Veterans Stand Watch On Bridge to Prevent Suicides and Spread Hope

Vets Stand Watch Around the Clock on Colorado Street Bridge to Prevent Suicides, Spread Awareness
Pasadena Now
Story and Photography by BRANDON VILLALOVOS
Published : Sunday, September 18, 2016

“Our veterans at Wellness Works decided that it is just not acceptable. It was their idea to do this. These veterans that commit suicide are losing their last battle with PTSD and we need the community’s help with all of this. We simply cannot do this by ourselves,” said Lynch.

Military veterans set up post on Pasadena’s Colorado Bridge for three days in effort to help prevent suicide and spread awareness about the epidemic that takes the lives of around 22 vets each day. Their around-the-clock shifts from Thursday through Saturday aimed to draw the attention from the community and shed a light on the impact of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on veterans that often results in taking their own lives.

“They’re walking back and forth on the bridge in shifts ranging from one to two hours in memory of those who killed themselves to let other veterans who are in despair at this moment know that they have their backs,” said Kathy Lynch, Clinical Director of Glendale non-profit Wellness Works that created this event in collaboration with local veterans. Wellness Works engages the community in restoring hope and a sense of wholeness of body and soul to veterans and their families through events like this one, according to organization’s website.

The Colorado Bridge campout known as “Not On Our Watch 2016” is the result of concerned veterans that were tired of seeing their brothers in arms fall down the road of depression that often leads to suicide, according to Lynch.
read more here