The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families (SMVF) began in late 2018. The first 7 states accepted the call to action and embarked on a process of collaborating, planning, and implementing suicide prevention best practices and policies for SMVF based on a comprehensive public health approach. The technical assistance offered through this initiative provides a forum for teams to consider how existing policies, practices, infrastructure, and resources influence the effectiveness of the systems that support SMVF. Teams develop state- and territory-wide strategic plans to reduce and prevent military and Veteran suicide. As we ring in 2024, we are thrilled to announce that the Governor’s Challenge has officially reached all 50 states and 5 territories!
To celebrate this accomplishment, we reached out to a handful of our amazing Governor’s Challenge teams and asked them to provide some reflections from 2023 and goals for 2024. In the last year, these teams have worked diligently to increase statewide universal screenings for SMVF suicide, connect with service members before and after discharge from service, and provide education and resources on safely storing firearms and medications. Plans for the new year include launching pilot programs, including lethal means safety trainings for SMVF, developing sustainability plans, and participating in the Suicide Mortality Review (SMR) Academy process. Governor’s Challenge team leaders from Virginia, New York, Nevada, Wyoming, and Hawaii provided details about their teams’ specific 2023 accomplishments and their intentions for 2024.
SMVF Technical Assistance Center:
“Reflecting on 2023, what were 1-2 major highlights for your Governor’s Challenge team? Looking ahead to 2024, what does your team hope to accomplish in the new year?”
2019 Cohort: Virginia
Angela Porter, Virginia Veteran and Family Support Services – Virginia Team Co-Lead
2023 Highlights
“The Virginia Governor’s Challenge Team has been diligently working to increase the number of SMVF-serving agencies and organizations, encouraging the utilization of Virginia’s Identify Screen and Refer (VISR) screening tools and Lock & Talk Virginia, as well as developing a VISR training certification process. We also commissioned and launched an official VISR logo in collaboration with George Mason University. The Virginia Department of Veterans Services’ Veteran and Family Support’s Suicide Prevention and Opioid Addiction Services has awarded $4.1 million in community grants (41 Veterans Service Organizations) and $1.6 million in research grants (Yale, Duke, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech, W2 Consulting, New River Community College, George Mason University, Norfolk State University). Community grants are focused on implementing/expanding best practices in Veteran peer support, suicide prevention, and clinical therapies. Research grants will study/evaluate population data, service needs, and best practices/clinical therapies.”
2024 Goals
“In December of 2023, the Virginia Governor’s Challenge team met for a strategic planning session to discuss how to move forward with the Governor’s Challenge mission in 2024. One end-of-year goal was to develop a sustainability plan for the VISR initiative. The session provided key themes of interest for the group. The decision was made to continue the Virginia Governor’s Challenge VISR working groups, utilizing identified themes as a framework. The groups will provide a focused collaboration on the mission among the various organizations and members. The working groups include an SMR Committee, VISR Program, Lock & Talk Virginia/Safe Storage, and Youth and Family.”
2020 Cohort: New York
Benjamin Pomerance, New York State Department of Veterans’ Services – New York Team Lead
2023 Highlights
“Connecting with service members prior to discharge and with Veterans immediately after discharge is a key focus of New York’s efforts. In 2023, we facilitated an Authority to Operate agreement with the Department of Defense to gain access to weekly reports of Veterans returning to the Empire State. Our Commissioner and Executive Deputy Commissioner of Veterans’ Services now send “Welcome Home” packages to each of these Veterans, and accredited Veterans Benefits Advisors from New York State’s Department of Veterans’ Services reach out to each of them by telephone and/or email to connect them as rapidly as possible with the benefits, programs, services, and resources earned by virtue of their military service.
Furthering this same goal, New York remains an ardent proponent of the Expiration Term of Service (ETS) Sponsorship Program/Onward Ops program. During this year, New York awarded grants to help interested groups across several state regions to cover the costs of the Onward Ops dashboard. Fort Drum, home of the 10th Mountain Division of the United States Army, is one of the nation’s leading proponents of ETS Sponsorship/Onward Ops. Leadership from the County Veterans Service Officers Association of New York maintains a steady presence on Fort Drum to meet with service members pre-discharge to discuss their plans, goals, strategies, and dreams. Through widespread adoption of this program with trained sponsors in every region of the state, Veterans returning to New York now have a smoother glide path for their homecoming than ever before.
Training Veterans Service Officers across the state in the use of the Columbia Protocol—a peer-reviewed, highly credible “gatekeeper” suicide risk assessment tool utilizing simple, plain-language questions to accurately assess whether someone is at risk of suicide and to gauge the immediacy and severity of this risk—was a primary goal that New York State set at the outset of the year and accomplished by the end of the year. Veterans Service Officers from every county in the state received this interactive training and the accompanying Columbia Protocol resources. Additionally, New York’s Governor’s Challenge team facilitated Columbia Protocol trainings for peer mentors from the Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Program, Veterans Liaisons from New York State’s executive branch agencies, leaders from New York’s chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, and other front-lines Veteran’s advocates.”
2024 Goals
“Medical providers in all disciplines can play a crucial role in statewide suicide prevention efforts. With this in mind, members of New York’s Governor’s Challenge delegation are currently working on developing a “pocket card” for medical professionals to improve their screening for medical conditions commonly associated with certain locations, eras, occupational specialties, and events of military service. The objective of the Governor’s Challenge delegation is for this new pocket card to be given a “soft launch” for a pilot program during the first quarter of 2024.
Lethal means safety will always be a keystone of New York’s suicide prevention endeavors. Before this year, New York’s Governor’s Challenge delegation launched “Worried About a Veteran,” an evidence-based online resource focusing on helping family members engage in difficult—yet potentially life-saving—conversations with a loved one regarding lethal means safety, from safe storage of firearms and ammunition to the proper disposal of potentially dangerous medications. This year, building on this work, the New York Health Foundation awarded a grant to the Governor’s Challenge delegation to develop a new phase of these lethal means safety efforts: a high-quality “train-the-trainer” model that allows interested Veterans and military family members to receive high-quality training in the lethal means safety realm and then utilize this training to assist other Veterans and military families this sensitive but essential area of focus. In 2024, the recruitment efforts for this endeavor will pay off as individuals begin to receive this training and utilize their newfound skills to engage in these difficult but essential dialogues.”
2020 Cohort: Nevada
Aimee Green, Nevada Department of Veterans Services – Nevada Team Co-Lead
2023 Highlights
“The relaunch of the Nevada Veterans Healthcare Pocket Card has been the highlight of 2023 for the Nevada Governor’s Challenge team. With over 11,000 disseminated throughout the state to healthcare professionals, first responders, and organizations to help identify SMVF by ensuring to ‘Ask the Question’ (ATQ) as well as screen for suicide risk and provide any resources the SMVF needs with the statewide QR Code that encompasses numerous resources. Since the relaunch of the pocket card, 15 states have collaborated with the Nevada team to implement the same ATQ Campaign in their state. The Pocket Card was submitted as a best practice for the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence award, and the Nevada Governor’s Challenge team and Nevada Department of Veteran Services hopes to win that award.
The Nevada Governor’s Challenge team is also working on lethal means safety efforts with a future focus on unifying existing efforts with the Nevada Coalition for Suicide Prevention, Office of Suicide Prevention, Northern Nevada Public Health, Mobile Crisis Response Team, Renown, and others to help provide education and resources on securing your firearms and medications safely to help prevent suicide among SMVF and civilians in Nevada.”
2024 Goals
“We are looking to expand our Mayor’s Challenge teams. So far, there are four: Truckee Meadows, Winnemucca, Elko, and Las Vegas. Soon, we will create two more teams, one in Pahrump and the other in Mesquite. We hope by expanding our teams, we can build better connections, provide more services, and expand our reach to better serve Veterans with the goal of preventing suicide among SMVF in Nevada. We plan on maintaining our efforts with the Veteran Healthcare Pocket Card by continuing to disseminate them throughout the state and collecti data on the usage and feedback from these facilities and organizations. We are gradually working into priority area three with lethal means safety and safety planning by establishing partnerships to create a strategic plan on how to educate communities on securing firearms and medications safely and other means as well.”
2021 Cohort: Wyoming
Jen Davis, Wyoming Governor’s Office – Wyoming Team Co-Lead
2023 Highlights
“We have been able to expand our reach of services for Veterans across Wyoming through peer relationship storytelling and coaching. Our Veterans Talking to Veterans has been part of our Priority Area #2: Promoting Connectedness. Veterans and family members are engaging their peers in a meaningful way to support each other and grow their community.
Our Priory Area #3: Increasing Lethal Means Safety team has worked very hard the past year to carry the message of safe gun ownership and safe storage. The team has worked with a new entity at the University of Wyoming—the Firearms Research Center—to develop a safe storage map and partner with a suicide prevention conference.”
2024 Goals
“Wyoming was recently accepted into the Suicide Mortality Review Academy. We are hoping to generate partnerships across Wyoming to participate in a statewide review process so that we can be more intentional in our suicide prevention efforts in Wyoming.
Priority Group #2 will be embarking on the implementation of Caring Contacts with local hospitals, law enforcement, and other first responders.”
2022 Cohort: Hawaii
Zerui Renee Yu, Hawaii State Department of Health – Hawaii Team Lead
2023 Highlights
“‘Ohana in Hawaiian means “family.” In 2022, within just a few months, our state, community, civilian, and military representatives joined together and formed the Hawaii Governor’s Challenge team under a united mission to serve and protect our ‘ohana. The team hit the ground running in 2023, completing a pilot with the Department of Public Safety for better SMVF identification, delivering a new suicide prevention training to over 2000+ members of the Hawaii Air National Guard, and collaborating with other Governor’s Challenge teams to form the nation’s first “Pacific Hanging Prevention Work Group.”
2024 Goals
In 2024, the Hawaii Governor’s Challenge team plans to expand and strengthen existing prevention networks, share and leverage resources from traditional and non-traditional partners, shorten wait times for people in need of services, and cement Hawaii Governor’s Challenge as a part of the solution that will unite our big, diverse, and loving ‘ohana.”
SAMHSA’s SMVF Technical Assistance (TA) Center is honored to provide TA to states, territories, and communities seeking to strengthen their behavioral health support for those who have served in the armed forces. For TA inquiries, please email smvftacenter@prainc.com. For more information about the SMVF TA Center and the resources offered, please visit SAMHSA’s SMVF TA Center’s web pages.
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