What if Veteran suicide prevention started months before a Veteran ever called a crisis line?
That is the question Michigan-based nonprofit VETLIFE will pursue with a new $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP).
The award is the maximum available to a new FY2027 SSG Fox grantee and will allow VETLIFE to expand proactive suicide prevention efforts across Michigan, with a focus on identifying Veterans who may be disconnected from VA healthcare, benefits and traditional support systems.
The challenge is significant.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 61% of Veterans who died by suicide in 2023 were not receiving Veterans Health Administration care during the year in which they died.
For VETLIFE, that statistic raises a critical question: How do you reach a Veteran who isn’t walking through the door?
“We cannot build a suicide prevention strategy that depends entirely on a Veteran raising their hand and asking for help,” said Joshua Parish, Co-Founder and CEO of VETLIFE and an Iraq War Veteran. “By the time someone is standing on a bridge, holding a gun or calling a crisis line, we are responding to an emergency. We want to understand what happened six months before that moment — and whether there was an opportunity to change the trajectory.”
The warning signs may not look like suicide prevention
A missed mortgage payment.
A disability claim that has gone unresolved.
Losing a job.
Not knowing how to enroll in VA healthcare.
Housing instability.
Isolation from friends and family.
Losing the community and sense of purpose that existed during military service.
On their own, those circumstances may not immediately appear to be suicide prevention issues. VETLIFE believes they can be opportunities for earlier intervention.
The organization’s approach is built around identifying challenges affecting a veteran’s quality of life and connecting that Veteran with benefits, healthcare, community resources and human support before those challenges compound into something more serious.
The goal is to move suicide prevention upstream — from crisis intervention to early identification.
“If we can identify a Veteran six months before a crisis instead of six minutes before one, we’ve fundamentally changed what suicide prevention looks like,” Parish said.
Finding the veterans traditional systems may never see
The new funding will support VETLIFE’s statewide outreach to Veterans who may be difficult to reach through conventional healthcare-based approaches, including rural veterans, Native American veterans, veterans not currently using VA healthcare, and veterans experiencing financial, social or economic instability.
Rather than creating another destination veterans must discover and navigate on their own, VETLIFE’s strategy is to reach veterans through the places and networks where they already are.
That can include community events, veteran organizations, digital outreach, peer connections, local partners and VETLIFE’s existing technology and programs.
Once identified, Veterans can be connected with appropriate resources ranging from VA healthcare and earned benefits to financial, housing, employment, mental health and community support.
The philosophy is straightforward: Don’t wait for veterans to find the system. Build a system capable of finding veterans.
Michigan Could Help Demonstrate a Different Model
The $750,000 award comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs continues expanding community-based suicide prevention through the SSG Fox program.
For FY2027, VA awarded approximately $112 million to 191 organizations nationwide, including organizations serving Veterans across Michigan.
The federal program is designed in part to reach veterans outside traditional VA healthcare environments and address factors associated with suicide risk, including economic stability, access to care and social connection.
VETLIFE intends to use Michigan as a proving ground for an approach that treats benefits access, healthcare enrollment, connectedness and quality-of-life challenges as part of the suicide prevention continuum rather than separate issues.
The organization has set a long-term goal of reducing veteran suicide by 50% by 2030.
“This isn’t $750,000 to build another program that waits for veterans to show up,” Parish said. “It’s an investment in finding veterans earlier, building relationships with them and connecting them with the systems that already exist. If this works the way we believe it can, Michigan can help demonstrate what upstream Veteran suicide prevention looks like.”
Prevention beyond mental healthcare
The approach represents an important distinction in how VETLIFE views suicide prevention.
Mental healthcare remains a critical component of prevention, but VETLIFE believes preventing suicide cannot be the responsibility of the mental healthcare system alone.
A veteran struggling with housing does not necessarily begin by searching for a therapist.
A veteran denied benefits may not believe they are experiencing a mental health issue.
A veteran who has become isolated may not identify themselves as being in crisis.
But each circumstance can create an opportunity for connection.
That is why VETLIFE’s model combines community outreach, benefits navigation, technology, peer engagement, resource coordination and partnerships to create multiple opportunities to identify and support a Veteran.
“The veteran doesn’t care which organization owns the solution,” Parish said. “They care whether someone can help them solve the problem in front of them. Our responsibility is to make that system easier to navigate.”
About VETLIFE
Founded in Michigan in 2019, VETLIFE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Veterans and their families to become their own best advocates.
VETLIFE connects Veterans and military families with earned benefits, healthcare, education, employment opportunities, community resources and quality-of-life support through technology, education, outreach and strategic partnerships.
Its work includes the Battle Buddy digital benefits-navigation platform and statewide community initiatives designed to reduce barriers between Veterans and the services they have earned.
VETLIFE’s long-term goal is to reduce Veteran suicide by 50% by 2030.
Veteran crisis resources
Veterans experiencing a crisis — or anyone concerned about a Veteran — can contact the Veterans Crisis Line 24 hours a day, seven days a week by dialing 988 and pressing 1 or texting 838255. Veterans do not need to be enrolled in VA healthcare or receiving VA benefits to use the service.
