VA Distributes $174 Million for Suicide Prevention Grants

VA in January announced the start of a new program that could provide community-based suicide prevention resources needed for veterans and their families across the country.

The VFW-backed Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) is a part of VA’s ongoing effort to address veterans suicide. The plan for the grants program is to issue awards totaling $174 million over three years.

The grant program will provide resources to community organizations. Grants will be awarded to organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for those at risk of suicide. Those services consist of:

• Outreach to identify those at risk of suicide.
• Baseline mental health screening for risk.
• Education on suicide risk and prevention to families and communities.
• Provision of clinical services for emergency treatment.
• Case management services.
• Peer support services.
• VA benefits assistance for eligible individuals and their families.
• Assistance with obtaining and coordinating other benefits provided by the federal, state or local governments, as well as other eligible entities.
• Assistance with emergent needs relating to health care services, daily living services, personal financial planning and counseling, transportation services, temporary income support services, fiduciary and representative payee services, legal services to assist the eligible individual with issues that may contribute to the risk of suicide, and child care.
• Nontraditional and innovative approaches and treatment practices, as determined appropriate by VA.
• Other services necessary for improving mental health status and well-being and reducing the suicide risk of eligible individuals and their families as VA determines appropriate.

The SSG Fox SPGP was enacted as a part of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act (P.L. 116-171). The suicide prevention program is named in honor of Army Staff Sgt. Parker Gordon Fox, who was a sniper instructor at Georgia’s U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning. Fox, who joined the military in 2015, died by suicide on July 21, 2020, at the age of 25.

Members of VFW Post 4933 in Kingsport, Tenn., rendered honors during Fox’s memorial service in Kingsport, according to Fox’s obituary.

For more information about the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, visit https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov/ssgfox-grants.