Preventing Veteran suicide in local communities

Since its launch in 2022, the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) has helped organizations around the country provide a range of suicide prevention services for Veterans and their families. This grant program assists in further implementing a public health approach that blends community-based prevention with evidence-based clinical strategies.

The three-year SSG Fox SPGP is uniquely positioned to help tailor resources to meet the needs of Veterans in their communities while enhancing partnerships and building community. From January 2023, when most services began, through May 2024, the program’s grantees completed over 31,400 outreach efforts, engaged 5,757 participants in a variety of services and facilitated 510 emergency mental health referrals for those at imminent risk.

The strength of the SSG Fox SPGP is that it allows for different approaches to fit diverse community needs. Boulder Crest Foundation and Permission to Start Dreaming, both inaugural SSG Fox SPGP recipients, offer a 90-day peer-led Warrior Progressive and Alternative Training for Helping Heroes (PATHH) program that includes an initial seven-day in-person retreat.

“I now have the practices to keep me centered and focused.”

Warrior PATHH uses the philosophy of posttraumatic growth and trains participants in multiple practices such as meditation, journaling and daily gratitude to build and maintain a wellness triangle. This triangle is comprised of mental, physical and financial wellness and centered on a core of spiritual wellness.

“The impacts from this program have been life changing,” a Warrior PATTH participant said. “I was in a huge hole of depression. I knew I needed to do things but I just could not find it. I now have the practices to keep me centered and focused and to foster a new attitude and willingness to put in the work.”

Child and Family Service of Hawaii, another inaugural grant recipient, offers case management, education, clinical services for emergency treatment, relationship coaching and mindfulness and resilience training. Amidst the devastating Maui fires, Child and Family Service was instrumental in serving soldiers and airmen during their state-activated orders to provide support during and after a challenging mission.

Once awards are announced, grantees attend monthly grant manager meetings, monthly technical assistance webinars, biannual in-person all-grantee technical assistance events, and 1:1 data and grant manager assistance.

Grantees have noted that the SSG Fox SPGP team is helpful and timely in responses, and the meetings are valuable.

Connect with Veterans who’ve never enrolled

Areas with limited access to medical services, such as rural communities, tribal lands and U.S. territories and areas with a high number of minority Veterans or women Veterans and a high number of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line are a top priority for the grant program. This grant is an opportunity for organizations to connect with Veterans who’ve never enrolled in VA services and, potentially, introduce VA resources for the first time.

With Congress allocating $174 million over three years to support the SSG Fox SPGP, the program continues to expand its reach. Two rounds of awards totaling $105 million have been disseminated to 83 organizations in 43 states, Washington, D.C., Guam and American Samoa.

In its third year, awards from fiscal year (FY) 2024 will fund services in FY25. SSG Fox SPGP grant recipients for FY24 will be announced in September 2024.

See the full list of FY23 grantees and get more information on the SSG Fox SPGP.