Behavioral health force protection: optimizing injury prevention by identifying shared risk factors for suicide,...

Suicide, violence, and unintentional injury have many risk factors in common, such as stress, emotional illness, and substance abuse, among others. Unfortunately, commanders and supervisors may be inadvertently overlooking behavioral risks military personnel engage in. Behavioral health force protection is defined as guarding military personnel from injury comprehensively by identifying shared risk factors and implementing protective factors. This approach broadens the arena of preventive health by addressing unintentional injuries, which may be overlooked as preventable. This paper highlights the relevance of clinicians, commanders, and supervisors being attentive to shared risk factors in the etiology of injury along a continuum encompassing suicide, unintentional injury, and violence. Leadership responsibility is discussed in the context of a military community network that provides a framework of support from both within the unit and external helping agencies as well.