These resources are designed to support a broad range of suicide prevention solutions.  

Mission Daybreak programming

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.

Strategic priorities and capabilities

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.

2024 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.

Veteran experience

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 environment for their colleagues.

Suicide, violence, and overdose prevention

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 2022, 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.

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. 

Open data

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.

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 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 design

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. 

Are you a Veteran having thoughts of suicide or concerned about one?
Contact the Veterans Crisis Line for confidential 24/7 support: Dial 988 then press 1, text to 838255, or chat online.