On today’s episode, we’re featuring a conversation with Garra Lloyd – Lester, the Coordinator of the New York State Suicide Prevention Community and Coalition Initiatives for the Suicide Prevention Center of New York State (SPCNY, where we discuss the Worried About a Veteran Website. 

 

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Garra Lloyd-Lester is the Coordinator of the New York State Suicide Prevention Community and Coalition Initiatives for the Suicide Prevention Center of New York State (SPCNY). As Coordinator, he works with State and County partners, local governmental units, local coalitions, and other systems to build capacity to help reduce suicides across the lifespan. This work is accomplished through systems level planning, coalition building, program development and training among other activities. 

He facilitates the Lethal Means Safety workgroup as part of the Governors Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans and their Families (SMVF). He has previously facilitated a statewide steering committee to address suicide prevention among first responder disciplines and led the statewide taskforce to develop recommendations on addressing suicide prevention among rural communities in NYS. 

He has 40+ years of experience in the field of social services including working with the developmentally disabled, working in the child welfare system and within the mental health system.

This week’s resource of the week is the PsychArmor course, course, Suicide Prevention and the Secure Storage of Firearms: Conversations for Everyone This course provides critical information for members of every community about the safe storage of firearms. When people are in crisis, honest conversations about accessibility to lethal means for suicide are vitally important.

You can find the resource here: 

 

 

This week’s episode is brought to you by Humana, a leading health and well-being company that has joined forces with PsychArmor to develop campaigns and courses that support veterans and their families in achieving their best health. To learn more about how Humana honors and serves veterans visit healthequity.humana.com/veterans”

 

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.