Stop Soldier Suicide is more than just an organization fighting to save the lives of veterans and military service members, though we’re inarguably that. In 2021 alone, we brought almost 150 struggling vets and uniformed military personnel – the equivalent of a U.S. infantry company – back from the brink. And we won’t stop until the mission is complete.
Still, we are more than just our ledger of success: Stop Soldier Suicide is a mission whose moment has finally arrived.
Dozens of organizations and agencies have for decades followed the same stale script in their approach to helping our most vulnerable veterans and service members. But none of it has worked, evidenced by suicide rates among vets that are stubbornly higher than the general population.
Here are some examples of the conventional wisdom we’ve become accustomed to hearing from experts, leaders, and influencers in this field.
"We're taking a public health approach."
“We, as a field, need to focus more on upstream interventions.”
“No one can do this alone."
We believe in all three of these statements. And value the contributions of other organizations in their efforts to support the military and veteran community. The more people working the problem (effectively), the more lives we can save.
Too often, however, organizations hide behind these statements so they’re not held accountable for measurable results.
Stop Soldier Suicide changes all that.
Since 2010, SSS has served more than 3,500 clients. To date, zero active clients have died by suicide. ZERO. Last year alone, we served more than 1,000 clients, delivering more than 17,000 hours of care, saving 147 lives. Some 97 percent of our program graduates experience reduced and stable suicide risk.
Read that again.
How do we do this? By providing, free, confidential, trauma-informed care using the leading tools that reduce suicide attitudes, thoughts and behaviors via telehealth solutions available in all 50 states.
Stop Soldier Suicide connects at-risk veterans and service members with Wellness Coordinators who provide trauma-informed mental health treatment and clinical care in order to reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Our Wellness Coordinators – elite behavioral health professionals each with an advanced degree in at least one area of mental health, including licensed mental health practitioners – use a proactive and disruptive approach focused on meeting at-risk individuals where they are, whether it’s mental health support, housing assistance, or any other service.
Our Wellness Coordinators work with clients to develop a roadmap for effectively identifying next steps and getting back to feeling that life is worth living. When clients graduate from our program, they have the option to receive free life-coaching as a “step-down service.” We’re one of the only suicide prevention organizations in the country to have such an offering.
During the typical eight months in our program, Stop Soldier Suicide clients, on average, experience a 27 percent reduction in suicide risk, a 26 percent reduction in hopelessness, and a 22 percent reduction in psychological pain, among other things. These clients also experience an 85 percent increase in a sense of community, a 52 percent increase in a sense of future security, and a 34 percent improvement in their sense of wellbeing.
Our clients give us a net promoter score of 93, which, if you’re unfamiliar with this scale, puts us in the “world-class” category. A designation as humbling as it is correct.
So where do we go from here? Well, at Stop Soldier Suicide we consider it our duty to expand the reach of our program offerings so that we can meet the needs of every struggling veteran or military service member with same quality level of care we’ve developed over the past two years. We believe we’re on the path to doing just that.
Onward,
Chris Ford
United States Air Force (Ret.)
CEO, Stop Soldier Suicide
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