Aren’t We All Addressing Veteran Suicide? Balancing Evidence and Access

Veteran suicide remains one of the most urgent and heartbreaking challenges facing our nation—claiming more than 6,000 lives every year and rising at a faster pace than among nonveterans.

Every number in that statistic is a person. A family. A community.

In the suicide prevention space, one debate continues to surface: Should we prioritize only evidence-based mental health treatments, or is there room for innovative, community-driven approaches?

The truth is, both have their place—but when the rubber meets the road, access can mean the difference between life and death.

The Case for Evidence-Based Care is clear: certain mental health interventions save lives.

  • Collaborative safety planning

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

  • Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT)

  • Specific psychiatric medications

These approaches have reduced suicide attempts in rigorous, controlled studies. They are proven, powerful tools and should remain a cornerstone of suicide prevention.

But they only work if veterans can actually access them.

The Reality of Access

“Sixty percent of veterans who die by suicide had no VA contact in the two years before their death.”

That’s not just a gap—it’s a canyon.

On the ground, we see barriers every day:

  • A veteran in crisis whose nearest treatment center is hours away.

  • A spouse in Texas calling for help because there are no inpatient beds available—and her husband cannot travel.

  • Families already one paycheck from losing their home, with a broken car or mounting bills tipping them toward crisis.

  • Or the final straw—a lack of veteran cultural competency—leaving someone feeling unseen, misunderstood, and unwilling to engage in care.

It is everything all at once and nothing at all. In moments like these, the most impactful intervention isn’t always a multi-million-dollar national program. Sometimes, it’s the small local nonprofit or volunteer resource—operating on less than $50,000 a year—who shows up that same day to sit with the family, navigate resources, and offer hope. Sometimes, it's the friend that received free training from the community program.

Why Local Matters

The nonprofit sector generates $3.7 trillion annually, yet fewer than 9% of organizations have budgets over $1 million. Larger organizations often have robust evaluation systems, but smaller, community-based nonprofits are the ones who can respond in real time.

When funding is restricted to only the most rigorously evaluated programs, we risk sidelining the very partners who can meet veterans where they are—physically, culturally, and emotionally.

A Both/And Approach

At Veterans Collaborative, we believe it’s not about choosing between gold-standard treatments and grassroots innovation—it’s about building bridges between them:

  • Break access barriers with community-based navigation and referral systems for veterans not connected to VA care.

  • Support the conditions for treatment by addressing housing, financial strain, and transportation.

  • Invest upstream in wellness and connection to reduce risk factors like isolation and untreated depression.

We welcome innovation—whether it’s immersive wellness programs, peer support networks, or tech-enabled crisis monitoring—when paired with strategic evaluation and cultural competency we save lives and we all win.

The Bottom Line

“The best strategy is the one that connects with a veteran in crisis, in the moment they need it most.”

We are all trying to address veteran suicide. But if we only invest in what works in theory without ensuring veterans can actually reach those interventions, we will continue to lose lives.

The solution isn’t either/or—it’s evidence and access, innovation and infrastructure, national standards and local reach. Local being the magic key.

Because at the end of the day, a veteran’s life is saved not just by the existence of a treatment, but by the ability to access it—right here, right now, where they live.

#VeteranSuicidePrevention #Veterans #MilitaryFamilies #NonprofitLeadership #AccessToCare #VeteranSupport #CommunityImpact #MentalHealthMatters

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Veteran Cultural Competency Isn’t Optional in Community Care—It’s Critical