President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at halting the spike in suicide rates among U.S. veterans.
The President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide order, or PREVENTS, establishes a task force under the direction of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie to establish a comprehensive nationwide plan to address gaps in mental health access for veterans, including strengthening collaboration between local and state officials with the federal government.
The order encourages public-private partnerships to make mental healthcare more readily accessible, incentivizes mental health research, and revamps existing suicide prevention resources offered by the VA.
“This approach allows the community, who is already serving two-thirds of the veteran population, to foster communities where veterans and their families can thrive, as well as improve the quality of life for our veterans and turn the tide on this crisis,” a senior White House official said in a press conference call Tuesday.
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The structure of the executive order’s action plan is similar to the existing collaboration between the VA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development outreach program. The program invests directly into local resources, working with local charities, organizations, and businesses to secure housing for veterans in need.
“The intention is to have a unified front. And if the thesis of our problem is that 70 percent of veterans that commit suicide are not inside the VA, we have to come up with a pretty solid strategy for the community for them to be effective. And so that’s what the intention here is,” the senior official added.
Officials from the VA issued a report last year outlining the growing concern over spikes in suicide rates among veterans, pointing to research showing roughly 20 veterans commit suicide per day in the United States. The average age of veterans ending their life is also steadily declining, indicating that veterans are committing suicide at a much younger age.
Last month, VA officials released new data that showed the overall rate of suicides among veterans has held steady at around 20 a day for roughly a decade, but researchers are seeing a troubling increase in the rate of younger veterans taking their lives.
The move comes on the heels of another executive order last month investing in additional counseling and mental healthcare services for veterans.
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