Share Veteran support resources with your faith leader

Toolkit helps faith leaders support Veterans and start conversations about mental health

If faith is a meaningful part of your life, you know how much of a role it can play in offering comfort, connection and a sense of belonging. Especially when you need it most, your faith is there to help you through difficult times. If you’re a Veteran who wants to make sure your faith leader is well equipped to discuss mental health and suicide prevention with your community, there are resources you can share with them that makes it easier to get started.

What the toolkit offers

This toolkit was created to help faith leaders support Veterans like you. This resource gives them practical ways to understand what you or other Veterans might be going through and how they can help.

Here’s what they’ll find inside:

• Messages for supporting Veterans, including the importance of community support and how to normalize conversations around suicide prevention.
• Ways to recognize that a Veteran needs help, including changes in their emotions or how they act.
• How to discuss suicide prevention with Veterans and others in their faith communities, specifically how to offer support and reassurance, express concern without judgement and continue the conversation over time.
• How to organize services focused on supporting Veterans, including tips on involving Veterans and suggestions on spiritual topics to highlight.

These tools help faith leaders create a space where Veterans can talk openly, feel supported and know they are not alone.

Why this matters

Faith leaders are often the first that people turn to when life gets tough. They’re trusted, they listen and they care. But they may not always know what Veterans face or how to help. The need for this support is steadily increasing with faith leaders “being called upon to provide counsel for a variety of life situations that may include a mental health or suicide-related crisis” (National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention).

That’s where you come in. By sharing this toolkit, you’re helping your faith leader understand your needs. You’re also helping build a community where it’s okay to talk about mental health and ask for help.

How to share the toolkit

Download the toolkit. It’s free and easy to share. You might send the link in a message, bring it to a service or talk about it during a meeting.

Being knowledgeable about the challenges faced by Veterans—and how to talk about them—is a crucial step toward building understanding and compassion.

Where the toolkit came from

This resource is part of the “Don’t Wait. Reach Out.” campaign from VA and the Ad Council. The campaign encourages Veterans to seek help before things become overwhelming. With help from Values Partnerships, over 158,000 copies of the toolkit have already been shared with faith leaders across the country.

The campaign also connects Veterans and your friends and family to VA.gov/REACH, a site that makes it easier to find support services across VA.

If you’re a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, contact the Veterans Crisis Line to receive 24/7 confidential support. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect. To reach responders, Dial 988 then Press 1, chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255.