MIRECC / CoE

Rocky Mountain Short Takes on Suicide Prevention:
CaringBridge with Liwanag Ojala

28 January 2020

This is the last in our series from the VA/DoD Suicide Prevention Conference. Adam wanted to get together with groups that are part of the public-private partnership that the VA has formed to promote Veteran well-being.

Free Websites for Patients and Family Caregivers Dealing with a Health Crisis

CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network that rallies community around people on health journeys. Our platform gives patients and caregivers a place to update family and friends, ask for help and get support and encouragement.

“Encouragement from my doctors, and my wife, and family members and friends… stuff like that means a lot. That really helps with healing and getting better.” Veteran Tomo Riley was diagnosed with melanoma of the eye and Gulf War Illness, a multi-symptom disease related to exposure to nerve gas

CaringBridge is for any kind of illness like cancer, injuries like traumatic brain injuries or amputation … chronic medical or behavioral conditions such as depression or anything else that is difficult to endure alone. It’s a vulnerable time that can leave patients and caregivers feeling isolated when nothing matters more than social and emotional support for their family and friends.

Through a personal CaringBridge site or our mobile app, you can:

• Update your community and ask for support in one place
• Share medical updates, photos, videos or anything else that’s on your mind as you navigate your health journey
• Instead of many people asking you and your loved ones for updates, your community can always check your site and offer words of encouragement—so you can focus on healing.
• It’s also a place to ask for, and receive, the support you need. From personal fundraising pages, to meals and task lists that people can help you tackle; our tools make your CaringBridge site a place to rally any and all support from your family and friends.

The CaringBridge experience is all about you. We make it as easy as possible to start a site and make it your own. Our privacy and accessibility controls let you decide who you want to share your updates with and when. The community is yours and that’s why we focus on making it safe. CaringBridge is private, ad-free, and we do not sell your data.

“Writing on CaringBridge was my processing time. I could take in everything that happened in a day and put it back out there in a way that everyone who wanted to help could know what was going on.” Amy Amundson, mother and primary caregiver to Kevin, a former National Guard member, who attempted suicide as a result of undiagnosed depression

Make your health journey easier by starting a CaringBridge site today. Your community is ready to help—and CaringBridge rallies their support. Start a Site Today: https://www.caringbridge.org/createwebsite