Across the country, state and local governments, nonprofits, certain tribes and other community organizations are going to share in a $112 million grant program for their work in veterans suicide prevention. The Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (also known as SSG Fox SPGP) promotes outreach to identify veterans at risk, clinical services for emergency treatment, case management, baseline screening, education, peer support, help with connecting with benefits and more. Help can also be in the form of temporary income support, legal services, child care, financial counseling and fiduciary help.
And it works: Over 90% of veterans who got these services reported improvements in their mental health and well-being.
The grant organizations will work with local VA medical centers to verify that the individual is a veteran, has some risk factors (such as traumatic brain injury, recent loss, homelessness or history of abuse) and has been assessed as to the degree of risk of suicide.
Veteran suicide stats are, as they always have been, grim to consider. The national suicide report for 2025 says that the number of suicides have decreased (for 2023, the last year numbers were available). Specifically, 2023 had 44 fewer veteran suicides than in 2022. The report calls that an “encouraging” result — even though the number for 2023 was a whopping 6,398 veterans.
In an analysis of the stats, 61% of those veterans were not getting VA health care. The group most affected were veterans ages 18 to 34 with risk factors of homelessness, health problems and pain, with pain being the biggest risk factor.
\
To learn all the details about the SSG Fox SPGP grant program, see www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ssgfox-grants/docs/SSG-Fox-SPGP-Program-Guide-508.pdf.
If you (or a veteran you know) are at risk for suicide, call the VA crisis hotline at 988, then press 1. That’s all you need to dial. Or text to 838255. Or go online to chat at
www.veteranscrisisline.net. Somebody is there 24/7. It’s free and confidential, and you don’t have to be enrolled in VA health care or benefits.
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc
