Many troops face traumatic situations that most civilians cannot imagine. Some come away with mental distress, post traumatic stress disorder and depression. Unfortunately, suicide among soldiers is a real problem.
There hasn’t been much success in researching suicide intervention, though the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit did recently release the results of its newly revamped program revealing that they have completely eliminated suicides among depressive patients there. One of the reasons for its success has been human-to-human interaction through email and phone.
The Caring Letters Project hopes to bring that kind of thoughtful human interaction to soldiers following psychiatric hospitalization. Initiated by the Department of Defense and implemented by the Defense Centers of Excellence’s (DCoE) National Center for Telehealth & Technology, the first installment of the project is underway at Madigan Army Medical Center (MAMC) on the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Wash.
As the name implies, the Caring Letters Project sends personal, heartfelt letters to soldiers released from inpatient care. At first, the letters will arrive very frequently, eventually tapering off to once every few months after two years.
The trial in Tacoma has shown positive results so far. The research team is even gathering some letters themselves: thank you letters from troops they’ve helped.
“It was an incredible feeling. It gives hope that we are doing a service for these individuals. We’re just letting them know that someone out there really cares,” said research assistant Jennifer June of a recent thank you note she received according to Dr. David Luxton, Research Psychologist and Program Manager in a story for the DCoE.
With continued success at this location, the project hopes to install a number of sites at different locations to test the letters there.
“The next step is to conduct a multi-site, randomized control trial,” says Dr. Julie Kinn, a research psychologist working on the Caring Letters Project. “Ideally, we could send caring letters from several inpatient units at military treatment facilities across the country. With enough participants, we could truly test an effect. If the caring letters help our warriors, we could potentially change the way we communicate with our patients after discharge.”
Photo by ammanteufel via Flickr.