Public education campaign seeks to prevent Veteran suicides
A public health campaign aimed at preventing Veteran suicides will launch in early 2025, with messages encouraging struggling Veterans to seek help and to safely store their firearms.
Thanks to a grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin/Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin and partnership with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, the campaign will blanket the state with public service messages, with a goal of creating sustainable public education into the future.
“If we can do something about educating Veterans and the public about the risks of firearms and suicide, then maybe we can make a difference,” said Dr. Bert Berger, head of mental health services at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center.
During a kickoff event for the campaign last week at the War Memorial Center, Berger said studies have shown that Veterans have a higher rate of suicide than non-Veterans, and that Veterans use a firearm to die from suicide about 20% more frequently than non-Veterans.
To that end, the campaign’s messages will:
- Encourage Veterans to seek mental health help.
- Educate about firearm risks and suicide.
- Encourage secure storage of firearms when there is someone at risk in the home.
In 2022, a similar multi-media public education campaign was effective in reaching Veterans and driving home the messaging, Berger said. However, when the public service announcements stopped, surveys showed the awareness waned*.
That’s why the new campaign has the goal of making the messaging sustainable and long-lasting.
Berger noted that similar public health campaigns regarding smoking and seatbelts have proven to be effective because the messages have continued for decades.
“That’s the same kind of concept that I want to see,” he said. “We need this to be sustainable, to continue year after year. This new partnership (with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association) will help us do that.”
The grant money, $250,000 for two years, will go toward purchasing advertising time with broadcasters throughout the state, taking advantage of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s Non-Commercial Sustaining Announcement/Public Education Program.
According to Michelle Vetterkind, president and CEO of the group, the program ensures that the public service messaging will be broadcast in all time periods and formats. In addition, the group guarantees a 4-to-1 return on investment: In other words, a group paying for $1,000 in advertising time actually would get at least $4,000 worth of time, she said.
“But I’m very pleased to say that typically that average tends to run 7-, 8- or 9-to-1, and sometimes even higher,” she said.
The WBA boasts a membership of more than 95% of all licensed broadcasters in the state, and Vetterkind said the membership is active and supportive of WBA initiatives, with more than 75% taking part in the NCSA/PEP program.
Vetterkind said she believes the messaging will be embraced by the broadcasters and will spawn news stories and other programming that will boost the messaging.
“This is a topic that is near and dear to so many,” she said. “There’s so much support. … I can guarantee you it will do well.”
To keep the messaging flowing past the grant’s two years, the initiative would create the Wisconsin Veterans Broadcasting Coalition, involving the WBA, the Milwaukee VA, the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, the War Memorial Center and any interested public and private organizations and businesses.
And that’s imperative, Berger said.
“We want to develop more advertising in order to keep the message out there,” Berger said. “We know that when Veterans have seen the advertising, they’re more willing to talk to a family member, or store their firearms (in a safe place). Education like this can make a difference in people’s thoughts and attitudes.
“Veterans are a tough group; they like to believe they can handle anything. But everybody needs help sometimes, and we really encourage Veterans to get help when they need it.”
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