Tom Cruz joins #SPSM, 9pCST, 5/31/15 to discuss his thoughts about moderating supportive peer spaces in ways that are designed to help people avoid or recover from suicidal ideation. You can tweet along, as well as watch Tom and the #SPSM crew chat LIVE here:

The Tweets for this chat will be archived on Storify.

Tom Cruz is a 20 year Active Duty Army Master Sergeant stationed in Florida, deployed to Kosovo in 1999 and to Iraq three times (05-06, 06-07, 07-08). He has had his own personal experience with suicide which he now uses to educate others. He tells his wife’s and his story to Armed Forces units and organizations in order to battle stigma. He has lost numerous friends to suicide, and understands the pain and loss of surviving a suicide. He is trained in MRT (Master Resilience Training), QPR, ACE-SI, SafeTalk, ASIST, CIT (Also a trainer), plans to attend ASIST T4T in one week (to become an ASIST trainer). Has helped over 200 Veterans through social media using available resources, helping them not to commit the ultimate choice and making sure they have a good place to vent. Cruz uses peer to peer assistance through multiple social media platforms and communities. He has been featured twice through AAS in presentations authored by others and mentioned in Army Times. Cruz goes by the motto “I want to be that one for someone that has no one because it was only one person that convinced me to stay alive”.