Marines at Twentynine Palms, California, Feb. 10, 2024. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Sean Potter. Veteran advocates are calling on recently confirmed Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins to investigate why the millions of dollars that the agency spends each year to prevent suicides has yet to significantly curtail the number of veterans who take their own lives.
The VA received an estimated $571 million for suicide prevention efforts in Fiscal Year 2024, which ran from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, and it requested even more money for this fiscal year, according to the VA’s latest budget request .
In a press release , Grunt Style Foundation, a veteran advocacy group, pressed Collins to look at how the VA’s suicide prevention funds are being used.
“We’re looking at 156,000 of our brothers and sisters that have taken their lives over the last 20 years,” Tim Jensen, president of Grunt Style Foundation, told Task & Purpose “That is just frankly unacceptable.”
The foundation has partnered with Veterans of Foreign Wars on looking at different ways to prevent veteran suicide, such as promoting alternative treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health issues that veterans face, said VFW spokesman Robert Couture. Both organizations also seek to reduce the stigma that veterans face when they seek mental help.
“We want to be really intentional about that, and we want to be more action-oriented in this partnership,” Couture told Task & Purpose on Monday. “We have these very clear objectives that we’re looking to focus on. It’s really to develop joint campaigns to educate veterans, their families, and the public about the importance of mental health and available support services.”
The VFW is the largest and oldest combat veterans service organization. The group along with the VFW Auxiliary have more than 1.4 million members. Grunt Style Foundation launched in 2021 and focuses on mental health, food security, and military transition and sustainment issues for troops, veterans, and their families.
The Grunt Style Foundation is spearheading the call for the VA secretary to investigate veterans suicide prevention efforts, Couture said.
“It’s about, really: Hey, what is the […]
$571 million in VA spending on suicide prevention isn’t working, vets groups say
