Going the extra ‘Miles for Mike’: Chris Stephens runs, helps Stop Soldier Suicide nonprofit in memory of his brother

Published 8:15 am Friday, May 30, 2025

Fresh out of high school in Cincinnati, Mike Stephens joined the Navy. However, his enthusiasm waned aboard ship when he was saddled with menial jobs almost every day. After not being guaranteed schooling in a field he wanted to pursue, he exited after four years.

His brother, Chris Stephens of Dalton, said he didn’t know much about Mike’s life as a sailor.

“I know more about my dad’s service in Vietnam than Mike’s in the mid-1990s,” he said. “We talked and wrote letters — it was before email — but he was pretty miserable, to be honest. He said he spent a lot of days chipping paint, doing a lot of manual labor. He was on the fire team, which he enjoyed, but I think the day-to-day was pretty monotonous for him.”

Readjusting in the civilian world, Mike Stephens “went through a tough time” mentally and began relying on alcohol. Yet he rebounded, starting his own floor tiling business that was so creative and successful it appeared in magazines, Chris pointed out.

“He was doing really, really bad, and then he was doing really, really good — and then he was gone,” said Chris, whose brother Mike took his life at age 41. May 30 will mark eight years since that fateful day.

There was intense grieving in the family, of course, but Chris, a runner, came up with an idea after pondering his brother’s suicide.

“About a year after his death I shared a hashtag on social media — #MilesforMike — and it all kinda grew from there,” he said of the “challenges” he often posted to bring attention to his brother’s life and death. “I never would have expected the ripple effect because Mike’s story has been told all over the world at this point, one mile at a time. Miles for Mike bracelets have landed everywhere. In fact, the only continent I haven’t seen one on is Antarctica. They’re everywhere, so that’s really neat.”

Too, there was the realization that other veterans were struggling.

“When Mike died, I had no idea what was going on in the military community with the high rate of suicides,” Chris said. “Then a high school friend of mine at Mike’s funeral told me of some organizations that helped veterans who were struggling. I learned that once I started posting online about veteran suicides, and people going down that tunnel of depression, things start showing up on my Facebook feed. Stop Soldier Suicide (SSS) showed up, and I started doing some Facebook running challenges where you might commit to run a hundred miles in a month, raise some money for them and share how many miles you’ve run.”

‘The perfect storm’

Aside from the encouragement being brought to the issue, Chris’ efforts opened more doors.

“It was good therapy for me as far as the running, but it was also my first opportunity to be on these message boards for veterans and share Mike’s story,” he said. “It was almost addictive; once I did a challenge, I wanted to do another one. I’ve never been a huge fundraiser but it actually gave me the opportunity to meet some people at Stop Soldier Suicide, and it felt like an organization I wanted to support long-term. It was really the perfect storm for me, exactly what I needed at that time.”

He was asked about his own therapy.

“I post a lot of beautiful pictures from being in the mountains on my runs, but there’s some crying at my desk days, too,” he shared. “So it’s definitely a balance. But my miles have gotten slower these days as I get older.”

Still, he has committed to an awesome challenge — running a veteran-oriented marathon in October.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get to the finish line at the Marine Corps Marathon in October,” he said of the race that goes by many of the significant monuments in Washington, D.C. “I haven’t run a marathon (26.2 miles) in 10 years. SSS is sending a team of between 15 to 25 of us, and it will be a mixture of SSS and Miles for Mike runners.”

Stopping a troubling trend

Chris, who has a background in graphic design including magazine formatting for the Dalton Daily Citizen, is now the creative specialist for SSS.

“I’ve been with SSS since April of 2023,” he noted. “It was an adjustment joining SSS and talking about suicide every day, but I really believe that we’re doing some good things. As far as finding SSS and working here, I can’t imagine what my journey would have looked like without this organization … Being able to support this mission was the immediate push I needed to keep moving forward and find the perfect way to honor Mike. The relationships I’ve built here and in the Miles for Mike community have been such a blessing. Mike would have never wanted his name or face on a poster, but I know he’d be 100% OK with supporting the military community.”

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs notes post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, traumatic brain injury and substance abuse disorders can put veterans at greater risk of suicide, as well as the challenges of readjusting to civilian life. Those desiring personalized and confidential counseling can contact SSS at (844) 556-2093 or StopSoldierSuicide.org/Get-Help.

The vision of SSS

Chris Stephens said the vision of Stop Soldier Suicide is “a nation where veterans and service members have no greater risk for suicide than any other American.”

“We have an aggressive goal to reduce the military suicide rate by 40% no later than 2030,” he explained. “Through wellness services, we provide suicide-specific clinical care and intervention to veterans and service members via telehealth. Our team of trusted clinicians works one-on-one with our clients to reduce their suicide risk and improve their overall well-being.”

Stop Soldier Suicide is a nonprofit and independent of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Defense, and provides “100% free and confidential services.”

“We proudly serve all veterans and service members from every branch and generation, regardless of discharge status or time in service,” said Chris. “We have served more than 6,000 clients and provided 17,000-plus hours of care. Seventy-four percent of our clients report SSS helped prevent them from attempting suicide.”

Veterans at risk

Since the Global War on Terror began in 2001, more than 131,000 veterans have been lost to suicide. By comparison, 7,085 confirmed combat deaths occurred during this time.

More than 6,400 veterans have died by suicide each year since 2003.

Veterans and service members are 58% more likely to die by suicide than their civilian peers.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for veterans under the age of 45. Seventy percent of active service members who died by suicide in 2023 were under the age of 29.

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report.