To enhance its suicide prevention efforts, the US Navy has decided to develop a ‘Culture of Excellence’. This effort aspires to combine existing and new programs to develop resilience, trust and connectedness in all members of the service.
Vice Adm. John B. Nowell, the chief of naval personnel and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell D. Smith emphasized how critical this culture change is to the Navy today and into the future.
All too often when I open my email, I have a report of another suicide. What we have been doing is not bending the curve
Mr. Nowell said.
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He also highlighted the key preventative efforts already underway in the fleet, like Command Resilience Teams that have been implemented across the fleet. In addition, he shared his excitement about the rollout of the “Commander’s Risk Mitigation Dashboard.”
This effort is considered vital for getting in front of things like suicide, where often there are no apparent warning signs. The new dashboard will combine information from more than 22 separate Navy and Department of Defense databases.
However, the US Navy admits that gathering data and displaying information on a dashboard, alone, won’t solve problems. ‘The power is in combining this data, tagged to the unit level, where the information paints a picture which can point commands in the right direction.’
Another key cornerstones of flipping the culture, according to Mr. Nowell is the service’s efforts to promote resiliency on the deckplates.
I’m an old ship driver. Back in those days the initial reaction when something happened was to simply tell everyone to ‘suck it up’ and drive on – we have to get past that – we have got to get to the point across the whole Navy that if you have to take a knee and recalibrate—it’s not just OK, it’s the right thing to do
