GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- This September is Suicide Awareness Month, and the Integrated Prevention and Resilience Office at the Hoosier Wing is stepping up to tackle outdated stigmas about mental health in the military.
“Asking for help with mental health is a sign of courage, not weakness,” said Dawn Altmaier, Chief of the IPRO. “It’s the biggest stigma we hear, and people are afraid to reach out because they think it’ll make them look weak, or because it’s going to negatively impact their career.”
Reaching out to get mental health help is never a sign of failure or weakness, but rather a sign of wanting to do the best job you can. A popular stigma in the military is that if you reach out to get help, you can lose your job, or it could have a negative impact on your career. However, individuals only have a negative change in their career in extraordinarily rare cases.
“In almost every one of those cases, there is a diagnosis without a get-well date or is unsuitable for military service,” said Altmaier. “When we hear that old wives’ tale, that’s usually what doesn’t get mentioned. A tiny percentage of people that get help will have any negative consequences to their career, so reaching out will rarely, if at all, change your career.”
Altmaier knows that asking for help will more often than not help your livelihood, rather than hurt it, through firsthand experience.
“I struggled with mental health stressors when I was a first sergeant,” said Altmaier. “I was raising two teen age daughters, had 450 people underneath me and I felt overwhelmed sometimes. I would ask myself, ‘If I can’t handle two kids, how am I going to take care of 450 maintainers?’ But I reached out to Military OneSource, and was like, ‘Am I losing my mind?’ They assured me that the fact that I was questioning it meant no. Reaching out was difficult, but it gave me what my career and I needed.”
One of the best ways to combat poor mental health is to become and stay connected with people in your lives, whether that means getting lunch as a unit at the DFAC, or going to the gym after the workday with a wingman.
“When we lose someone in the fight of mental health, it meant they didn’t feel connected,” said Altmaier. “We often think of the Air Force as a big family, and people in that family should feel like they can count on each other to support one another. We stress connectivity, especially on the reserve side, where we’re only here once a month.”
To support Grissom’s sentiment towards breaking stigmas and embracing health leadership signed a 2025 Suicide Prevention Month proclamation.
“The fight against suicide is one we all must take personally. Every life lost is one too many, and every conversation could be the one that saves a life,” said Col Michael Albert, 434th ARW commander during the signing of the proclamation. "Mental health is mission-critical. If we are serious about resilience, then suicide prevention must be part of our daily leadership practice."
To view the full 2025 Suicide Prevention Month proclamation, click here.
Maintaining mental health is a journey that requires help. If you or someone you know is struggling, reach out. You could save a life. Veterans also have 24/7 access for support through the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and then pressing 1.
For a PDF infographic on suicide prevention visit the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention by clicking here.