Every 40 seconds, someone in the world dies by suicide. On this World Mental Health Day, the U.N. is shining the spotlight on suicide prevention.

Here in the United States, different agencies are trying to reverse the rising rates of suicide a trend that’s reflected in the military community.

CGTN’s Gerald Tan has more.

Michael Kidd fought in the Korean War. More than six decades later, he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder but gets help from pet therapy, specifically his dog Millie.

“My blood pressure is up. Right now, I can tell you it’s high. She knows it. And she warns me. She tells me,” Kidd said.

Paws of War is an organization that trains shelter animals to help veterans cope with the trauma of war.

It’s one of a growing number of groups across the United States offering support to those facing a difficult time returning to civilian life. And the need is great.

“Just because things went sideways after I came home, but if the proper resources were there when we came home, we wouldn’t be in this position to begin with, you know, like, we wouldn’t have turned to drugs, we wouldn’t have turned to alcoholism, homelessness wouldn’t have come into play,” Russell Keyzer, who served with the Coast Guard in Kosovo, explained.

Another pressing issue is suicides. The Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA, reports an average of around 20 deaths by suicide each day among the military community, including veterans.

Testifying to Congress, Elizabeth Van Winkle, the Pentagon’s Office of Force Resiliency, admitted, “We know this is a shared challenge. Nationwide, suicide rates are alarming and increasing. None of us have solved this issue, and no single case of suicide is identical to any other case.”

Yet things are changing. And the Veterans Crisis Line run by VA says more former service members are reaching out for help. According to the Director of Service, Matt Miller, “I think that VA is increasing in awareness, but I think the American public and society as a whole is increasing in awareness.”

In 2018, 325 active-duty personnel died by suicide, the highest number since the U.S. military began keeping records nearly two decades ago. The Pentagon says it’s committed to addressing this problem, which it describes as “devastating and unacceptable.”