Wayne Rivali, Air Force veteran and commander of the local American Legion Post #16
Wayne Rivali, Air Force veteran and commander of the local American Legion Post #16

Veterans and community joining forces to combat veteran suicide in Taos County.

together with veterans taos

TWV Taos hosts community meetings for veterans, families, friends, colleagues, and agencies to talk about strategies and develop action plans. We offer QPR peer-based suicide prevention training by veterans, for veterans. We partner with local arts and veteran-serving nonprofits to provide free arts and recreation opportunities for veterans. Please reach out to learn more or get involved in any current or future actions.

What we do:

We are working on a 6-point strategy for lowering veteran suicide rates in Taos County:

CLICK EACH NUMBER BELOW, TO LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH STRATEGY

“We tend to think we’re warriors…I think when I joined, ‘Army of One’ was the slogan. You can handle anything, but I think another issue is that you don’t want to burden anybody else with your problems, and you just suffer in silence.”

Ryan Timmermans, founder and executive directorof Veterans Off-Grid

IN THE UNITED STATES, 17 VETERANS PER DAY TAKE THEIR LIVES

According to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, veterans in rural areas take their lives at a rate 6 percent higher than those living in urban areas. And for women vets, the rate is even higher.

Challenges for veterans at risk in Northern New Mexico are increased by rural isolation and inadequate resources like: housing, income, transportation, technology, internet, and awareness of available services or how to get them. While 50% of Taos veterans are from the Vietnam era, the remaining are younger vets who tend to be less connected and involved than older vets.

Together With Veterans (TWV) Taos seeks to work with local veterans to reduce veteran suicide by: coordinating services to better support veterans; providing suicide prevention training, and developing effective suicide prevention strategies for veterans throughout our community.

We’re together with our veterans in Taos.