Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans and Their Families

On Feb. 20, 2018, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)announced the cities that will participate in the first group for the Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans and Their Families. We are happy to join Albuquerque, Billings, Richmond, Helena, Houston, Los Angeles and Phoenix to form interagency teams to increase suicide preventions support for veterans in our community.

As a city, we have been committed to the well-being of our veterans and programs that have a meaningful impact for veterans experiencing challenges in their lives. However, newly released data from the VA shows that Nevada’s veteran suicide rate is one of the highest in the nation. Through this challenge, we hope to be able to address this serious public health issue plaguing our veterans.

On Feb. 27, the mayor met with members from law enforcement, community partners and local leaders during an orientation meeting to learn the goals and objectives of the Mayor’s Challenge. These include the following key objectives:

-Build an interagency military and civilian team of leaders to develop and implement a strategic action plan to prevent and reduce suicide.

-Acquire a deeper familiarity with the issues surrounding suicide prevention for service members, veterans and their families.

-Increase knowledge about the challenges and lessons learned in implementing strategies by utilizing city-to-city sharing.

-Define and measure success, including defining assignments, deadlines and measurable outcomes.

Some members of our interagency team will attend a two-day academy in Washington, D.C. later this month. We will continue to update this post with our efforts to accelerate suicide prevention in order to embrace and support the health and well-being of our service members, veterans and their families.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Mayor’s Challenge, submit a request for information form at http://bit.do/mayorschallenge(link is external). For more information on VA’s suicide prevention campaign, visit http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/bethere(link is external). For information on SAMHSA’s suicide prevention efforts, visit https://www.samhsa.gov/suicide-prevention/samhsas-efforts.

Veterans who are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide — and those who know a veteran in crisis — can call the Veterans Crisis Line for confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Call 800–273–8255 and press 1, or chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat(link is external), or text to 838255.