{"id":28951,"date":"2021-06-01T14:34:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/06\/01\/behavioral-health-check-ups-could-soon-be-as-routine-for-soldiers-as-teeth-cleanings\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:46:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:46:23","slug":"behavioral-health-check-ups-could-soon-be-as-routine-for-soldiers-as-teeth-cleanings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/06\/01\/behavioral-health-check-ups-could-soon-be-as-routine-for-soldiers-as-teeth-cleanings\/","title":{"rendered":"Behavioral health check-ups could soon be as routine for soldiers as teeth cleanings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 18th Airborne Corps plans to implement ideas to curb <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2019\/12\/20\/suicides-in-alaskas-interior-spark-changes-for-remote-army-post\/\" target=\"_blank\">suicide<\/a> in the ranks that five soldiers presented last week at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-army\/2021\/05\/27\/fort-bragg-master-sergeant-charged-with-trafficking-cocaine\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fort Bragg<\/a>, North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The troops who pitched their ideas to senior leaders and suicide prevention experts were finalists in the corps\u2019 most recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/10\/24\/xviii-airborne-crowdsources-innovation-in-new-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cDragon\u2019s Lair\u201d competition<\/a>, a Shark Tank-style program where soldiers of any rank can submit ideas for consideration. They ranged in rank from private first class to colonel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla, commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, \u201cagreed to implement some element from each of the five ideas presented,\u201d said Col. Joe Buccino, the unit\u2019s spokesperson. \u201cThese five soldiers \u2014 and many others \u2014 have ideas to prevent soldier suicide. That is the point of Dragon\u2019s Lair: unlocking those ideas, empowering them, and then implementing across the corps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One soldier whose idea caught the eye of her superiors was Cpt. Kristen Bell, an operations officer then-assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bell pitched the panel on implementing mandatory behavioral health checkups for troops across the force. The appointments would occur every six months, and she believes that they would help destigmatize the act of seeking mental help.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2021\/02\/07\/after-army-alaskas-alleged-suicides-one-battalion-gets-sensing-sessions\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6.jpg_d8fd1c.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">After Army Alaska\u2019s alleged suicides, one battalion gets \u2018sensing sessions\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Army Alaska has acknowledged grappling with suicide in the past.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cRight now we have mandatory checks for dental, mandatory eye exams, and routine hearing checks,\u201d Bell told the panel. \u201cBut there is no mandate for a soldier to get her emotional wellbeing checked by a behavioral health expert.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bell worked with soldiers assigned to military funeral honors details. She argued to the panel that the duty carries a high emotional stress. One of her soldiers died by suicide after participating in several such details in a short period, according to a press release from the corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her idea was one of two chosen for \u201cadditional research for implementation,\u201d said Buccino, the 18th Airborne Corps spokesperson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Army Times spoke with one of the expert panelists judging the ideas, Dr. Eren Youmans Watkins, who is chief of behavioral and social health outcomes practice at the Army Public Health Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe part [of the Dragon\u2019s Lair format] that\u2019s notable\u2026is that we\u2019re getting the feedback, the voice of the soldier,\u201d Watkins said, equating the concept to types of academic research that encourage community participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt creates buy-in from the soldiers, and it also gives them opportunities that they probably wouldn\u2019t otherwise have,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watkins spoke about Bell\u2019s idea, commending her \u201cimpactful\u201d presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[Something] that stuck out to me is, [Bell] said\u2026 \u2018you\u2019re one talk away or one conversation away from potentially impacting someone\u2019s life,\u2019\u201d Watkins recalled. \u201cAs a society, we don\u2019t give people their flowers while they\u2019re here. We wait until people are gone before we tell them how much we value them and what they mean to us in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Suicide is an issue that affects countless soldiers, veterans, and their families. If you or a loved one is in need of help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dr. Eren Watkins has dedicated her career to preventing Soldier suicide. <br><br>Eren, the Chief of Behavioral Health at the Army Public Health Center, is on Fort Bragg to serve as a panelist for Dragon\u2019s Lair, Episode 4 tomorrow.<br><br>Here\u2019s what she\u2019s looking for.<br><br>WATCH <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/o3MGViCFE7\">pic.twitter.com\/o3MGViCFE7<\/a><\/p>&mdash; XVIII Airborne Corps &amp; Fort Bragg (@18airbornecorps) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/18airbornecorps\/status\/1396942650754965509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One soldier suggested mandatory behavioral health checkups for troops that would occur every six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":88,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[143,29,116,117,15,35,88],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3456],"class_list":["post-28951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-news-report","category-home","category-left-column","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-military"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"263H7V5JQFGAVB6LII4Z6NUC2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2021\/06\/01\/behavioral-health-check-ups-could-soon-be-as-routine-for-soldiers-as-teeth-cleanings\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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