“Our Airmen need to see that it is not just them struggling,” says Senior Master Sgt. Shawn Canole, Space Delta 2 First Sergeant. “It is Airmen of all ranks that struggle with mental health and it’s okay to take a knee and get the help they need.” Canole has also helped introduced the First Sergeant initiative, “Who’s your person? Here’s your dog tag.” The program provides a military member with a dog tag with their contact information to give to an individual (military member or not) to signify that they can contact you when times get tough.This and other milatary initiatives are all about learning “how to prevent suicide by recognizing signs, engaging someone and connecting them to an intervention resource for further support”, says Canole.
