Leaders getting tool to help people in distress Published March 16, 2004 By Master Sgt. Michael Briggs Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Leaders throughout the Air Force are receiving a new tool this spring they can use to recognize and respond to people in distressing situations.Every squadron commander and first sergeant will get a CD copy of the “Leader's Guide to Managing Personnel in Distress,” an interactive product that provides general information, summaries of policy and checklists on 35 topics relating to distress.More than 100 people, including commanders, first sergeants and health experts, spent two years developing the comprehensive guide to help improve the overall fitness, readiness and performance of the force, according to Air Force medical officials."It's the only product of its kind," said Lt. Col. Rick Campise, chief of the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program, who oversees the guide program. "It identifies issues relevant to a particular life-problem area, signs and behaviors for how the person is dealing with the problem, and resources for helping them manage the difficulty."The idea for the commander's guide came from an Air Force Suicide Prevention Program working group that convened in 2002 to develop a guide for mental-health clinicians. The group decided to build a second guide all Air Force leaders could use for any situation where people experience distress, Colonel Campise said. "The truth is, everything is suicide prevention," he said of the guide's development beyond the field of mental health. "Anything you do to address quality-of-life issues is suicide prevention, regardless of whether that is romantic relations, finances, substance use, family violence, (or) spiritual well-being."The 35 topics addressed in the guide include common distress-causing events, but it lists several not-so-common topics such as coping with car accidents, burglaries and unintentional injuries. The guide breaks the topics down into the categories of topics in distress, specific-life challenges and resilience, interventions and community resources, deployment-related topics, and information for unit people.Each topic has one-half to three pages of information also condensed to a checklist to give leaders a quick reference source, Colonel Campise said. "A condensed version was added for commanders who receive calls that in five minutes someone will be showing up with that issue, resulting in a need to quickly review what to look for and how to help," he said.While the guide is not intended to act as a replacement for mental-health, legal or other professional advice, it provides readily accessible and practical guidance to leaders in helping them make decisions, Colonel Campise said."The performance of even our best members can be (affected) at times by life's difficulties, and unit leaders must be diligent in providing an environment of support," wrote Lt. Gen. Richard E. Brown III, acting vice chief of staff of the Air Force, in a memo accompanying the CDs. "This tool ... provides leaders with specific actions and agencies they may want to enlist in support of their unit members."People who are not squadron commanders or first sergeants can access the Leader's Guide to Managing Personnel in Distress on the Web at https://www.afms.mil/afspp/products/default.htm from a dot-mil address.Colonel Campise said everyone can benefit from the guide and suggests people get familiar with it and refer to it whenever they have concerns about themselves or others."Read it before you need it," he said. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)