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VA Suicide Prevention team leads efforts supporting ECBN community

Display of Veteran created art.
(MOUNTAIN HOME, Tenn.) — Veteran Health Administration Office of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention recognized staff at James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC) in January for work to address geographical barriers to care for Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (EBCN) Veterans. The Veterans identified art therapy as a focus to address mental health and to promote connectedness, which is a priority area in the CBI-SP model. (Official photograph by Cory Chapin, Public Affairs Specialist, James H. Quillen VA Medical Center)
By Joshua Higgins, Public Affairs Officer

(MOUNTAIN HOME, Tenn.) — Veteran Health Administration Office of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention recognized staff at James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (JHQVAMC) for work to address geographical barriers to care for Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (EBCN) Veterans.

The medical center’s Suicide Prevention team, with the help of the Veteran Centers of Johnson City and Knoxville, Veteran Service Officers, members of American Legion Post 143, and EBCN Veterans, began the initiative in 2021 working within the Qualla Boundary territory in Western North Carolina, held as a land trust by the U.S. Government for ECBN. The work is part of VA’s Community Based Intervention-Suicide Prevention (CBI-SP) model efforts within Veteran populations.

Doctor Autumn Lowry, Suicide Prevention Program Manager, Mental Health Service at JHQVAMC, said Veterans of ECBN were identified as a potential community for the efforts due to geographic location which poses accessibility issues, its large Veteran population, and their history of dedication to the wellness of their community. According to 2020 U.S. Census information, the area’s Veteran population is 14.4 percent.   

The team meets with ECBN Veterans bi-monthly for what they refer to as coalition meetings. Lowry said Veterans identified art therapy as a focus to address mental health and to promote connectedness, which is a priority area in the CBI-SP model, and progress is promising although classes are in the planning stage.

“Our VA staff members are careful to be respectful of the timeline of the participants from the ECBN and meet when they are available for planning,” said Lowry. “(The Veterans) are engaged, welcoming, and excited about this work but progress is slow. Implementing something like this takes a significant amount of foundation-building and that is what is happening right now. Community coalition building is likened to running a marathon, not a sprint, and the pace is determined by the community and their availability.”

Veteran Health Administration Office of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention highlighted the work JHQVAMC staff and the community coalition is doing in the “Spotlight” section of its January issue of “Mental Notes,” a monthly newsletter focused on mental health-related news. The section described the work and said, “Thank you to our colleagues at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center for leading out in serving our Nation’s American Indian heroes.”

For more information about VA CBI-SP and other mental health programs contact JHQVAMC Mental Health Services at (423) 926-1171 ext. 7707 or visit www.mentalhealth.va.gov.