About the Staff

---

Description

In September 2022, as a part of VA’s comprehensive efforts to end Veteran suicide, VA announced the grantees for the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP), a first-of-its-kind program that provides VA funding for local suicide prevention programs, and the finalists for Mission Daybreak, a suicide prevention grand challenge.

The Department of Veterans Affairs released the 2022 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which shows that Veteran suicides decreased in 2020 for the second year in a row, and that fewer Veterans died by suicide in 2020 than in any year since 2006. 

In alignment with VA’s National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide (2018), this grant program assists in further implementing a public health approach that blends community-based prevention with evidence-based clinical strategies through community efforts. The grant program is part of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019, signed into law on October 17, 2020. 

Congress has authorized $174 million to be appropriated to carry out the SSG Fox SPGP, a three-year community-based grant program that provides resources to community organizations serving certain Veterans and their families across the country. Organizations applied for grants worth up to $750,000 and may renew awards from year to year throughout the length of the program. Grants were awarded to organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for eligible individuals at risk of suicide and their families that qualify, including:

• Outreach to identify those at risk of suicide
• Baseline mental health screening for risk (required of all grantees for participants ages 18+)
• Education on suicide risk and prevention to families and communities
• Provision of clinical services for emergency treatment
• Case management services
• Peer support services
• VA benefits assistance for eligible individuals and their families
• Assistance with obtaining and coordinating other benefits provided by the federal government, a state or local government, or an eligible entity
• Assistance with emergent needs relating to health care services, daily living services, personal financial planning and counseling, transportation services, temporary income support services, fiduciary and representative payee services, legal services to assist the eligible individual with issues that may contribute to the risk of suicide, and child care
• Nontraditional and innovative approaches and treatment practices, as determined appropriate by VA
• Other services necessary for improving the mental health status and well-being and reducing the suicide risk of eligible individuals and their families as VA determines appropriate

Learn more about the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) on the VA website. 

The goal of Mission Daybreak is to transform how our nation addresses suicide by engaging Veterans, community-based organizations, health tech companies, startups and universities that are not traditionally engaged in suicide prevention but could bring cutting edge solutions to the effort. More information can be found on the Mission Daybreak website. 

---