Enhancing community connections through research and partnerships is an increasingly important strategy in how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) thinks about suicide prevention, noted clinical psychologist Matthew A. Miller, PhD, MPH, executive director for VA Suicide Prevention in the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Veterans Health Administration has three complementary programs that address community connections at different levels:
The Governor’s Challenge, launched in 2018, is a state-based approach to community prevention headed by governor-appointed teams that are charged with developing relevant policies and programs in their states. When teams accept the VA’s invitation to join, they take part in policy and training academies related to suicide prevention, background, dynamics, and action planning. “We walk with them hand in hand to form a state-centric action plan and implementation of the plan,” Miller said. So far, most of the country is on board, with 47 states participating.
Regionally focused efforts. This plan, which went into effect in 2020, aims to build community coalitions and collaborations related to veteran suicide prevention through existing regional systems of VA care called Veterans Integrated Services Networks, or VISNs. There are 18 of these networks nationwide, and the VA is working with them to create and implement veteran suicide action plans at the county and city levels.
To help carry out this work, the VA recently hired more than 100 community engagement and partnership coordinators—full-time employees whose role is to reach out to communities at the county and city levels, connect them with their respective VISNs and relevant local facilities, and build or reinforce their community coalitions and action plans.
Together With Veterans (see Veterans are at higher risk for suicide. Psychologists are helping them tackle their unique struggles). Funded partly by the VA Office of Rural Health, this model takes a holistic community approach to preventing veteran suicide in rural areas by building veteran leadership and networks. The program started in 2019 and is set to end in 2024, at which point veterans in charge of these programs can continue running them on their own with the help of grants, fundraisers, and volunteers.
