U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Chaplain participates in local mental health panel discussion

Photo By Mark Schauer | U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Chaplain Byron Denman (right) participated in a ‘Stop the Stigma’ mental health panel discussion with other community members at Yuma’s Vista High School on May 18, 2026. “Stigma is a super important topic based on my own personal experiences with losses of servicemembers who have fallen beside me due to suicide, especially during an era earlier in my Army career when help-seeking was pretty heavily stigmatized,” he said. “I want to do everything I can to reduce that for everyone, because the loss that occurs with a suicide is tremendous.”  

YUMA, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

05.20.2026

Story by Mark Schauer 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

Each day, the United States loses an average of one Soldier and 17 veterans to suicide.

Though that grim statistic has improved in recent years, U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Chaplain Byron Denman is determined to lower it further.

“Stigma is a super important topic based on my own personal experiences with losses of servicemembers who have fallen beside me due to suicide, especially during an era earlier in my Army career when help-seeking was pretty heavily stigmatized,” he said. “I want to do everything I can to reduce that for everyone, because the loss that occurs with a suicide is tremendous.”

On May 18, 2026, Denman participated in a ‘Stop the Stigma’ mental health panel discussion with other community members at Yuma’s Vista High School. The panel and audience both consisted of adults and students, and was the second such discussion in a series.

“I think it’s important that we include everybody,” said Kristina Murray, a licensed therapist who teaches a mental health class at the school and coordinated the event. “Yuma is a big military community, so I think it is important to have that represented on the panel.”

Denman believes broader awareness of mental health issues is a force multiplier of individuals willing to help someone in need.

“Unfortunately, you can’t always be there for every single person every second of the day,” he said. “If we can reduce stigma, then more people are available to people who are in a suffering moment.”

Across the hour-and-a-half discussion, Denman shared his own pastoral experiences with Soldiers in crisis. He observed that since 2012 each functional brigade in the Army has had at least one behavioral health officer, but that some individuals still don’t take advantage of available resources.

“We’re 14 years into that and people are still struggling with the idea of getting help,” said Denman. “I think it is because that very early on in life we have been taught not to. I think it has to start with young students, coming to trust that there are people who genuinely care about you enough to support you whatever you are going though.”

Service members and veterans who are in crisis or have thoughts of suicide, and those who know a Service member or veteran in crisis, can call the Veterans/Military Crisis Line for confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 988 and Press 1, text 838225, or chat online at MilitaryCrisisLine.net.

• Date Taken: 05.20.2026
• Date Posted: 05.20.2026 10:53
• Story ID: 565704
• Location: YUMA, ARIZONA, US