A Suicide Prevention Lunch and Learn on the Fisher House Patio

On Friday, September 18, the patio at 150 Wentworth Street filled with folding chairs, teal and purple linens, and a banner carrying the seals of every service branch. The VA Suicide Prevention Office and the Fisher House hosted a Suicide Prevention Lunch and Learn, and Friends of Fisher House Charleston provided the lunch.

The program paired guidance from the VA’s suicide prevention team with the part that no slide deck can carry: veterans standing up in front of their neighbors and telling their own stories. Fisher House Manager Erik Zielinski spoke as well. People stayed in their seats after the plates were cleared.

The patio was the right room for it. Families come to the Fisher House because someone they love is receiving care at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, and the House is where the hard conversations tend to happen anyway, over coffee in the kitchen or in a rocking chair out back. Holding this one out in the open, in daylight, with lunch on the table, is the point.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. If you or a veteran you care about is struggling, the Veterans Crisis Line is free, confidential, and staffed around the clock. Dial 988 and press 1, text 838255, or chat online at veteranscrisisline.net. You do not have to be enrolled in VA health care to use it.

Our thanks to the VA Suicide Prevention Office for bringing the program to the House, and to the veterans who were willing to speak. Keeping the kitchen stocked and the doors open for gatherings like this is exactly what your support pays for.