Recently facebook offers suicide-prevention lifeline for
military families. Facebook is connecting with military-support and service
organizations to offer customized suicide-prevention services for veterans,
active service members and their families.
Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1202476
For many members of military families, social media serve
as a lifeline, connecting them to various supportive communities to help them
cope with their specific strains and stresses. So, in conjunction with the
Department of Veterans Affairs and the nonprofit organization Blue Star
Families, Facebook has unveiled a literal lifeline within the site, with
informational and response tools customized for service members and their
families.
In a recent survey of 4,000 military families, Blue Star
Families discovered that more than 90% of those who responded reported some
type of use of Facebook, and 86% of them said they were on the social
networking site daily.
The survey also highlighted that the percentage of
military family members who have pondered suicide is nearly equal to that of
service members with suicidal thoughts.
Facebook already provides suicide-prevention services.
Friends on Facebook can already report suicidal content by using the
"Report Suicidal Content" link, which triggers an email to the
poster, providing that person a note with information from the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline. The form also urges users who have encountered a direct
threat of suicide on Facebook to immediately contact law enforcement or a
suicide hotline.
Now, Facebook has engineered a customized offering so
that those connected to veterans, active-duty service members and military
family members will get specific information about crisis services tailored to
the military, including the Veterans Crisis Line, which can respond over the
phone, in an online chat or in a text message.
The Suicide Prevention Lifeline reports that nearly 100
Americans die by suicide every day, and that in the last year, more than 8
million Americans 18 or older had thought seriously about suicide.
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