What does mental health care look like for veterans?

Even when society recognizes the mental health struggles that active duty military and veterans experience, what does that experience look like?

Today we are taking a look at veterans’ experiences with mental health including the culture when you’re active duty, how that translates to civilian life, and the resources they can utilize. Tyler Vela, Pawnee Mental Health’s Military Treatment Coordinator, joins us this episode to talk about his experience in the military and what he sees day to day in his role.

Have questions, thoughts, or stories you want to share? We would love to hear from you! Shoot us an email at brightminds@pawnee.org

Your mental health matters. While this podcast is meant to foster connection, understanding, and hope, we know that some conversations may bring up difficult or emotional moments. If you need support, help is available and you don’t have to navigate it alone.

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing emotional distress, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Free, confidential support is available at any time.

To learn more about Pawnee Mental Health, visit us at https://www.pawnee.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:03

Welcome back. I'm Jonathan Say Paul.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

And I'm Michelle Naliu, and this is Bright Minds and Brighter Days Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:09

Where every episode our goal is to bring you real conversations that meet real care.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

A new day at Pawnee is here. It's about building a mental health system that's easier to access, more flexible, and supportive of our communities. For more than 70 years, Pawnee has been standing with people through challenges and change. Now, therapy, recovery, crisis, and medication services are even more connected, accessible, and ready to meet people where they are. Find out more at Pawnee.org.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

Alright, I'm really excited today. You know, today we're talking about veterans and veteran services. As you probably know, uh, Michelle, I'm a veteran of the U.S. Army. Um, you know, I've been out for quite a while, but I'm so excited about the guest that we have today. We have Tyler Vella. Tyler Vela is a 20-year service member in the United States Army Reserves as a civil affairs officer. He has a unique understanding to stressors of military life and challenges that come from deployments, family separation, and high stress environments. Tyler is also the military treatment coordinator for Ponti Mental Health, helping service members, veterans, and their families navigate mental health care in a way that feels acceptable, respectful, and supportive. Welcome, Tyler.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Thank you. So again, yeah, thank you for being here, Tyler. We're talking about the importance of veteran services. I think can you maybe define what a veteran means? Because I know a lot oftentimes, because again, I was born and raised in the military, but I know oftentimes people think it's just somebody that's maybe retired.

SPEAKER_03 1:48

Yeah, and it is very confusing if you don't know. Um so I'm gonna read to you what the the actual definition is because I think it's really important to know that. It is someone who is defined as a person who has served in the active military, naval, air, or space service and was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable. Now that gets kind of into specifics when you talk about the National Guard and reserves. Um if you go further into it with the VA, then they classify a veteran as someone who served 24 consecutive months active duty. If you talk about reserves and National Guard, uh they had to work on Title X orders or retire with 20 years of service. Um it starts to get really convoluted. But my definition is someone who served. Someone who took the time to maybe go away from their families or uh serve overseas or serve in in the states, right? National Guardsmen and Women. Um they they're always doing stuff within the states. So uh anyone who took the time to to sign up and and uh and join.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So, Tyler, you did make mention of the VA. For people that don't know military language, can you explain what or just tell us what the VA stands for?

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Yes, and I apologize if I use a lot of acronyms. Um that's part of military culture. It's veterans' affairs. Perfect. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Like I said earlier, um, you know, I was I was in the Army myself. Um I've been out as of as of April 1st of this year. It's been 10 years, so I kind of find myself like far removed from, you know, active duty. But I do remember, you know, when I was in that like a lot of other places, you know, in the military, any mention of mental health, there was a lot of stigma attached to it. So as somebody who works with veterans who are currently uh getting out or in the process of that transition, you know, what what are some of the common mental health challenges a military veteran today might face um when returning to civilian life?

SPEAKER_03 4:01

Gosh, I think probably the biggest one is uh cultural shock, especially if they're active duty. Um the world outside of active duty service is is just completely different. And it's the number one thing I hear from from service members that I work with. Um they don't know how to work within a civilian structure. They're they're very used to hierarchy, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Like Is it that like kind of like loss of um you know being told where to be, where to go?

SPEAKER_03 4:27

Yeah, and loss of identity, right? Um you you're infantry, right? And and that's what you did day in and day out. You you worked to be an infantryman. And then what do you do? What do you do after that? You've you found a great niche, right? Like you are doing what you you were meant to be doing, but um there's a lot of people who don't know and what they want to be. I I used to say that what what do I want to be when I grow up? Right. Um What do I want to do when I get out? Uh I I think culture shock is good. We talk about PTSD all the time. We talk about anxiety and depression, and those are definitely things to talk about, but um it can definitely stem from well now I'm out, what do I do?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

I mean, returning to civilian life, that means reintegrating with your family, meeting up with your friends, trying to start that dialogue and get back to where you were, finding a job, knowing what it's like to go to the gas station and get gas you know what I mean? Like it's a whole cul like you said, it's a culture shock. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

And I I would say, you know, at least at least for me and you know other vet veterans that uh you know I've ran into uh since being out, it's the whole um you know, how to set everything up once you once you got out. You know, because no b nobody's holding your hand, nobody's telling you where to go. You know, you it's kind of trial and error unless you find somebody who is able to kind of point you in that way.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Um now I know there was hardly anybody that that I ran into and it was a lot of trial and error and f a lot of frustration. And so so has that kind of changed any?

SPEAKER_03 6:03

I I believe so. Um there's definitely more resources out there. There they're and they're not that there wasn't before. Um I think a lot of it is with technology shifts. We are able to find things more easily online. Ten years ago, and I don't want to make you feel any certain way, but ten years ago, the internet wasn't what it was today. Um what it is today. And I think we can just look up, you know, what do I need? I need I need housing. So, okay, well, I I can call HUD Vash again, tons of acronyms. Right. Um But I I can call someone who is gonna help me find housing. That's huge. Because think of those think of those young men and women who get out of active duty service who've lived in the barracks.

SPEAKER_04 6:47

Yeah, and that that was actually, you know, a part of my story was you know, I got out April 1st of 2016, and within the first six months of being out, you know, me and my family, we found ourselves on the verge of becoming homeless homeless. And it actually took reaching out um kind of to like in an emergency, you know, in a frantic state, not knowing what to do. You know, we're not from Kansas, we're from Texas, but we decided to stay here. And um, you know, it's like when you have three kids and a wife, um, and one's a newborn, you know, you're it it it can be pretty uh a pretty sketchy situation. And uh luckily I was able to find uh resources that helped us get into uh get into a new house.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

Yeah, I mean let's talk about that, right? Um you're away from your family. You've been uprooted. So it's not just a culture shock of I'm no longer in the military, but you may have been moved to another part of the country and now you're out. Where's your family? Where where are those people that are gonna, you know, help you out when you really, really need it? Um they might be in for you, Texas. Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

Thank you for sharing, Jonathan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I don't even know if I knew that about you. Um but we talk about stigma, and I guess this would kind of be a question for both of you. So, Tyler, I'll ask you first. Do you see it getting easier for veterans to feel more comfortable asking for help when they're struggling?

SPEAKER_03 8:12

So I'm an army reservist, and I kind of felt like I knew you were gonna ask that question. Um I had a drill this weekend, and I was gonna say yes. And I talked to a lieutenant colonel who I I was telling him what what this position that I'm doing is, and I said, I I think you need to go talk to someone. He goes, I'm good. I'm good, nothing ever happened to me. Well, except for when I was here and when I was there. And and I said, you know, I I think it would be good for you, and this guy is he's really good with soldiers, he's he's really good with like caring for people. But I think this is something that that we run into is we don't care for ourselves. Because there's that self self-sacrifice, right? There's that selfless service. Um it's one of our core tenets, it's it's one of the values that we hold. And we kind of tend to forget about ourselves. And so I would have said yes if you'd asked me that on earlier. Um no. I I I think there's still a stigma attached, but it's not the same as it was. It's not the same as it was ten years ago.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And that's yeah, I was gonna turn to you, Jonathan. Like ten years ago, could you see yourself and or anybody you were with asking for help if they were struggling?

SPEAKER_04 9:25

I mean, I mean, for me, at least coming from the infantry point of view, you know, I mean, anything that had to do with, you know, seeing a doctor for a sprained ankle, you know, it was kind of looked down upon. Like, you know, just tough it out, pull it through, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Sick All Ranger.

SPEAKER_04 9:39

Right, yeah, sick call ranger. We got you know, we got things to do, right? Um, and the same goes with mental health. You know, if had I gone to my command, I mean I could have. They would have, you know, said, okay, go down to behavior health, but there would have been a lot of talk once I got back. Um so it, you know, that kind of deters people from even wanting to bring it up. So yeah, I mean, getting out of the army, even though I was going through so much and so much stress, um I didn't necessarily want to reach out to anybody and talk, you know. I'm I had family that I could talk to. Um but um but yeah, I mean it it it it took a lot. I mean, it it literally took nearly becoming homeless before I started seeing counseling and you know, utilizing services that I didn't even think about trying to get.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

So I guess staying on this topic for a minute, I guess when you join and or when you're in your unit, whatever it's called, since I'm not really in it, I don't know what terminology to use. But is it highly spoken about, and or do people put it out there of if you're struggling with mental health, this is who you can contact. Always go to this person or any or is it just kind of you gotta figure it out on your own?

SPEAKER_03 10:55

Today we definitely have stand downs. So we we have a day or or a couple hours where we sit and we talk about mental health, right? That's that's something that uh we do, but I I think it's become one of those like mandatory trainings that you know, we all do them and we all go, I gotta I gotta get through this. And and I think that's unfortunate. Um I was really fortunate to hear Major General Rohn speak the other day. He's the Fort Riley commanding general. Um, and he had talked about there's a difference between a manager and a leader. And if if you ask anyone in the army who's a leader, everyone's supposed to raise their hand, right? We're all leaders. Um but he he talked about the difference being a manager is someone who manages systems. And the army's full of systems, the military is full of systems, we love systems because we can't work without them. A leader takes care of the people. And so if we're raising our hand and we're saying everybody's a leader, is that true? I think there's more managers, unfortunately. But there are leaders out there who will take the time to get to know their their service members and and see, you know, what do you truly need in this moment? Um is it is it housing? Is it you're getting out, what do you need, right? Um I do think it has changed, and I I hope it continues to get better.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

When you think about things like trauma, you know, obviously trauma being that kind of emotional response um, you know, to to certain events in your life. Um, but where do you see trauma playing a playing a role in you know the a veteran's long-term emotional health?

SPEAKER_03 12:40

There is a wonderful book, and and for anyone uh in mental health listening, uh it's called The Body Keeps a Score. You know what I'm talking about. That is like seminal text for trauma. Um essentially what the book says is you have trauma and you will continue to build trauma. It doesn't go away, right? Like you had trauma one year and by by the next year it's gone. No, it continues to build. And it's not just a deployment, it's the stress of your family. What am I gonna do with them? It's leaving and coming back, and while you're gone, everything at home keeps going forward without you. It's such a weird feeling. It is it's so hard to come back, but there's that trauma that builds. Um I was gone this weekend just for just for three days. And um you feel it in three days. You know, you you do nine months, you do a year, and and that's that's a really long time. Um so trauma, trauma builds on itself, and it's it's a hundred things, right? Um we used to yell a lot in the army. I think we still probably I don't, but uh you've been yelled at, I've been yelled at. Um and we're trying to build our stress thresholds so that when we get in a really s really stressful situation, we can just do the do the job. But then what do you do when you're not in stressful situations? How do you deal with it?

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

We we don't know how to deal with it. Um and and I I always suggest therapy when I can to talk about it, but but trauma builds.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

So it's almost like you would think that um you know, they would have some sort of like exiting, you know, like when you're getting ready to exit, uh similar to, you know, what they do kind of after after a situation happens and they have you sit down and talk to somebody. But you would think that, you know, that that would be something that they would want all service members to kind of at least go and sit down with somebody before they actually exit the military.

SPEAKER_00 14:47

I actually asked Jonathan that last week when he and I were meeting. I was like, do they even do something like when you're at a job and you leave like an exit interview? And he's like, No.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

It's like okay. Right. Um But you know, if we're talking therapy, it's it's I don't have to tell you anything. You know.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

I mean they do medical. They do medical. They make you I mean you have to go to medical, you have to go to dental, like you have to get that last teeth cleaning, you know, before you get out so they can check that box. But you know, why not the mental health aspect of it?

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Yeah, yeah. And and even if they do, um and I again I'm I'm reservist, so I I don't know what what active duty does. I don't want to speak on that, but um even if they do, I don't have to talk to you about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Right.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

And I think that is something that is that is a hard hard thing that we're we're working on. Um I do not have to talk about it because I don't want to. Because I might be called a sick call ranger, or I might be perceived as weak even as I'm getting out, or um I don't need the help. And and I it's not always the right, right answer.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Um, I think so much I don't want to talk to you because I don't want to relive all this. It's because they're trying to save face. I I think a lot of times.

SPEAKER_03 16:06

Yeah. Wow. I can't talk to everyone. I I can't speak about everyone. Yeah, that's a generality. But you know, I j I just did a training about uh what what not to assume. Like rank doesn't equal confidence. But that's really, really big, right? You you could be a major or a lieutenant colonel and still have these doubts, these self-doubts, um, and then come out of the military and and have even more so.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

So yeah, so how how and how important is early intervention?

SPEAKER_03 16:37

I I think mental health is like um any type of injury, right? Let's let's talk about rucking. Okay. Um I do a 12-mile every year because I have to. If I get hurt at mile five, I'm gonna push through it. Right. How important is it for me to stop and heal myself, right? Stop and and take a break. Um I think it's extraordinarily important. But I said what I just said for a reason. I'm not going to stop. Early intervention though, is wildly important. Um mental health is health. It it's just like breaking a finger, it's just like getting a cut. It is health. And if you can you can help yourself early, you can intervene early enough, um you're gonna be better off. One of my things right now is um I want to be able to move as I get older. I don't know if you have any like shoulder. Oh, yeah. You wake up and you're like, no, I just slept wrong. And you know, we're just getting older. Right. I'm not calling you old. Um but I want to be able to move when I get older. And that is a concern of mine as as I get older. I I've done a lot of things, my shoulders hurt, I've I've had news surgery, um, you know, my neck hurts from wearing a Kevlar and body armor, even at just like NTC or JRTC, sorry, so many acronyms. Yes, Emotional Training Center, uh Joint Readiness Training Center, JMRC, Joint Mil anyway. Um you wear you wear your gear and and it adds an extra 90 pounds to your body.

unknown 18:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

And you do it for days. 90 pounds? Can we talk about that for a minute? Yeah, it helps, right? It's it's your it's your body armor, it's your kevar, it's your rucksack, it's your weapon. Um it's all of these things that you're just carrying around all day, every day. Uh and not to get into like you know, talk about uh trauma. You you're carrying it around, right? So so it's a great that's a great metaphor.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

I'm hurting because I wore all of my gear for for uh 30 days at a training event, and when I take it all off, I hurt.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Now now do trauma for twenty years.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

And then and then not knowing how to take it off.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

So we always talk about resources. Um Jonathan, you just said not knowing how to take it off. Is nine eight eight a good place for people to start if they don't want to do the whole face-to-face or I don't want to be seen as that person? Can somebody call or 988 and is that a potential way for them to get through to somebody to talk about possibly what's going on, whether it's trauma-related, suicide, whatever?

SPEAKER_04 19:33

I mean, I know I know for veterans, you know, they have 988, then press one. Oh, so they have their own designated. And it kind of takes you to the veterans' crisis line. Okay, good to know. Tyler, what what are some services that are available locally for veterans who may not know where to start?

SPEAKER_03 19:49

In our our area, obviously, Pony Mental Health, right? This is this is what we do all day. Um we make sure that people get the help that they need. We make sure that service members get the help that they need. Uh and and if we can't, you know, we send them to other places. Locally, I'll just talk about where we are. Um, and and the reason I'm going to give these is because we're not competing with anyone. We we're taking care of veterans. So the Cohen Center is new in the area, but but they can take veterans. Um if they're going to K State, the MARC, the Military Affiliated Resource Center, that's a great resource for them to get help, and they actually have a therapist there from their mental health facility on campus.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

So let's talk about maybe if they're not locally. What if somebody lives in small town USA and they don't have any local resources? They don't have a community mental health center, they don't have maybe a therapist that's there every single day of the week. Where do people turn?

SPEAKER_03 20:44

This is where I would lead to the VA. Okay. Um the VA will get them connected. If they are unable to physically go to the VA, there's always telehealth. If they don't want to do telehealth, typically the VA will get them somebody in the community. So they'll do a referral out. It's extremely helpful. Great.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Yeah, I r I remember when that that started, I want to say 2017, 2018. I think it was VA choice. Yeah, it's game changer. Yeah. Uh I I believe it's, you know, the criteria is like if you live further than 70 miles from your nearest VA, yeah. So that's been that that has been a game changer.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

That's nice because they're recognizing people don't stay in the area which they get out. And so maybe they are originally from a small town and they want to move back home, and if there's nothing nearby, that's a good option. Right. I like that. Are there any barriers that you feel like might prevent a veteran from accessing care? That's a really good question.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Um, aside from ourselves, right? And we've already talked about that, I think, extensively. Um insurance can be a barrier, right? And that's where that's where Pawnee Mental Health, a place like us, can can come in. Um or we've Talked about the VA. If you live in the mountains of Colorado and there's no one near you for a couple miles getting getting telehealth, I think knowledge is probably the biggest barrier. Because what do you do and who do you turn to? You just may not know. John, you've already talked about that. You you didn't know who to turn to, right? Knowledge is a huge barrier. I I hope with podcasts like this where you're you're talking more about it, that helps. Technology always growing. We've talked about 998 9881. Uh that's that's a huge help. But um I'd say the biggest barrier is just knowing about it, knowing who to turn to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Now I know we talked a little bit about, you know, because we we are so close to Fort Riley. Um, you know, so what are some of the plans that you have for helping service members, veterans, and their families?

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah, the really cool thing about this position is um I can help anyone in the community. And when soldiers deploy or service members deploy, who's left at home? That's that's the community. And so we really want to help the families. We want to get services to the families, that are those kids that are left behind, the spouses that are left behind. Um I'm going to be at Fort Riley once a week. Uh either at the in-processing or the outprocessing, just making sure that my face is there and known. It it's all about just getting them, again, knowledge, right? It's it's about getting them the services that they need. And if I can't help them, I will just point across the room because at those in-processing and outprocessing at uh Fort Riley, everyone's there.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Um because a lot of times, you know, we we talk about the soldier that deploys, but you know, we don't talk about the family. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

Yeah. Um they always say, what do they say, the the hardest job in the military is the the military spouse. I kind of agree with that, right? They're they're home, they're dealing with everything at home. I said it earlier, when you're deployed, time stops for you. You're doing that one job for nine months, but everything else at home keeps going.

SPEAKER_04 24:15

And there's a lot of preparation before you go to to, you know, make sure that you know, at least your mental well-being as far as like everything's being taken care of at home, so you don't have to worry about that. A lot of that's being done leading up to the deployment. Yeah. And there's probably a lot of things that the spouse is like, well, I don't I don't want to bog you down with this. And so they kind of keep it internal.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

Before we keep talking about the families, because I do want to come back to families. Do they do anything for you guys before you deploy mental health-wise? And then after you get back? Like, is there a mental health check or anything that they it's a procedural that they go through?

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Yes, there is now, yeah. So whenever you do like um whenever you're getting ready to go, you might go to Fort Hood and you do a medical evaluation, and that now can include um a psych evaluation. Okay. But again, you don't have to say anything, yeah. Which is I think really hard part. It's the same when you come back. Um early early on, let's you talk about Iraq, right? Those guys came back, they got home, and what did they want to do? Go home. We didn't do anything. And and we wanted to make sure now that when they come home, they're talking to somebody, they're getting connected with somebody, but they still don't have to. Yeah. Yeah. I don't have to share my secrets with you. That's why they're secrets. Uh and that's really, really hard. And I think that is something that that's a culture that needs to change. And and it starts with those leaders that we talked about earlier. You know, I we don't want to manage what they're doing when they come back. We we want to lead them to a better place, right? What do we say, brighter days? Yeah, lead them to brighter days. Better days? Both. Both.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

I think now let's go back to the families. Let's go full full circle here. So the family member, like you just said, the wife doesn't want to burden the husband, so she doesn't say anything. What are resources for family members? Is it just building a support group?

SPEAKER_03 26:16

So you always have the FRG. That's a family readiness group. Oh, I'm tracking. Thank you. So many acronyms. Um you have the family readiness group. I I do think that those also have a stigma with them, right? Um we hold groups, we have workshops, we have parenting workshops. Um it is about getting in the community and finding out what you need when you need it. Um Flynn Hills breadbasket. Hopefully, we don't have soldiers' families and military members' families who go hungry, but we did watch that happen. It happened. And so there are local organizations like breadbaskets that that can help.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Okay. And it's going back to it's the groups. It's not just for significant others, right? Like what if I'm just a girlfriend and maybe we've only been dating for nine months? Is that still something that's on the table for me as an option?

SPEAKER_03 27:13

That's a really hard question to answer. Actually, I and and I don't know, you know, are are they? Um because then you get into and I the reason I read you the the legal definition of veteran is because it's it gets into legal things with like spouses. Um if they're not married. Yeah. What happens with them? What what they might be uprooted with them and they moved with them, but they're not married. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 27:42

They're not technically considered a dependent. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Yeah, that's really hard.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

It is. I mean, I guess social media, it's probably your best friend, right? Try and find groups and if you're just out there hanging, at least get some kind of support.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

Yeah, I guess. And I know some I know some spouses, you know, when when you know their their husband or wife deploys, you know, oftentimes they'll go back home wherever they came from. They'll go back home, live with live with a family member, or they might have a family member come up and stay with them and kind of help them out, um, you know, and kind of give them give them that support.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Interesting. I like that. I'm I'm gonna plug public schools. I think public schools do a really good job. I was a former teacher. I think they do a really good job of taking care of of young children. They're there's support that we don't think about enough, right? There there's sports, you have these coaches, you have these teachers who are making sure that they're they're staying up on their homework. Um, they're creating organizations and groups at the school to make sure that the students are are doing things, doing the right kinds of things. Um and schools can be huge support for families.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

I mean, it makes sense. A kid is there the majority of the day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yeah. Good.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

All right, Tyler, we close out every every episode with one question. What gives you hope for the future?

SPEAKER_03 29:05

People do. Yeah. People give me hope. I I meet with a lot of people. It is it is my job to meet with people, and uh sometimes you meet with people who have little hope. Um we've talked about a lot of resources today. When you can connect somebody who might feel hopeless to somebody else who can give them hope, uh man, that that changes your worldview. It's so impactful. Um those VSOs, the the veteran service officers.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

I was getting ready. Good job.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

Uh people who work in in homeless shelters, breadbaskets, those those people who care so much, and and they probably don't make a lot, um, but they care because they do it. People give me hope. Um that's kind of that's kind of really all we have sometimes. But um, you know, unfortunately you've been there. And and look at you now, right? That's that's huge. Um but how many people are we missing? So I I I do think that yeah, my answer is people.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

I like that. It's not a material thing, it's actually just people. It's what's in you. It is. Thank you so much for joining us today, Tyler. We appreciate it. Well, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Michelle and I would like you to know pain is temporary, but giving up is permanent, and you don't have to face it alone.

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If you or someone you know is in need of care, hope is available. For local listeners, you can call Pawnee's Crisis Hotline at 1-800-609 2002.

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For our national listeners, you can call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

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Other mental health resources can also be located on our website, Pawnee.org.

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