Navy works on rapid response to prevent suicides
Groton — In late February, a junior sailor assigned to the attack submarine Missouri committed suicide while on watch early in the morning at the Naval Submarine Base.
Within 72 hours, a team of Norfolk-based mental health professionals with the submarine force arrived in Groton and, together with the mental health team embedded on the waterfront, spoke to the sailor's shipmates.
The goal was to help the crew process the loss quicker, and identify other crewmembers who might be struggling and need support.
"We become a tool to bring them together and identify stressors earlier. Then we give them the skills on how to deal with those things," said Cmdr. James Rapley, a psychiatrist with the submarine force who made the trip to Groton.
At the same time, the submarine force is working to intervene well before a suicide happens.
At least 17 submariners have committed suicide since 2012, according to Navy data. The Missouri sailor's suicide was the first this year in the submarine force, which comprises about 20,000 personnel.
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Acknowledging the unique challenges of living in a steel tube for months at a time doing classified work, the Navy is working to engage with submariners early in their career to help them better cope with stress.
In 2013, the naval base in Norfolk, Va., was the site of a pilot program in which mental health professionals were "embedded" on the waterfront to provide personalized care to the submariners stationed there. The idea was also to build mental toughness and resiliency among sailors, and engage with sailors who might not otherwise seek help.
"We enter into the picture during the introduction process, and basically let them know the goal of embedded mental health (program) is to keep them in the fight and performing well," Rapley said.
The goal, he said, is to get people in early before they are at a crisis point. He noted some of the successes of the Norfolk pilot program: sailors have been better able to cope with stress, their relationships have improved, they're performing better on the job and fewer sailors are dropping out for mental health reasons.
An added benefit is the improvement to leadership, who have a better understanding of the "psychological underpinnings" of their leadership style, Rapley said. They also are learning to better identify the stressors that can lead to suicidal behavior, and intervene sooner rather than later.
Even the mid-management level — the petty officers and chief petty officers — are learning to recognize those signs and know the right person to talk to in order to ensure a sailor is getting the attention needed to cope, Rapley said.
The embedded mental health program came to Groton in 2015, and is being expanded to all other submarine homeports. The submarine force now is looking to get its own specialized mental health providers for the program — the current providers are on "loan" from big Navy medicine — who can understand the unique challenges submariners face.
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