{"id":219189,"date":"2025-09-11T21:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/219189\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T21:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T21:41:13","slug":"air-force-veteran-says-support-and-resources-from-jacksonville-event-provide-peace-of-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/219189\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Force veteran says support and resources from Jacksonville event provide \u2018peace of mind\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 September is Suicide Awareness Month<\/a>, and Jacksonville is stepping up for its heroes.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena filled with support and conversations as more than 90 organizations came together for the second annual Veterans Matter event.<\/p>\n

The one-day gathering offered on-site support and services from mental health care and primary medical screenings to housing assistance, employment resources, and VA benefits enrollment \u2014 all with a single goal: eliminate barriers and build connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one place where a veteran who may be struggling with a multitude of different needs\u2026 all of their needs can be met at one place at one time,\u201d said Kathryn Sperry, Suicide Prevention Program Supervisor.<\/p>\n

Organizers say events like this can be a lifeline for veterans navigating the difficult transition from active duty to civilian life \u2014 a transition that can often feel isolating, overwhelming, and lonely.<\/p>\n

For Samuel Hall, a former Airborne Cryptologic Linguist in the U.S. Air Force, that support has been life-changing.<\/p>\n

Hall said that after years of struggling with PTSD, trauma, and substance abuse, finding programs and people who understood what he was going through helped him begin to heal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed help, and I got help, and today, the help is giving me so much clarity and peace of mind,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI know today I don\u2019t need to use substances to feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says knowing there are so many resources at his fingertips \u2014 from calling his sponsor or the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to walking into a meeting or events like this \u2014 has given him hope and stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta be strong, but strength is asking for help \u2014 true strength is actually knowing that you don\u2019t have all the answers,\u201d Hall said. \u201cWith my program and the people I have in my life\u2026 my mother, my sister, my father, my grandma\u2026 all the support that I have is just me saying that I need help, and that\u2019s what\u2019s going to get me the help that I need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall says for a long time, he felt alone and believed life wasn\u2019t worth living \u2014 but today, he knows otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful, like today is a beautiful day,\u201d Hall said. \u201cHere we see that veterans\u2026 they go through trauma, PTSD, you name it \u2014 yet they\u2019re able to smile and laugh. It\u2019s a genuine smile, it\u2019s a genuine laughter. It\u2019s so beautiful that life is worth living, and for a long time I didn\u2019t believe that\u2026 but today I know that I believe it, and I want to help the next veteran to know that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers hope this year\u2019s event will not only connect veterans to care, but also help spark conversations and maybe even save lives.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, or chat via 988lifeline.org to connect with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 September is Suicide Awareness Month, and Jacksonville is stepping up for its heroes. On Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":219190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,8314,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-219189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-duval-county","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115187842624396041","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}