European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday december 12, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 help is Only a phone Call away by Chris Estes stiff writer of want to die. Perhaps the attraction in t death itself. Maybe it s just not Worth waking up any  re alone again. The Job s gone to hell. You Don t have the Money to keep shoes on your kids. You need to talk but you Don t know whal to say. You Don t even know who to talk to. Help is available. People arc wailing to listen and help you overcome life s depressions and disasters. There arc crisis incs and chaplains. The air Force has family support centers with trained Counselor army Community service offers family advocacy and financial counselling in most communities. The Navy has a peer ministry group called Credo for sailors spiritual needs. Assistance programs for drug and alcohol problems arc offered in almost every Community. Marriage problems and isolation prompt most of the suicide Calls to the family support Center crisis line at Rhein main a near Frankfurt said its manager Dar Lenc Charles. Most people who Are calling us need to talk out the problems they have been going through Charles said. They Haven t been Able to do that in their own personal lives. The first thing phone workers do when they get a suicide Call is assess How lethal the situation is Charles said. Do they have a knife a gun pills what Type of plans do they have being Over the phone i am More or less powerless but i can  the Counselor tries to make personal Contact with the caller. A person who is wanting to kill himself or herself is feeling isolated out of touch with people Charles said. What i want to do is give them human Contact and try to let them know i  Charles said the year old crisis line averaged 25 Calls a month from october 1984 to june. The Calls then dropped off but now Are averaging 10 a month. Only seven callers have been suicidal she said. At least two hot lines Are available to help people stationed in great Britain. The family support Center at Raf Lakenheath operates helpline from 8 . To about 8 . Everyday and a British Agency called the Samaritans operates a 24-hour distress line. Helpline is open to anyone connected with the base with a problem or needing someone to talk to said Ted Liskanich assistant director of the family support Center.,to Liskanich said helpline is operated Only 12 hours a Day because there arc not enough volunteers to staff it 24 hours. The line receives an average of two Calls per Day he said. The majority of Calls received by the Samaritans Are from people who arc worried distressed or lonely a spokeswoman said. She said callers arc told How and where to find the help they May need. Phone numbers for the Samaritans Are listed in All phone books in great Britain. People who need More intimate Contact or who arc suffering from religious guilt or problems often go to a chaplain. Chaplain cmdr Jerry Smith said he helps suicidal sailors in Naples with one of the highest forms of love  he is assigned to Credo a peer ministry group to give sailors an Opportunity to talk to a chaplain. He said sailors on smaller ships often have no chaplain. In port Credo latin for i believe offers them that Comfort. Spiritual care is often helpful to the suicidal person he said. Very few people take the time to listen and really care. God when we Pray to him listens and that is one of the highest forms of love  he said that although most suicidal people Send Clear signals of their intentions Many people do not under stand and think a person talking about suicide won t do it. But that suicidal person is not thinking that Way he said. Chaplain it. Col Marvin  of Darm Stadt Germany said people who consider suicide be cause of religious problems often Don t do it because of their religion. The guilt gets so heavy they Don t know what to do with it anymore he said. But that sonic times works in a Good direction As Well. Something they be picked up somewhere along the line if you kill yourself there is no More Hope. Then you can t be  if a person needs professional counselling the Chap lain will either refer him to a social worker or have a doctor refer him to a Hospital. If a person is seriously suicidal and won t get professional help the chaplain gets the person to Promise to see him the next Day. There s an obligation  said. There is a tomorrow. I made an agreement i be got to keep to that " the chief of the mental health activity in Ascham fun Burg Germany said the Community averages 24 suicide attempts or gestures a year. One Way suicidal people arc identified is through interviews at the drug and alcohol program. We give them what s called the drug and alcohol intake said Julie Coin a drug and alcohol Counselor at the menial health activity. We have a question on it that we ask everybody whether they have any prob lems with depression and whether or not they have any suicidal thoughts. And usually if they do they Tell  she said a person who has had suicidal thoughts will pause when asked about them admit to a Little depression then open up. She also said people who refer themselves to the mental health activity for drugs and alcohol Are often quicker to admit being depressed or suicidal than people referred by the command. They feel like we re Here to help them instead of a punishment she said. The director of the Naples alcohol rehabilitation service said culture Shock and a miserable life because of alcohol arc two main reasons sailors and their de Pendents become suicidal. Navy it. Nancy Lake said five sailors and three family members have come to her with suicidal thoughts in the past year. Lake a psychiatric nurse said sailors often turn to drinking because of the pressures of the Navy life. She said some family members being alone in a foreign country go into culture Shock. By drinking people seem to relieve hat pressure she said. However we find that drinkers arc More Apt to suicide. Alcohol certainly brings it  army personnel and their families needing counselling often go to army Community service which refers them to other agencies for help. Occasionally they May come Here because it is the Only place they know to go to said Deborah Sci old family advocacy program coordinator for the Hanau Germany acs. They May come Here for other Rea sons Ana be identified As having depression that might be also  she said family marital and financial counselling arc offered but therapy is not a general part of the acs program. We gel everyone who is involved in a Domestic Vio Lence incident Scholz said. People that come Here often have financial problems and need budget help. There arc people who come Here because they Are hav ing marital conflicts and want to talk with someone. We offer them the Chance to talk but we also explain that we will Hook them up with someone who can give them More  staff writer Dave Lehl and Rotmil Leonard contributed to Ihli report. Police decide homicide or suicide by Betty Bell  As family and friends question the motives of a person who commits suicide the military also takes a hard look at what May have caused a person to take Bis own life. Suicide is a difficult area to determine said army chief warrant officer James m. Adcock special agent in charge of the Mannheim resident Agency criminal investigation come. We approach All re ports of sudden or unexpected deaths As if someone has taken the life of another homicide. We have to eliminate the fact that someone else took this person s life. We look at the probability. For exam ple was the person depressed were there family prob lems or trouble in the unit we Check for weapons or the Lack of weapons. Notes Are infrequently found but if we found one a document examiner must determine if it s written in the victim s hand Adcock said. All the pieces of the Puzzle have got to fit. And we have got to do a thorough  Adcock an expert in death investigation said the investigating team looks at All the facts surrounding the death who found the individual where the victim was found and under what circumstances the death occurred. We should know As much about the victim As Possi ble he said. We try to learn from friends relatives and workmates the habits of the individual. We take interviews and examine  Adcock said medical autopsies Are performed to search for Marks on the body that might indicate a struggle took place which would mean someone else was involved. One s natural instinct is to fight for one s life Adcock said. The location of the injury can determine if the victim could commit the act against himself. For example a hard Contact gunshot wound to the head May suggest suicide. With wounds such As cuts autopsies can help in determining which Marks May be hesitation Marks or super Ficini Marks that might have been self inflicted. From a medical Legal standpoint patterns do develop. We cannot make an official det Ennington of the cause and manner of death without � Complete Auto