Standing For and With Our Veterans with Support Circles

By Rachel Carpenter | Peer Support Coordinator 

“I will not stand idly by while my brothers and sisters lose to battles they shouldn’t be fighting, I will climb in the trenches, and fight for them until they can get back up and fight for themselves.”

Joey Epperson is pretty candid about who he is and what he stands for. He is a husband, father, 100% disabled veteran, streamer, hunter, fisherman, and more. But what he really advocates for is ending veteran suicide. He created EppicLife, where he streams video gaming with suicide prevention services directed to veterans. He also takes them hunting and fishing, a way to connect with other veterans, offer support, and have the hard conversations about mental health and veteran life.

His work as an advocate led him to Blue Star Support Circles. Joey’s friend had completed the virtual, eight-week program and knew that he would also benefit from it. He wanted another opportunity to learn more about how to be a frontline advocate for suicide prevention

“I was interested in learning about new tools and gathering new information for my many social media posts supporting veterans mental health … fighting the stigmas of mental health to help ward off suicidal ideations in other veterans. I also want to always feel comfortable being that front support person when a crisis comes up.”

Blue Star Support Circles was a convenient and beneficial way to achieve this. Since the program meets virtually, Joey could participate no matter where he happened to be. He could even call in while on a hunting trip with veterans! He admits that he struggles with connecting to others, and the small cohort group allowed him to share and participate. “I have access to gun safes, medication safes, apps like Spiritune, PsychArmor … there are so many things I have access to NOW that I didn’t have before which just strengthen my arsenal when it comes to this battle.” The lessons and training from Blue Star Families were easy to understand and implement in his work and personal life.

When I asked Joey what he enjoyed the most about the program, he couldn’t narrow it down to one thing. He told me about many examples, including:

• He has used the crisis response training to create a suicide prevention plan with veterans and nonveterans alike.

• He uses the Spiritune app and complimentary subscription to help de-escalate emotions and take a step back when emotions are high. He has shared this valuable music therapy resource with others.

• He takes the research and data and uses it in his conversations with veterans in crisis. The statistics and multimedia posts in our program help share information and start breaking down the walls or stigma around mental health.

• Joey has used the free gun safe given in our Lethal Means Safety program to store his own firearms, but he has also extended that to any veterans in crisis. He stores that person’s weapons for the night, cleans them, and ensures that both the firearm and the person are safe. 

As a two-time participant in Blue Star Support Circles, Joey has taken his experience and training to use in real-life situations. He combines his humor, talents, and passion for veteran suicide prevention with everything he has learned, and he is saving lives, and he is an advocate for our program and everything it provides:

“Blue Star [Support Circles] should be looked at as the premiere way the VA can begin doing real work on veteran suicide and mental health. Their willingness to connect with a veteran who streams suicide prevention [video game] streams, to do the frontline work of preparing information and gathering tools is second to none. I have been in many mental health programs, and I feel that this program stands alone in its passion to do the hard work. I am proud to be a part of the organization.”

To learn more about Blue Star Support Circles and how you can participate in our free, virtual training, check out our website. We are recruiting for cohorts through the end of the year, and we would love to get you the tools and training you need to help prevent veteran suicide.