Veteran Sponsorship Partnership Network helps transitioning service members

The Veteran Sponsorship Partnership Network (VSPN) initiative was featured as part of the transition to civilian life working group during the 2022 People First Summit at Fort Hood, Texas. The event was designed to engage leaders and develop strategies and partnerships that will improve the lives of soldiers and their families.

VA created VSPN to help connect transitioning service members and their families to helpful VA services and community resources.

The National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships (HAP) leads the VSPN initiative, in close collaboration with VHA’s Transitioning Servicemember/Veteran And Suicide Prevention Center, VHA regional offices and a nationwide network of community partners.

“As the largest Army installation in the country, approximately 8,000 service members separate from the military from Fort Hood every year,” said Christine Eickhoff, VA health system specialist. “Improving the transition outcomes for service members leaving the military from Fort Hood can impact a large population of recently separated Veterans and serve as a replicable model for other installations and military branches.”

The summit covered numerous topics that affect Veterans and service members, including sexual assault and harassment policy changes, the transition back to civilian life and suicide prevention. Speakers touched on research about employment and other support needed to help service members and Veterans thrive.

“Community partner organizations participated in the working groups during the summit and contributed feedback and recommendations for the installation command. With their suggestions, VA and Department of Defense (DoD) have more support and resources to help service members, Veterans and their families access resources that can decrease risk factors related to suicide and improve the outcomes. These include employment, housing and food security for service members leaving the military,” said Eickhoff.

Key takeaways from the summit

DoD, VA, state and local organizations are all striving to help service members, Veterans and their families achieve better outcomes during and after their military service.

According to Dr. Joseph Geraci, co-director, VA Transitioning Servicemember/Veteran And Suicide Prevention Center, the transition for Soldiers to civilian life was a priority area for the summit, and they focused on goals such as suicide prevention.

“Unfortunately, we see that the rate of suicide increases almost three-fold within the first year after military discharge. There is a gap, which we refer to as the deadly gap, between a service member’s transition to civilian life and an increase in suicide risk,” said Geraci. “The service members are accustomed to having such services (employment, housing, family, social/physical, and medical) taken care of for them while in the military, which allows them to focus on accomplishing their military mission. It is quite a different story after they transition, and many of them are ill-prepared. The Army III Corps leadership wanted to address this ‘deadly gap’ to help service members as they transition.”

Collaboration between VA, DoD, and community stakeholders is critical to achieving success. Valuable feedback was sought from local military and Veteran spouses, VSOs, and service members to develop the recommendations for installation command, which was critical to identifying feasible and innovative solutions to overcome barriers.

Geraci notes that service members are at higher risk for suicide during their transition to civilian life as they experience reintegration difficulties. Since VA is focused on reducing suicide rates for Veterans, they are addressing the reintegration difficulties that service members face during their transition.

VA primary care a priority resource that can assist

Specific to medical care, VA published its strategy to assist in the provision of VA care for service members during their transition and highlighted VA primary care as a priority resource that can assist. We have been working with many partners to help create a seamless transition for service members from receiving DoD medical care to accessing VA primary care.

Community partnerships are invaluable in supporting the transition of service members to civilian life. “The community partners at the national level, like ETS Sponsorship, are critical in enrolling active-duty service members into the overall VA Veteran Sponsorship Initiative. They also assist in providing data for the service members to VA so that we can connect the service members to VA care and evaluate the overall initiative,” said Geraci. “At the local level, partners like the Los Angeles County Veteran Peer Access Network are critical in managing the volunteer sponsorship pool and assigning these sponsors (one-on-one) to the service members coming to their local region.”

The VSPN initiative streamlines partnerships with community organizations that can provide support during the military-to-civilian transition. For more information about the VSPN initiative, visit https://www.va.gov/HEALTHPARTNERSHIPS/index.asp.