Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli’s campaign - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli’s campaign

Key points of the Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention:

• Increased emphasis on discipline and “battle buddy” systems in the barracks.

• The Unit Status Report filed monthly by commanders will now include reporting for urine analysis and chapter actions. This requirement could provide a stronger incentive for commanders to be informed about what’s going on among their soldiers, Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire said.

• The Army’s suicide prevention and risky behavior manuals, last updated in the mid-1980s, will be rewritten to reflect the current Army.

• The post-deployment health assessment, used after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, will be updated to address the issues of soldiers on repeat deployments.

• Mental health providers will be located at hospital facilities rather than in separate buildings. This is intended to avoid the stigma a soldier may feel if he has to enter a building known to house a mental health office.

• The word “mental” will be replaced with the term “behavioral” to further reduce the stigma.

• Psychotherapy will be encouraged more strongly, along with more conservative use of psychiatric medications. Feedback from soldiers, according to Chiarelli, shows medications are often given out because there aren’t enough therapists to work with soldiers.

• Social networking technologies like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace will be used to accelerate reporting time of suicide threats and increase the methods available for friends and family members to help a troubled soldier.

• Medical staffing, including psychologists, will be increased to reflect the growth of the Army.

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