Berg canceled her 82 00:02:49,730 --> 00:02:51,850 appointment with the Command Chief at 83 00:02:51,850 --> 00:02:55,070 that time . So very busy schedule a lot 84 00:02:55,070 --> 00:02:57,126 going on . But ultimately we need to 85 00:02:57,126 --> 00:02:59,181 take care of our folks and do what's 86 00:02:59,181 --> 00:03:01,070 best uh for the betterment of our 87 00:03:01,070 --> 00:03:03,470 community and our people . Um a few 88 00:03:03,470 --> 00:03:07,380 things that I um went through , 89 00:03:07,390 --> 00:03:09,612 you know , during that process was just 90 00:03:09,612 --> 00:03:11,501 to realize that it's important to 91 00:03:11,501 --> 00:03:13,557 connect to connect with a person and 92 00:03:13,557 --> 00:03:15,446 when a person comes to you and it 93 00:03:15,446 --> 00:03:17,612 brings a problem or a challenge to you 94 00:03:17,612 --> 00:03:19,723 to take the time to actually listen . 95 00:03:19,723 --> 00:03:22,830 Um The other thing that I learned was 96 00:03:22,830 --> 00:03:26,040 he was my best best best N . C . O . I 97 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,260 think we have like a a picture of what 98 00:03:29,260 --> 00:03:31,950 a person looks like if they're suicidal 99 00:03:31,950 --> 00:03:33,672 and what I learned through his 100 00:03:33,672 --> 00:03:37,310 situation is they can look just like 101 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,090 me and look just like you and still be 102 00:03:40,090 --> 00:03:43,380 going through a challenging time . One 103 00:03:43,380 --> 00:03:45,491 thing that Chief Landberg talks about 104 00:03:45,491 --> 00:03:47,930 is this individual who is struggling 105 00:03:47,930 --> 00:03:50,230 was one of our best troops , alright , 106 00:03:50,230 --> 00:03:52,230 so we can't always equate job 107 00:03:52,230 --> 00:03:54,380 performance to mental health and 108 00:03:54,380 --> 00:03:56,491 someone taking care of themselves and 109 00:03:56,491 --> 00:03:58,436 getting the strategy , getting the 110 00:03:58,436 --> 00:04:00,658 coping skills and getting the resources 111 00:04:00,658 --> 00:04:02,713 they need , coping stress in general 112 00:04:02,713 --> 00:04:05,010 can impact anybody , uh being 113 00:04:05,020 --> 00:04:07,076 occupational stress , relationship , 114 00:04:07,076 --> 00:04:09,480 stress , financial stress , uh none of 115 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,480 us are immune to that regardless of 116 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,536 rank or job description . So good on 117 00:04:13,536 --> 00:04:15,910 Chief Landberg for reaching out and um 118 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,087 getting that person the help that they 119 00:04:18,087 --> 00:04:20,360 needed at that time , Hindsight being 120 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:22,960 2020 . Um it doesn't matter what time 121 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,350 of day or night , if someone reaches 122 00:04:25,350 --> 00:04:27,628 out to me , if they knock on this door , 123 00:04:27,628 --> 00:04:30,170 if they call me , always take the time 124 00:04:30,180 --> 00:04:32,830 because that situation , it always 125 00:04:32,830 --> 00:04:34,941 plays in my mind . It's the one thing 126 00:04:34,941 --> 00:04:37,052 that keeps me up at night and I would 127 00:04:37,052 --> 00:04:39,052 never want to have on my conscience 128 00:04:39,052 --> 00:04:41,760 that um because I didn't take the time 129 00:04:41,770 --> 00:04:44,420 a member , a member came to me to bring 130 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:46,587 their problems to me and I didn't take 131 00:04:46,587 --> 00:04:49,010 the time to listen such an impactful 132 00:04:49,010 --> 00:04:51,232 story by Chief Landberg right here that 133 00:04:51,232 --> 00:04:53,343 we just watched while this is Suicide 134 00:04:53,343 --> 00:04:55,510 prevention month , I do want to remind 135 00:04:55,510 --> 00:04:57,621 us all that suicide prevention is a 3 136 00:04:57,621 --> 00:04:59,621 65 24 7 matter . And this is a good 137 00:04:59,621 --> 00:05:01,732 story of Chief Landberg . Taking time 138 00:05:01,732 --> 00:05:04,040 out to focus in on what someone needs 139 00:05:04,050 --> 00:05:06,106 and getting into the support and the 140 00:05:06,106 --> 00:05:08,272 resources that they need . Some people 141 00:05:08,272 --> 00:05:10,439 are worried that seeking mental health 142 00:05:10,439 --> 00:05:12,494 services can negatively impact their 143 00:05:12,494 --> 00:05:14,661 career . The vast majority of people , 144 00:05:14,661 --> 00:05:16,717 though , that receive those services 145 00:05:16,717 --> 00:05:18,772 are better equipped to handle stress 146 00:05:18,772 --> 00:05:20,550 and continue to have successful 147 00:05:20,550 --> 00:05:20,110 military careers .