Credit Hour

Mercado Discusses Objective Zero Suicide Prevention App on Credit HourVERMILLION, S.D. – Major Chris Mercado, ’04, founder of Objective Zero, discussed his military service and suicide prevention efforts on the podcast Credit Hour. “What we’re doing with Objective Zero is crowdsourcing peer support,” said Mercado. “The idea is that we’re trying to get ahead of those downward spirals into suicide by providing peer support as a pre-crisis service.”Objective Zero was established in 2015. It released a mobile app in December of 2017 that instantly connects veterans-in-need to a community of fellow veterans, current service members and concerned citizens.Mercado mentioned the recent spike in suicide rates as an alarming trend amongst the military. “Early indications are that in 2020, suicide rates in the military are up over 2019 by 20 percent. In the U.S. army, suicide rates are up over 30 percent,” said Mercado. “It’s very concerning.”In 2017, Mercado was named the Military Times Service Member of