15th Anniversary Guest Speaker
Major General Mark Graham (Ret.)

Sunday June 12, 2016
Maryvale Preparatory School
Erinn McCarthy Humanities Hall

As a military family spanning over 32 years, Major General Graham has served in several key command and staff positions in the United States, Germany and Korea; most recently positioned as the Commander of Division West (First Army) at Fort Carson, Colo. Ten years ago, Major General Mark Graham and his wife Carol lost to suicide their son Kevin Graham, a senior ROTC Cadet battling depression and keeping it a secret because he did not want the Army to know of his illness. He had discontinued his antidepressant medication for fear it would affect his future military career. Kevin tried to tell his parents that "his brain didn't work anymore," that "guys were supposed to suck it up," and that he saw himself as a failure. The Grahams did not realize his illness was a matter of life and death and live with knowing they did not get their son the best medical care he deserved -- and they lost him. Eight months later, they lost their other son, 2LT Jeffrey Graham, to an IED that detonated while he was leading a foot patrol in Iraq. The Grahams believe their sons died fighting different battles. Had Jeff survived the IED, he would today be an amputee, severely burned and struggling with post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and possibly his own thoughts of suicide. People can break physically and they can break psychologically. When The Grahams meet physically wounded soldiers, they know that each and every one of them could be their Jeff, while they have pledged to use Kevin's death to speak out for all the "Kevins" suffering in silence and in fear of the stigma associated with mental health care, especially within the military.

Today, The Grahams are advocates for both civilians and soldiers who suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and other mental health illnesses. The Grahams firmly believe “as an Army and as a nation, we must get in front of suicide, work to prevent it by action, not just figure it out after the fact.”

Together, The Grahams speak at conferences, seminars and workshops to help others survive grief and understand depression as well as to help prevent suicide. They are advocates for wounded Soldiers and their Families as they continues to speak out to raise awareness to the dangers of untreated depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

THE INVISIBLE FRONT-Yochi Dreazen

Major General Mark Graham was a decorated two-star officer whose integrity and patriotism inspired his sons, Jeff and Kevin, to pursue military careers of their own. When Kevin and Jeff die within nine months of each other-Kevin commits suicide and Jeff is killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq-Mark and Carol are astonished by the drastically different responses their sons' deaths receive from the Army. While Jeff is lauded as a hero, Kevin's death is met with silence, evidence of the terrible stigma that surrounds suicide and mental illness in the military. Convinced that their sons died fighting different battles, Mark and Carol commit themselves to transforming the institution that is the cornerstone of their lives.

The Kristin Rita Strouse Foundation was established by Douglas and Sharon Strouse in response to the death of their daughter Kristin, on October 11, 2001. Kristin was a freshman at Parsons School of Design in New York City when she ended her own life.