Miss6on determined to help veterans overcome issues with mental health
Veteran and Oglethorpe County resident Michael Mathe admits he feels awkward when non-military “civilians” tell him, “Thank you for your service.” Even on Veterans Day, which is Friday, he would rather stay at home instead of participating in a ceremony or celebration.
“I guess I don’t want that recognition at this point,” he said.
Mathe served in Afghanistan from 2009 until he was medically discharged in 2012. He suffers from the effects of a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, side effects of war that veterans can view as a weakness.
“When you’re a veteran, you’re supposed to be this figure: you are big, bad and strong; you don’t have any weaknesses. But that’s not true,” Mathe said. “You still have them. You just try to hide them.”
This perception of weakness associated with mental health issues in military veterans is widespread, with potentially harmful effects on the individual and those close to them. But a new local organization called Miss6on (pronounced Mission 6) hopes to help solve this problem.
The nonprofit plans to offer peer-to-peer coaching and therapy to local veterans by focusing on three pillars:
- bring veterans out of homelessnesses
- combat substance abuse
- work through post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Even though the group’s physical office space is in Athens, its reach extends to the surrounding counties, including Oglethorpe.
The organization name comes from a military phrase, “I’ve got your six.”
Picture a clock — having one’s six is synonymous with having someone’s back.
Miss6on is an organization still in its infancy — it achieved non-profit status last month and will officially open its physical office on Veterans Day, but its goal to commit to having the backs of local veterans is beginning to take shape.
Board member Tim Clark wants to show up in, “... places that they (veterans) don’t necessarily expect us to be. I’m not going to ask them questions. I’m just going to be like, ‘Hey, we’re here.’ ”
Meeting a need
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, more than 900 veterans live in Oglethorpe County, about 6% of the total population, which is comparable to the percentage at the state level. The Department of Veterans Affairs reported in 2020 that more than a quarter of the nation’s veterans live in rural communities.
The National Institute of Drug abuse found that “between 37% and 50% of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have been diagnosed with a mental disorder associated with substance use disorders (SUDs) and that 63% of those diagnosed with SUDs also met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”
One metric states that according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the suicide rate for veterans in Georgia in 2020 was “significantly higher than the national general population suicide rate.”
Mental health services, help with physical ailments and more are things veterans need to have after returning from battle. In a state and a county with a large veteran population, resources can often be scarce and hard to access. This has created the need for alternatives for veterans.
“The act of a soldier gets all the resources that he'll ever need, and then some, but the veteran has kind of just lost,” Mathe said.
The ultimate goal is to have a team of in-house coaches to support the expanse of mental health needs for veterans that are seeking aid. However, currently eleven volunteers make up the team between the board and the volunteer staff and not all of them have the qualifications to serve in a counselor or medical role.
Miss6on executive director Scott Kennedy is the only certified recovery coach on the team.
“I can’t do it all by any means,” he said.
Close to home
While the organization lacks in-house resources, it has surrounded itself with resources in the Athens-Clarke County area that it plans to use to fill gaps in support.
A neighbor in its new office is Alliance Recovery Center, which provides counseling for those dealing with addiction. Clark, one of ARC’s recovery coaches, brings resources and a nonmilitary perspective.
“Scott’s passionate about the veteran’s side of it; we do it on the civilian side,” Clark said. “It was a natural alliance when Scott came up with the idea.”
Having such a close relationship and proximity to established resources will serve as an anchor for Miss6on as it gains its footing.
“This is a castle of services and support. So we were able to get inside the moat, per se,” Kennedy said.
This organization is fighting a historically losing battle in terms of getting at-risk veterans to reach out for resources surrounding mental health. According to Mental Health America, over half (54.7%) of adults who struggle with a mental illness do not receive treatment.
Miss6on social media manager and Oglethorpe County resident Heather Clark has viewed this dismissal of help firsthand from her perspective as a military spouse with her ex husband, Robert Clark. Robert had post-combat mental health concerns and even though friends and family, including Scott Kennedy, pushed him to seek help on a number of occasions, nothing stuck.
“A lot of them are not going to seek help on their own,” she said. “Sometimes they just get so deep … and they think they can just fix it themselves.”
Despite the attempts to help him, Robert Clark took his own life in July, leaving Heather with the care of three daughters.
“I still have my moments where I’m angry, but (I’m) able to see past what happened and look at the cause of it, and that’s what we have to do with everybody — look past what is on the surface and get ot the bottom of it and see what we can do to help,” Clark said.
“With (Heather’s) husband, I tried to help him. I don’t feel any guilt whatsoever from that. But one thing I’ve got in my mind (now) is we’ve got to find a way to do better,” Kennedy said.
The way the organization sees as the best way to combat this resistance is to meet people where they are. Clark uses social media platforms to spread the word about the organization, but understands that online interactions are only reaching a portion of the veteran community, especially in a county like Oglethorpe with broadband connectivity issues.
Spreading the word
Miss6on has made an effort to advertise itself at “any kind of event that’s going on,” board member Kay Remar said.
Not only did Miss6on set up at last month’s Athens Recovery Fest, an annual event that aims to “raise awareness about recovery from addiction and other mental health issues,” according to its website, but it also set up at the Oglethorpe County Trunk or Treat, to not only potentially pique the interest of veterans, but also their support systems.
Despite the hesitancy of veterans to come forward in their struggles, one of the largest concerns for Miss6on is that there will be too many veterans who want to be a part of the program.
“If there’s a concern that we have now, it’s that it’s too quick and we don’t have the resources to do it yet,” board chairman Tom Remar said. “We’re trying to not get involved to the point that we disappoint.”
Smith said, “It’s a very fine line. In order to get donations and have money come in, you have to get your name out there. But if you get your name out there, it’s very easy to have too much too quickly.”
With services for veterans being tough to access and the stigma around asking for help in the community, Miss6on is hoping to fill that void. While it would love to help as many veterans as possible, the organization keeps its goals in perspective.
Remar said when asked about what success would look like for Miss6on, “If we can save one person’s life or help them get back into society.”