App uses the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale and also provides local resources for those in crisis.
For both veterans in crisis and those around them, an app exists that can help provide the necessary resources in their area.
The Be the One app, developed by Columbia University and tailored to The American Legion’s Be the One veteran suicide prevention mission, is available via both Apple and Google. The app used the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), the most evidence-supported tool of its kind. It asks a simple series of questions that anyone can use anywhere to help prevent suicide.
Columbia Lighthouse Project's Wendy Lakso, who provides Be the One training, encouraged Legion Family members to download the app but said it is a work in progress. “We’re going to refine this a little bit more. We can change these questions,” she said. “We may drill down a little bit more and say, ‘Are you a spouse, are you whatever?’ The issue is we don’t want to ask too many questions. Because if you’re in a situation where you need to get someone help immediately, you’re not going to sit and answer 10 questions. We have to try to streamline as best as we can.”
Lakso said one of the key aspects of the app is its privacy. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t have your phone number. I don’t know any of that on this app,” she said. “That’s important to you for you to know as a veteran. I can’t track you. All I can know is what location you’re in by ZIP code.”
The app also provides links to local resources, facts about suicide and hints to talking about suicide.
Tony Cross, the Legion’s Be the One program manager, stressed the value of the first resource. “What’s really helpful about that app is wherever you’re at, it will give you some details about the area you probably don’t even know,” Cross said. “A lot of times I’ll ask a (Legion) post, ‘Do you know what’s around you?’ People don’t. That is an incredible app.”
- Be the One