By Vanessa Stapleton – President Armor Up West Virginia
We have an entire month dedicated to mental health awareness, yet we lose more first responders to suicide than we do line of duty. We could all give our best educated guesses as to why we are losing so many to suicide. I could even give you my many thoughts on this, such as: stigma, lack of resources, lack of access to these resources, insurance that doesn’t want to cover treatment (West Virginia specifically), and financial inability to afford the few resources that are accessible.