This month, the Missouri Veterans Commission released its inaugural Veteran Suicide Prevention report aimed at helping decrease the veteran suicide rate and address the negative stigma surrounding mental health struggles for veterans.
The report is titled “Left of Boom,” which in military terms describes the period of time before an incident occurs, where proactive measures can be put into place to prevent or mitigate a life-threatening event such as an attack, explosion, or crisis.
The prevention report is mandated by Senate Bill 912 and House Bill 1495, known as the Veterans Omnibus Bills. The Missouri Veterans Commission (MVC) was charged with creating this new program to aid in efforts to prevent veteran suicide and to create a report each year outlining recommendations and procedures, programs, and other assistance MVC considers necessary to assist in efforts to prevent veteran suicides.
“I am excited to see this report come to fruition,” said Republican Rep. Dave Griffith. “Last year, when the Veterans Omnibus Bill was signed, we began the journey to understand the factors involved with veteran suicide and can now work to enact changes to help decrease the number of incidences we see in Missouri.”
The nine-page report details the intent, planning framework, and implementation strategies to be used to help curb veteran suicides in Missouri.
In conjunction with the Missouri Department of Mental Health, MVC Suicide Prevention Manager Lindsey Ward gathered information over eight months and began to decipher the barriers veterans face concerning mental health.
The report details how veterans face higher rates of mental health challenges and suicide compared with non-veterans.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported that in 2023, there were 171 veterans who died by suicide in the state, with a large concentration of those deaths being in the St. Louis, Southwestern and Kansas City regions.
Key findings reported that 42.6 of every 100,000 Missouri veterans died by suicide in 2022, which is significantly higher than the national average. The national average for veteran suicide of 34.7 for every 100,000 is already alarmingly high compared to non-veterans.
The data also indicated that 74.3 percent of Missouri veterans died by firearm, while 55 percent of the national average died by firearm in 2022.
The report detailed the strategies MVC plans to implement to help reduce these numbers in the coming years.
To measure the effectiveness of the program, MVC will track the number of veteran suicides per 100,000 individuals annually, measure the percentage of veterans accessing mental health services, and monitor the number of contacts to the Missouri Veterans Crisis Line while also assessing the outcomes of those interactions.
“We are proud to present the inaugural ‘Left of Boom’ report,” says MVC Executive Director Ret. Col. Paul Kirchhoff. “Our Suicide Prevention Manager, Lindsey Ward, has worked tirelessly, in conjunction with other stakeholders, to collect the information we need to adapt to the changing landscape of this issue, and to start putting into action the strategies needed to understand and prevent veteran suicide.”
The report can be found on MVC’s website mvc.dps.mo.gov. The latest National Suicide Prevention Report can be found here.