- Hello and welcome to Spotlight.

Today, we'll be diving into a problem that many of us face at some point in our lives, a local resource that aims to combat it and what our community here at Montana State University is doing to raise its awareness.

Join me as we explore the Montana 988 Project and a local partnership that was done between local veteran students.

I'm your host, Joe Lesar.

(light music) (light music) With me today on the show, we have three guests who are dedicated to addressing the issue of suicide and mental health here in Montana.

And together, they have created an option to prevent the immediate danger it presents among our veteran population.

First, I'd like to introduce Bruce Barnhart, he's the director of the Montana 988 Project.

Bruce, thanks for being here.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, and next, we have Todd Bucher.

He is the director of the Travis W. Watkins Veteran Support Center here at MSU.

Todd, thanks for joining us.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, and last but not least, we have Rick Gale.

He is a member of the Veterans Alliance and he's been an integral part in getting the word of the Montana 988 Project out across our state.

Rick, thanks for being here.

- Thank you.

- Cool, so Bruce, we'll start with you.

Why don't you just start by explaining what the Montana 988 Project is.

- So the Montana 988 Project is actually a series of projects that are created to deal with the issue of suicide and suicide awareness.

And the impetus for the 988 Project actually came from my MSU classroom, if that makes sense.

And the Montana Challenge Coin Project was an outgrowth of that.

- [Joe] Gotcha.

- You see, suicide in Montana is... Montana rates extremely high in suicide across the per capita.

We're currently rated as number two right behind Wyoming and Alaska.

It's an issue that touches a lot of Montanans lives and communities and families.

- Yeah.

So what the Montana 988 Project was about was trying to see if we could incorporate education, learning and understanding and some outreach to address this problem in our state.

- Yeah, and then so, Todd, how did this project, this Montana 988 Project get involved with veterans here on campus?

- Yep, so I mean, we serve the body of veterans and military-connected family members here on campus.

And Bruce had come to me and wanted to get our two communities together on a project.

And he had just filled me in on what he was working with on Montana 988, veteran suicide prevention and awareness.

And it just jumped off from there.

The idea grew, the program grew.

Then we decided to move forward with a two-part workshop that involved MSU art students and MSU veteran students and veterans in our community.

- Yeah, and before we get into that project, I was wondering if you could just explain why suicide prevention and mental health awareness is so important particularly in the veterans community.

- Yeah, so veterans and their family members, both sides, deal with a lot, whether the veteran's on deployment and they're coming back or it's the family members dealing with that transition.

That transition can be very difficult for a veteran and family members.

They're coming from a place that everything is scheduled out for you, you're told what to do 24/7.

Everything is just basically laid out in front of you.

And then as you make that transition back in to the civilian world, it can just feel like a lot on your shoulders and plus, all the trauma that some veterans come back with after deployments, serving overseas.

It's just something that can be more prevalent in veterans specifically more than a civilian.

- Yeah, certainly.

And then, Rick, so you've been helpful, integral in getting the work that Montana 988 does out to the state and to the veterans in Montana.

So from your perspective, what has it been like to get this program out there and what have you seen in terns of a reception?

- Well, from the very get go, it's been exciting to be a part of this process, this project.

And I was invited to be a part of one of the workshops to create a design for our coins.

The 988 on one side and the 988 plus one for veterans on the other side.

So out of that, I've been able to connect with a lot of veteran service organizations.

We've displayed the coins at meetings at the American Legion Post 14 here in Bozeman, the Vietnam Veterans of America of southwest Montana at our meetings to talk about the coin and the resources that are available.

And that also includes the Marine Corps League as well as the VFW.

So the connections have been made.

I'm so excited to be a part of that process.

We've had some pretty good luck.

We've received national recognition from the American Legion.

They heard about the project and they said, "We wanna know more, tell us more, "give us more information."

So that story, this project went nationwide on their website and a news story that came out in conjunction with the American Legion campaign, Be the One to save a veteran.

So it all fits, the connections are being made.

It was well received by the Elks National Veteran Service Commission.

So they heard about the project, they acknowledged the work we're doing here in Bozeman, Montana and throughout southwest Montana and they wanna know more.

So we will continue with those efforts as far as making sure that people who are connected to veterans organizations know about the resources and 988.

- Yeah, and can you explain how 988 works for somebody who might not know?

A veteran in need, what does 988 provide them?

- Well, if you take a look at 988, it's in place.

Not everybody knows about 988.

So no matter where you are in the country now, that's that one line.

And if a veteran makes a call to that number, there's an option, that's the plus one.

So they would be contacting somebody who does crisis intervention with the Veterans Administration.

So here locally in southwest Montana, if you hit 988, it's going to the help center, that's the 211.

So there again, we have the networking, the connections that have been made through this project.

And they have a campaign now which is Answering the Call.

So there's some incredible collaboration taking place here in this area.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and we talked about some of those collaborations.

He mentioned the coins.

So there was a project that was borne from the MSU graphic design program here and some veterans.

And we'll be talking with some of the students later today, but Bruce, I was wondering if you could just start by explaining what that connection was and what the students were able to do- - And how the project functions.

So what we did is many years ago, the students wanted to deal with the social issue, the graphic design students at MSU.

And so they chose suicide as something that was in their lives and they wanted to see if they could make a difference in that.

So out of that, the students would create work.

But one of the things that was interesting about that is the students had to learn about the issue of suicide and suicide awareness.

And we were able to reach out to community members in the Montana community and they came to class.

So we took that same model that we did many years ago because of the three components which was the community involvement, the learning experience and the outreach.

And we built that into this Montana 988 Project so not only do the community, all community members, it's the involvement of that.

Mental health professionals give us the information that we need to understand.

It's a tough issue.

It's a tough issue to talk about, it's a tough issue to talk about with... And so this project allows us to have those tough conversations and to begin to understand personally how this affects us and some things that we can do.

- Yeah, and Todd, some of those tough conversations, I mean, what does it mean for a veteran going through some of these issues to be able to engage in some of those?

- Yeah, so I mean just first off, veterans are gonna be one of the last individuals to ask for help.

There's this stigma around asking for help, appearing weak because you need help or something like that.

And part of this program and other programs that we're involved in is breaking down those barriers to services, breaking down the stigmas that it's okay to talk to someone, it's okay to reach out for help.

No one's really gonna know you need something unless you talk to them, unless you come out and say, hey, I need to talk to somebody.

I need some help with some things.

- Yeah, certainly.

Well, right now, we have a team in the Veteran's Support Center.

And so we're gonna toss it over to there to hear about some of the coins and hear from some of the students who are involved in designing them.

- Welcome, everyone, my name is Ryan and I'm here with two of the people who were involved in the Challenge Coin process.

So why don't you guys get started by and then explain how you got involved with Montana 988.

- Yeah, absolutely.

My name's Stewart, I'm a veteran here at Montana State.

I got recruited by Todd Bucher, the director of Veteran Services to help design a coin, give a little bit of feedback.

- I'm Jesse, I'm a graphic design student and my class last semester worked with the 988 Project to create these coins to raise awareness for veteran suicide.

- Yeah, fantastic.

Stewart, why don't you tell us what a Challenge Coin represents for people here at MSU.

- Challenge Coins are a bit of military tradition.

You give them out for either events or something along those lines.

Here at Montana State, it's about the same thing, about community, making sure we get the message across that suicide is not the answer.

- Yeah, excellent.

And Jesse, can you talk to us a little bit about the design process, like who else was involved?

- Yeah, it was definitely a very iterative process.

We worked with counseling and psychological services as well as people from the Veteran Center to come up with these designs.

We started out learning about Challenge Coins, then meeting with everybody, then coming up with a few different designs.

And then somebody from the Veterans Office came up and let us know what was appropriate and what wasn't and what was working well.

And definitely, it's important to get as many eyes on it as possible with such a serious topic.

And then we ended up with about 12 coins that are here in the office now.

- Yeah, you mentioned those 12 coins.

I see we have one here with us.

Can you talk to us a little bit about your design and what inspired it?

- Yeah, so on the one side, we have an image of the Bridgers with a sunrise over it, representing that there's always another day coming and to keep moving forward, if you will.

It says, you matter, pretty straight to the point.

And on the opposite side, it has a silhouette of Montana, the state and the 988 number as well as that it's a 24/7 veteran lifeline.

And we also went with MSU colors to keep it consistent with local.

- Yeah, love the MSU colors.

Stewart, what would you say is one of the most important things for the artists to understand as a veteran?

- Like Jesse said, just make sure you're straight to the point.

That's why one side was the 988 and the hotline and all that and then the other side was just community, bringing that back, staying with those points.

- Fantastic, do you guys have a favorite part or what would you say is the best part of this team up?

- It was super cool seeing graphic students getting to do what they do and seeing their whole process and all, stuff like that.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- It was really awesome to be able to work with a very real world situation, something that's so important to a lot of people.

- For sure, right on.

Well, thank you guys so much for joining us.

That's gonna do it for us over here at the Veteran Center.

- Thank you, Ryan.

Thank you for that.

So you see, Todd, let's go into a little more about what a Challenge Coin is and what they represent and what's behind giving them and receiving them.

- Yeah, so it's basically a symbol of belonging, camaraderie, forging a strong bond for those who possess them and trade them.

Additionally, it can be an individual's achievements, dedication, exemplary service.

I think of them as a time capsule.

You're always gonna remember where you were, what was going on, the event that it was surrounded by or the individual that you're trading a Challenge Coin to.

It's just a big subject in military communities and military circles.

- Yeah, and I don't know if would mind sharing some stories that you have with some of the ones, some of the coins that you've given or received.

- I mean, the number one story that I think about when we talk about Challenge Coins is after I was injured, I was down at Bethesda Medical in Maryland and the commanding general of the Marine Corps came through, asked me how I was doing and everything and gave me one of his Challenge Coins.

And I have it in my office to this day and it's the most memorable one that I have.

- Yeah, very cool.

And Rick, what about you?

Do you have any memories of receiving or giving any?

- It's a very special moment when you exchange coins with another veteran.

And another part of this is acknowledging people in this community, thank you for what you do for veterans.

So there have been those situations with some leaders in Bozeman and presented the coin and explained what we were doing and at the same time saying thank you for your support and being a advocate for veterans.

Those are special conversations that I've had over the past several months.

- You know, it's 'cause it's that exchange and understanding that connection that we all have and there's a really powerful part of the Challenge Coin or that was...

In this project, the Montana 988 Projects, we were able to produce sets of coins and each student designer got three coins.

And of those three coins, they gave their veteran partner they were partnered up with two, and then the idea is that the veteran partner then was able to give one of those away.

So the great thing about a Challenge Coin is the receiving but also the giving of that as a symbol of camaraderie.

- Oh, that day, that workshop sitting with Erica, the graphic student that I got to sit in with, we had a chance to talk about the purpose of this project and she asked about my background as a Vietnam veteran.

And I'm well aware of some of the numbers that are out there as far as Vietnam veterans and the high rate of suicide here in Montana.

So we had an incredible conversation.

And the design is pretty special as far as what she came up with that Montana is a big place and sometimes, you feel alone.

And here's a number for you to keep in mind, a resource if you need to talk to somebody.

So that was pretty moving to sit and talk with Erica that day.

- Yeah, so Bruce, for your students, not only a good artistic lesson but also a lesson in any kind of learning about another segment of society that you might not have normally had to- - For me, one of the most incredible parts about this was the exchange that we had with our veteran partners and beginning to understand a little bit more about them as individuals.

And they're varied and Montana veterans are varied.

They come from all branches of the service and they all have strong opinions, which is great.

But during the workshops, the nice thing for my students, and they came to me and they told me this, but they saw them as individuals and not just people that belonged to a group.

And the Challenge Coin, that individual connection that this project gave to them was a part of the highlight.

- Yeah, and so looking ahead, moving forward, what's next for the project?

What do you guys plan to do next, Todd?

- I mean, Bruce and I have talked about it and it's definitely something that we wanna carry forward, possibly do again or maybe something that we do every two years or every so often.

We run the same program, get different students, different veteran students involved, different community partners and run the same workshops centered around Challenge Coins, but try to get that experience to other art students, to other veteran students and individuals in the community.

- [Joe] Yeah, and what about- - So one thing great about the Montana 988 Project is it gives us that opportunity to have those conversations that are tough and hard and within an individual.

So that's what it is.

The project itself, it can take many forms.

We have different ones within different groups.

The special part of the veteran's challenge was really actually quite exceptional in that ring.

But we will continue to see if we can do more learning, more education, more outreach and more community involvement to again, continue to address this problem, this issue, the social issue that we have of suicide in Montana.

- You know, another part of this, the families of veterans and connecting with those families.

Sometimes a veteran is reluctant to call 988 for whatever reasons.

So if the families support this project, it's gonna work.

It will work as far as engaging families to support their significant other with making that call and looking for resources for intervention.

I spent years as a crisis negotiator in law enforcement and this is such a valuable tool, a resource to have.

And I know for me, if I was still working as a police officer, I would have that coin in my pocket.

There may be little situations where I may be talking to a veteran, saying, by the way, here's something I would encourage you to take a look at as far as what's available to you.

So please, make that call.

- Yeah, and I guess maybe take us into that for a second.

I mean, what are the challenges in reaching those families and getting them to engage with the help that's out there?

- Well, sometimes those families may feel isolated.

What I see happening is that people like Todd and through the Vet Center, the connections being made with families.

Did you know, let's talk more.

And the same thing is true with the American Legion and the Vietnam Veterans of America.

We have families and we have grandchildren reaching out to them and that ongoing conversation and people that we work with.

- [Joe] Yeah, great.

- So interesting enough, so one of the things that the CDC has understood is that one of the ways to address this issue of suicide is through connectedness, does that make sense?

And so all of this is geared towards making those connections, that people have because it is really powerful.

- Yeah, and so if folks out there wanna get involved with this project in any way, is there any way for them to do that?

- Yeah, they can definitely reach out to the Veteran Support Center here on campus and they can connect with me, I can get them connected with Bruce, just depending on what they're wanting to get involved with.

If it's something out in the community, they can reach out to Rick and some of our other partners and make sure they're getting involved.

- We have a pretty good network here in southwest Montana, a lot of different groups doing what they do as far as being advocates for veterans.

So I think we're getting the job done as far as getting the word out.

And we wanna continue that and see it happen on a larger scale, of course.

- Yeah, very good, very good.

Well, guys, I really appreciate you guys joining me here today.

- Thank you.

Again, we have Todd Bucher and we have Bruce Barnhart and we have Rick Gale.

Well, that's all the time we have for Spotlight.

We'd like to thank those watching at home and we'd like to thank our field team as well.

So again, thanks for watching and remember to always look out for each other.

This was Spotlight, I'm Joe Lesar.

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