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Community Interventions to Prevent Veteran Suicide The Role of Social Determinants: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium (2022) / Chapter Skim
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6 Community Interventions for Varied Applications in Housing, Health, and Safety
Pages 51-58

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From page 51...
... Perhaps because of this, he said, there is evidence that some VA homeless programs are having an impact on suicide risk, including the pro gram Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF)
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From page 52...
... Program data on the return rate to homelessness show that, overall, one year out, more than 85 percent of veterans who use the SSVF have not returned to homeless programs, Tsai reported. The TFA component of the SSVF has been shown to reduce health care service use and health care costs, mostly for inpatient costs, where there was a $372 reduction per quarter, Tsai said.
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From page 53...
... She pointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 2016 declaration that "collaboration among prevention professionals across behavioral health fields has the potential to reduce suicide rates." There are many different ways of working together, Raffle noted. She illustrated this by way of a continuum showing stages of collaborative relationships, where participants are least to most enmeshed.
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From page 54...
... Raffle explained that as organizations work together, they can more fully develop an understanding of what collaboration involves and how to do it more successfully. The first of these three key areas, capacity, describes developing orga nizational ability to connect, share, or coordinate efforts in a collaborative relationship, Raffle said.
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From page 55...
... "Know your space but be willing to listen and learn from others." This includes, for example, being aware of the different knowledge, skills, and attitudes that might be required for population prevention versus those required for treatment and recovery, Raffle said. The third tip Raffle offered is to recognize that collaboration is a learned skill whose practitioners require supports.
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From page 56...
... Branas pointed to groups that are implementing "in situ place-based changes" that introduce inexpensive structural changes designed to help people stay in their home neighborhoods and to bring amenities to those areas. These amenities might include greening; fewer abandoned buildings; community gardens; and business improvement districts, he said.
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From page 57...
... Branas pointed to other cities that have undertaken some combination of place-based research and programming -- "in situ, inexpensive, scalable structural and sustainable place-based interventions." Across this group of cities, evidence shows between 6 percent and 66 percent less "violence, stress, fear, depres sion, sedentary behavior, and cardiovascular risks." In his conclusion, Branas stressed three points. First, that programs that focus on place have upstream influence that can impact "the lives of more people and for longer periods of time than programs that simply focus on individuals." Second, that the everyday environment can play a role in the success of medical treatments for individuals.
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From page 58...
... " Branas identified the importance of simply "doing some really good science" that provides evidence for the impact of successful programs. This evidence might be used to raise awareness of success framed not just in terms of scientific outcomes but in terms that show these programs to have "a real return on the investment." Raffle added that her organization is working to help community groups craft "social determinants of health impact statements" as part of their work around suicide prevention, the reduction of gun violence, etc.
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Key Terms

  • veteran suicide
  • suicide risk
  • homeless programs
  • suicide prevention
  • homeless veterans

  • raffle noted
  • abandoned buildings
  • social determinants
  • homeless program
  • financial assistance

  • collective impact
  • vacant lots
  • poor health
  • solution sets
  • address social

  • health impact
  • provides evidence
  • temporary financial
  • tsai reported
  • collaborative approach

  • green spaces
  • ssvf program
  • veteran families
  • collaborative relationship
  • multiple solution

  • impact statement
  • inpatient costs
  • supportive services
  • collaborative efforts
  • especially suicide


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