Governor's Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families

About

The DMVA has proudly served as Pennsylvania’s lead agency for the VA/SAMHSA Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans and Their Families (SMVF) since 2020. Under this program, DMVA works with a wide array of community, county, regional, state, and federal partners to spearhead efforts, such as firearm safe storage, lethal means safety (LMS), educating community members and providers, addressing barriers to mental health and substance use treatment, and raising awareness of available local, statewide and federal resources for our SMVF population.

The DMVA and GCT have taken a lead role to reframe the conversation around SMVF mental health and suicide, by  prioritizing trauma-informed strategies that empower individual agency and reinforce human dignity. Our work emphasizes building connections and collaborative efforts across military, veteran, and civilian communities to strengthen individual knowledge and skills, and develop healthcare frameworks that meet the specific needs of service members, veterans and their families.

The GCT’s work focuses on upstream suicide prevention efforts. Our military lifecycle model uses the parable of a river (which represents despair, crisis, suicidality, etc.) to illustrate our goal of upstream prevention across each phase of the lifecycle (see Figure 1). 

While saving lives downstream is critical - when we work to change the landscape upstream, we can proactively protect life. (Adapted from National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, 2025)

Each phase of the military lifecycle has unique hazards, or risks, to consider in suicide prevention efforts.

Recruits. Research shows that military recruits have a higher prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs; including experiences of psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and household dysfunction) than the general population; meaning that many recruits enter the military with existing trauma.

Servicemembers. While in the military, servicemembers experience stressors (combat, moral injury, military sexual trauma) that can cause and/or exacerbate trauma, increasing their risk for worse physical and mental health outcomes and suicidality3,4. A study released by the Pentagon in 2021 revealed that U.S. soldiers are more likely to die from suicide than any other cause.

Veterans. The transition from military service back to civilian life is overwhelming for many veterans, and can be compounded by mental health struggles, substance use, trauma, and housing instability, among other things. In 2022, the suicide rate for veterans in the first year following military separation was 46.2 per 100,000, compared with the overall rate of 34.7 per 100,000.

Upstream suicide prevention uses proactive strategies aimed at reducing suicide risk before a crisis emerges, by addressing the underlying factors that contribute to suicidality, such as mental health challenges, social determinants of health (SDOH), trauma, etc. Four key principles of upstream suicide prevention include:

1. Promoting Healthy Connections – Strengthening social support networks can foster a sense of belonging, reduce feelings of isolation, and provide emotional and practical support that can buffer people against stress, trauma, and mental health challenges.
2. Enhancing Problem-Solving & Coping Skills – Teaching skills such as mindfulness, problem-solving, and emotional regulation can empower individuals to navigate life's challenges more effectively, reducing the likelihood of suicidal ideation. 
3. Addressing SDOH – Suicide risk is often broader social factors, such as financial stress, discrimination, chronic health conditions, and lack of access to mental health care. Improving SDOH addresses the social and environmental root causes of mental health before they escalate into a crisis.
4. Creating Protective Environments – Since trauma is a significant predictor of suicide risk, upstream prevention integrates trauma-informed policies and cultures that strengthen mental health, promote well-being, and help individuals heal and develop a stronger sense of self-efficacy.

(National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, 2025)

Priorities

The PA Governor’s Challenge Team (GCT) launched a new 5-year strategic plan beginning in 2026. This plan outlines 3 priority areas for the GCT, each of which is led and implemented by a separate working group of state-wide partners. The 3 priority areas include the ‘Ask the Question’ initiative, regional health/behavioral health communities of practice (CoPs), and the Plan. Pause. Protect. lethal means safety (LMS) campaign. To learn more about joining a PA GCT working group, see Our Team.

Priority 1: ‘Ask the Question’ Initiative

Goal: To formalize Veteran Status as a standard demographic variable across PA state agencies. “Have you ever served in the U.S. military?”

Concept: Formalizing this change at the state-agency level will have a trickle-down effect to businesses, academia, local governments, and non-profit entities via state agency grant reporting, data reporting, and other partnership or reporting requirements (top-down approach).

Strategy: Working group will leverage agency-level partnerships and legislative/policy actions to investigate and implement processes to formalize Veteran Status as a standard demographic variable.

Priority 2: Health/BH Regional CoPs

Goal: To develop regional Communities of Practice (CoP) among Health/BH providers, including VA.

Concept: By developing regional CoPs, we can help connect, educate, and support providers to better serve their SMVF patients, clients, and community members. 

Strategy: Working group will identify and develop training opportunities, educational resources, and networks that increase awareness and understanding of SMVF risks (health risks, SDOH, etc.) and opportunities (SMVF-specific services/resources, VA partnership, etc.). 

Priority 3: Plan. Pause. Protect. LMS Campaign

Goal: To promote the Plan. Pause. Protect. campaign and distribute LMS resources across the Commonwealth.

Concept: By embedding mental health (MH) and lethal means safety (LMS) components into firearm safety discussions and protocols, we will raise awareness of suicide risk and provide resources for effective planning and safety considerations. 

Strategy: Working group will connect at the community level with groups, clubs, non-profits, businesses, etc. to educate on Plan. Pause. Protect. campaign. Working group will also distribute LMS resources at the community level. 

Plan. Pause. Protect. Campaign Ethos: Given the right set of circumstances, anyone can struggle with thoughts of suicide.

The PA Governor’s Challenge Team (GCT) encourages a proactive approach to suicide prevention by inviting everyone to utilize the Plan. Pause. Protect. framework and resources, so that they can protect life if/when a mental health crisis occurs. In addition to the downloadable safety planning documents below, we also offer free cable gun locks for our community partners. To learn more, please email: RA-MVPAGOVCHALLENGE@PA.GOV. 

1. Plan: Complete a Gun Owner Safety Plan, Personal Safety Plan, and Firearm Inventory Record. Plan for safety.
2. Pause: Create a reminder to pause and check-in on your mental health (Reason for living) before accessing firearms. We offer photo magnets for gun safes and photo tags for gun lock box handles or to loop thru gun cable locks. Pause to reflect.
3. Protect: Follow safety plans and engage protective factors! Protect life.