The Director of Social Media for the North Carolina National Guard noticed concerning comments on their Facebook page late one night that indicated an individual was considering suicide. They privately messaged the person to express concern for their well-being and connected them with the Guard's Integrated Behavioral Health System for crisis intervention and support. With an IBHS representative for guidance, they were able to have a caring discussion that encouraged the individual to seek help. The case demonstrated the importance of social media managers addressing issues that arise online and using available tools to connect those in need with mental health resources.

1. Case Study
As the Director of Social Media for the North Carolina National Guard (NCNG), I monitor our organiza-
tions Social Media channels. One particular evening, I happened to be online past midnight. While checking
the Facebook page (Facebook.com/NCNationalGuard), I noticed a string of comments that were posted on a
photo from that evening.
It was clear this individual
needed someone to talk with. At
first, I thought that it might be
someone just playing a joke or
something, but I knew with the
topic of suicide it’s crucial to take
it serious.
I sent the messages in the at-
tached graphic within five min-
utes of this individual posting
the original message. (Name and
profile photo have been blocked
for confidentiality)
I didn’t want to talk to specific
about the individuals condition,
and I didn’t want to tell her in a
public forum that she would be
calling for ‘help.’
‘PM’ stands for private message,
and eventually this individual
sent NCNG a private message.
This was an important step in
getting this individual to speak
freely.

2. The NCNG’s Integrated Behavioral Health System
is designed to systematically bring the best internal
and external military resources together to func-
tion collaboratively for the betterment of behavioral
health assessment, crisis intervention, referral, and
case management services available to NCNG service
members and their families.
Once I had this individual sending private mes-
sages, then I was able to talk about what IBHS was
all about. During the entire conversation, I had a
woman from IBHS on the phone, and she was able to
help with verbiage during our conversation.
We frequently promote the system on our Social
Media channels.
Also, recently we’ve sent every NCNG unit IBHS
DVD’s.
With the ever-growing world of social media, Sol-
diers, Airmen and families are communicating dif-
ferently. Sometimes people just need someone to talk
with. And although everyone may know the IBHS
number to call, they may need some encouragement
to actually pick up the phone and dial the number.
We need to be able to use the tools available to us as
Social Media managers, so that we’re able to address
any issues that may arise. It’s important to ‘stay in
your lane’ and use those tools as they were created to
be used.