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The California Department of Veteran Affairs and California State University, Long Beach are in a strategic partnership to support a research initiative aimed at reducing veteran deaths by suicide.
This initiative focuses on enhancing data collection, analysis, and reporting to better understand and address underlying risk factors for suicide.
Through this collaboration, the state will gain insights into suicide patterns and risk indicators among veterans, enabling more effective prevention strategies and resource sharing.
The University of California, Berkeley is also a partner in the project.
“This innovative partnership positions California as a national leader in providing the most accurate, comprehensive, and actionable reporting on veteran suicides. We are grateful for our partnership with CSU Long Beach and look forward to this research making a difference in the lives of veterans and their families,” said Roberto Herrera, CalVet deputy secretary, veterans services.
Collecting and reporting veteran suicide data in a consistent way is key to understanding patterns, spotting risk factors, and creating effective prevention programs.
This project aims to produce recommendations on standardizing the system for collecting and reporting veteran suicide data in all 58 California counties.
Through recommendations derived from the research, CalVet, in partnership with a diverse collection of stakeholders, intends to support consistency across counties.
Those recommendations will be designed to provide coroner and medical examiner offices with clear steps to consider following when classifying, reporting, and analyzing these cases. The project also hopes to guide future collective prevention efforts.
“This collaboration represents a new chapter in how data and public service can work hand in hand. By building an integrated, county- and state-level view of veteran health, we are creating data-driven solutions that turn information into meaningful impact for practitioners, policymakers, and veterans alike,” said Jeremy Ramirez, principal investigator, California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation.
The research project is part of the California Veterans Health Initiative, a key statewide program designed to support the mental health of California veterans.
The project aligns with CSULB’s mission to support public health and evidence-based policymaking through applied research, as well as CalVet’s mission to serve and honor all California veterans and their families.