Resources

Veterans’ experiences roundtable.
A virtual panel with different perspectives on Veterans’ experiences, including the difficulties of transitioning from military to civilian life, what makes the Veteran experience unique, and meeting Veteran needs.

Data and technology webinar.
A virtual panel featuring suicide prevention, data, and privacy experts who discussed how to use technology and data to support mental health and suicide prevention initiatives.

A combat Veteran and suicide loss survivor shares her story.
Amber Schleuning shares her story and offers valuable insight for innovators working on suicide prevention solutions.

Mission Daybreak teams at 2023 VHA Innovation Experience.
Neuroflow, the Overwatch Project, and ReflexAI joined Dr. Amanda Lineau, Director of Open Innovation at VHA, for a panel discussion.

Strategy to Tackle Nation’s Mental Health Crisis (White House)
Outlines the president’s mental health strategy across its three key objectives: strengthening the mental health workforce and system capacity, connecting more Americans to care, and creating a continuum of support. 

Strategy to Prevent Suicide (White House)
Outlines the president’s plan across the federal government to improve suicide prevention

Strategy on Reducing Military and Veteran Suicide (White House)
Outlines the president’s plan as part of the Unity Agenda in his first State of the Union.

National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Provides a 10-year road map for how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to address the tragedy of suicide among Veterans.

The PREVENTS Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Action plan focusing on the need to develop, implement, and evaluate programs, communication campaigns, research, and policies.

2023 State of Innovation Report (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Timeline of innovation policies and practices within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The Role of the VHA in Driving Successful Digital Innovation (DiME Society)
Learnings from the largest integrated healthcare system in the US.

Innovation Ecosystem iNET Greenhouse Initiative (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Collaborative resource for external innovators to work with the VHA Innovators Network.

Innovation Ecosystem Diffusion of Excellence (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Diffusion of Excellence specializes in scaling emergent, high-impact health care practices across the nation.

National Center for Collaborative Healthcare Innovation (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Leads collaborations to solve the greatest health care challenges facing Veterans.

Report on the Diverse Experiences of Military & Veteran Families of Color (Blue Star Families)
Sheds light on some of the impacts of inequities experienced by our military service members, Veterans, and their families of color.

Report on Military and Veteran Families’ Financial Needs (Blue Star Families)
Poll that seeks to quantify the immediate needs of military connected families facing financial hardship one year after the onset of the pandemic.

Afghanistan to Ukraine — How are our Military Families Doing? (Blue Star Families)
Seeks to better understand  the feelings surrounding the withdrawal of all remaining troops from Afghanistan and actions taken to support the U.S.’ Afghan allies, as well as how the current ongoing crisis in Ukraine is impacting the U.S. military and Veteran families.

Annual Warrior Survey (Wounded Warrior Project)
Aims to accurately predict the effects of aging and particular life and societal events and to identify emerging health trends among WWP warriors over time.

Women Warriors Report (Wounded Warrior Project)
Aims to better understand, empower, and advocate for these women warriors who have served.

Addressing the Behavioral Health Needs of Our Nation Guard and Reserve Components (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Webinar providing a framework for National Guard and Reserve members and their families to better navigate the behavioral health resources and services they are eligible to receive.

Supporting Our Military and Veteran Caregivers (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Webinar discussing strategies for helping Veterans obtain the care they deserve, as well as strategies for caregiver self-care. 

Creating a Better Workplace Environment to Support Our Service Members, Veterans, and Families (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Webinar providing information, resources, tools and recommendations that will help participants to understand the important role they play in creating a healthy and inclusive environment for their colleagues.

Latest Statistics on Suicide (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)
Learn about suicide, including risk factors and warning signs, statistics and treatment, and how to report about it responsibly.  

National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Represents and communicates a “whole of VA” approach to suicide prevention, providing information from 2001 through 2021, including the first year of information since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Toolkit for Safe Firearm Storage in Your Community (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Tips for safely storing firearms as well as best practices for sharing these guidelines in your community.

Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Management of Patients at Risk for Suicide (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Provides healthcare providers with a framework by which to evaluate, treat, and manage the individual needs and preferences of patients at risk for suicide

Best Practices and Systems of Support: Addressing Substance Abuse Among Our National Guard and Reserve (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Best practices, programs, and policies that exist in the National Guard for identification, education, treatment, and referral of service members and families who exhibit high-risk behaviors or have been assessed to have a SUD and/or COD.

Implementing Best Practices and Improving Collaboration for Crisis Care and Suicide Prevention among High-Risk (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Focuses on the core elements of the Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Crisis Intercept Map, which helps community stakeholders to visualize gaps, recognize opportunities, and strengthen coordination across local agencies and organizations. 

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)
Provides up-to-date information on tobacco, alcohol, and drug use, mental health and other health-related issues in the United States.

Workshop for Community Interventions to Prevent Veteran Suicide (National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine)
Workshop addressing the relevant social, cultural, and economic factors driving changes in suicide risk among veterans and, ways that current best practices for suicide prevention and treatment can be applied at the community level.

Social Determinants Of Health (SDOH) and Suicide and Other Health Outcomes Among LGBTQ+ Populations (John R. Blosnich, Ph.D., M.P.H.)
Addresses disparities in suicide morbidity and mortality, as well as social determinants of health for LGBTQ+ people and suicide prevention.

Upstream Interventions: The Impact of Place-Based Interventions (Charles Branas, PH.D.)
Overview of role that location plays in the exacerbation of poor health and how place-based interventions can create more sustainable effects.

Financial Distress and Suicide Risk In Military Veterans (Eric Elbogen, Ph.D.)
Presentation addressing financial risks and issues such as debt and predatory lending that veterans are more susceptible to.

The Role of Suicide and Mental Health in Shaping Mortality Trends (Irma Elo, Ph.D.)
Comprehensive data and charts on the relationship between suicide and mental health and mortality trends for the general population. 

Social Determinants of Health and Suicide Outcomes Among American Indian and Alaskan Native Populations (Pamela End of Horn, D.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.)
Presentation addressing suicide outcomes among Amercan Indian and Alaskan Native populations, with a comparison between civilian and veteran populations. 

Social Determinants of Suicide Risk Among Women Veterans (Claire Hoffmire, Ph.D.)
Presentation addressing gender as a core social determinant of health.

Preventing Suicide CDC Technical Package Of Policies, Programs, and Practices (Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H.)
Presentation addressing the CDC technical package designed to help states and communities use the best available evidence to prevent suicide.

Social Determinants of Black Suicide: Men and Provider Role Strain (Sean Joe, Ph.D., M.S.W.)
Presentation addressing suicide indicators for black males.

Rural Communities and Suicide Prevention (Nathaniel Mohatt, Ph.D.)
Considers rural socioeconomic challenges and health disparities in relation to suicide prevention in rural communities. 

From Networks to Collective Impact: Which Form of Collaboration is Best for You (Holly Raffle, Ph.D.)
Provides a framework for collaboration between institutions to address suicide prevention. 

Community-Driven Firearm Suicide Prevention (Joseph Simonetti, M.D., M.P.H.)
Presents a model for community intervention for firearm suicide prevention.

Addressing Homelessness and Housing Instability to Prevent Suicide (Jack Tsai, Ph.D.)
Analyzes the link between homelessness and suicide and the impact and outcomes of VA homeless support programs on suicide risk.

Upstream Prevention by Addressing Social Determinants of Health (Nicola Winkel, M.P.A.)
Arizona’s upstream model for addressing veteran health and suicide prevention.

Open Data Portal (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Contains ~1800 open datasets in a variety of categories such as health and pensions. 

American Association of Suicidology Facts and Statistics (American Association of Suicidology)
Comprehensive database of statistics related to suicide in the United States. 

Federal Firearms Listings (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)
Dataset listing all federal firearms licenses in the United States, from 2017 to 2022. 

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data and Documentation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Cross-sectional telephone survey that state health departments conduct monthly over landline telephones and cellular telephones with a standardized questionnaire and technical and methodologic assistance from CDC.

Drug Overdose Reports (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Contains drug overdose death rate maps from 2013 – 2019.

Firearm Violence Prevention Resources (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
List linking to several additional resources on firearm violence prevention. 

Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 Dataset (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Summary dataset of underlying causes of death for the entire United States population from 1999 – 2020. 

National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Violence surveillance database that pools more than 600 unique data elements from multiple sources into an anonymous database.

National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Develops statistical analyses and reports on a broad range of topics, operates VA’s data and statistics Web portal to disseminate Veteran data and statistics, and develops estimates and projections on Veteran populations.

Additional Sources of Information About Veterans (National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics)
List linking to additional resources and information about veterans.

Suicide Data Repository (SDR) Fact Sheet (Department of Veterans Affairs)
Merges existing suicide data from multiple federal departments, enabling a comprehensive system for collecting longitudinal suicide data.

Veteran-Centered Suicide Prevention: A Pilot Project (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the LAB at the Office of Personnel and Management)
A report using human-centered design and a public health lens to better understand how to prevent suicide among Veterans.

Veterans Who Don’t Use VA Services
A series outlining the motivations, needs, and behaviors of non-VHA Veteran personas.