The Los Angeles County Supervisory Board approved Fr. movement Tuesday was authored by executives Catherine Barger and Sheila Kuhl, whose goal is to reduce the number of veterans killed by suicide.

As a result, the newly established Los Angeles County Veterans Suicide Verification Team will carry out a process of reviewing deaths based on data and working together to collect data, analyze veterans’ suicides, identify gaps in service and understand opportunities to improve support structures.

“We need to do more to prevent this horrific death of men and women from our county who have bravely responded to the call for debt,” said Chief Catherine Barger. “Creating a joint veterans’ suicide review team will bring many benefits, including a case review process that will identify trends, challenges, and opportunities to better support our veterans in their communities. We cannot turn a blind eye to this crisis. In itself, it will not disappear and will not recover.

The traffic refers to recent data report completed by the Department of Mental Health and the County’s Chief Information Bureau in January 2022, which found a 16% increase in suicides by Los Angeles County veterans from 2017 to 2018; a figure that is twice the suicide rate of veterans by 8% in the state over the same period.

“The tragic fact is that the suicide rate of veterans continues to rise,” said Sheila Kuhl. “It is important to do more to understand this phenomenon so that we can better meet the needs of veterans who have mental health problems and prevent these tragic deaths. This movement moves us into the annual process of making recommendations for changes in policies and programs so that we can successfully reduce the number of veterans who commit suicide. ”

This initiative will bridge the gap between local, state and federal governments to share valuable data that will find the root cause of crises for veterans to save their lives.

“Suicide in the veteran community is a problem that strikes at the heart of the American team and requires a collective solution to everything,” said Los Angeles County Mental Health Director Dr. Jonathan E. Sherin, MD, Ph.D. “The Veterans Suicide Assessment Team, led by our Supervisory Board, is an unprecedented example of this approach in bringing together veterans and several county departments along with city, state and federal governments to improve our understanding of root causes and systemic solutions. Proactive data collection and analysis are critical to informing about our practices and policies with a focus on prevention, intervention and conservation strategies. It was an honor for me to help increase the need for this collective process and now see how it has been implemented. ”

The supervisory board also approved the statute, scope and procedures of the new veterans’ suicide review team.