About THE AUTHOR

Chaplain Pamelajune “Pj” Banks-Anderson, D.Min. currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Lansing NAACP. She knows from personal experience as an ordained minister, Pastor, Chaplain in the US Navy Chaplain Corps, and former Chair of the Lansing NAACP Committee on Armed Services and Veterans’ Affairs the needs and concerns of Veterans and Military Service Members and their families.

     Chaplain Anderson is writing a book based on her concern that 22 Veterans take their lives daily, 24 since the onset of COVID-19. These acts of self-destruction are devastating to families, children, and fellow Veterans. She believes that the solution is hiding in plain sight and promises several opportunities in her book for addressing the internalized fears that go unresolved from birth to points in life where taking one’s life seems to be the only option. She shares her struggle with Suicide Ideation, her three attempts to commit suicide, the Biblical characters who committed suicide, including King Saul and Samson in the Old Testament, and Jesus. He experienced Suicide Ideation in the Garden of Gethsemane and before Pontius Pilot.

What credentials qualify Chaplain Anderson to write HEALING MY SOUL ON PURPOSE: A Veterans Guide to Suicide Intervention?

Chaplain Pamelajune’s 15 years of service as a U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps, one overseas deployment during Desert Shield Desert Storm, two deployments at the Naval Station Great Lakes, and thirty-seven years in ordained ministry. Most important, she is the founder, pastor, and Soul Spiritual Fitness Coach of Space for Grace WithOutWalls (Space for Grace) United Church of Christ in the Michigan Conference of the United Church of Christ Lansing. Space for Grace’s vision, mission, and focus are the welfare, spiritual health, and sense of belonging among Veterans, LGBTQ Veterans, and their families.

Her love and compassion for Veterans, LGBTQ Veterans, and their families defy description. You know these things by her receipts.

     I am honored that Chaplain Anderson asked me to write the FOREWORD. Her book has the potential to positively impact veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mental challenges, faith-based leaders with Veterans in their congregation (The Veterans Among Us), and the Committee on Armed Services and Veterans Affairs. I understand that the ultimate purpose of her research and the writing of her book is to raise awareness and provide intervening skills in reducing deaths by suicide among Veterans and all human beings who contemplate taking their lives and the lives of others.