Worried About a Veteran

Worried About a Veteran (WAV) is a national suicide prevention initiative that equips loved ones of Veterans with the tools, resources, and confidence to have meaningful conversations about firearm safety and mental health. Originally launched in New York State, WAV empowers families and friends to create critical time and space before a crisis and to guide Veterans toward professional support when needed.

Goals:

  • WAV’s short-term goals include redesigning and launching the national WAV educational website; improving website usability and reach for families, caregivers, and community groups; and continuously gathering feedback and data to assess user experience and effectiveness.

  • WAV’s long-term goals including integrating WAV into national Veteran suicide prevention strategies; sustaining and scaling impact through continued outreach, evaluation, and community engagement; and promoting firearm safety through normalized and compassionate dialogue.


WAV launched as a New York State pilot in 2022 under the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide. It expanded into a national initiative in 2024 with a newly redesigned WAV website and broader outreach. WAV built partnerships with community organizations, firearm safety experts, Veterans, and national mental health groups and produced multimedia educational tools, including videos and expert interviews now used across the country.

WAV directly benefits:

  • Veterans, by reducing access to lethal means during high-risk periods and connecting them to care.

  • Loved ones of Veterans (friends, family members, caregivers), by helping them feel more equipped and less alone.

  • Community leaders and organizations, by offering adaptable tools to integrate into broader suicide prevention efforts.

Success is measured through pre- and post-launch evaluations (qualitative and quantitative); user feedback from WAV website visitors, Coaches in Conversation (CiC), and stakeholders, and analytics on website traffic, engagement, and resource downloads.

What is the Impact of Worried About a Veteran?

Programs

Worried About a Veteran

Worried About a Veteran Leadership

Firearm suicide is a leading cause of death among Veterans. Veterans are at a significantly higher risk of suicide than the general population, and approximately 70% of Veteran suicides involve a firearm. WAV addresses this issue by providing nonjudgmental, practical resources that focus on lethal means safety and supportive communication with Veterans. It helps bridge a critical gap: supporting the loved ones who often recognize signs of distress first but don’t always know what to do.

WAV focuses on family and friend-driven intervention, filling a critical prevention niche. It is grounded in evidence-based practices, including CALM (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means). It is Veteran-informed and co-designed, with input from Veterans who are firearm owners and mental health professional. It is also accessible and scalable, with online tools, videos, and resources anyone can use with no training required.

  • Marianne S. Goodman, M.D. is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. For the past 20 years she has also a worked as a full time VA clinical research physician at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center (JJP VAMC). In 2002, she began directing and developing the JJP VAMC Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) clinical and research program. She is the Deputy Director in the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 2 Mental Illness, Research, Education, Clinical Center (MIRECC) and is the director of the Suicide Prevention Clinical and Research Program. Her expertise is in the management of high risk suicidal and emotionally dysregulated Veterans, borderline personality disorder and delivery of dialectical behavioral therapy. She is considered one of the foremost DBT experts in the VA system, actively involved in clinical care, research and education. Additionally, she is the recipient of two prestigious awards for her involvement in DBT including in 2009, the New York Federal Executive Employee Outstanding Individual Achievement Award for her Clinical DBT Program for Suicidal Veterans and in 2012 she received the VISN 3 Network Director’s Achievement Award for Training VISN 3 Clinicians in DBT.  

    More recently, she shifted her research direction to focus on treatment development for suicide prevention. Dr. Goodman designed “Project Life Force” (PLF) a novel group intervention that combines emotion regulation skills with suicide safety planning which was initially funded with a VA RR&D SPiRE pilot grant (2015-2017) and now recently funded for a multi-site RCT with a CSRD Merit (2018-2023). She also has an RR&D Merit (2017-2020) to further develop a dyad suicide safety planning intervention. 


Please visit and share the WAV website to raise awareness.

WAV is currently supported by Face the Fight, a private-sector initiative led by USAA, Reach Resilience, and the Humana Foundation.

Funding is needed to:

  • Continued national marketing and outreach.

  • Expanded video production, including stories from diverse Veteran communities.

  • Staffing and evaluation to scale WAV’s impact and integrate with new partners.

Funders can contribute by supporting specific program components or providing general operational support. To support WAV, you can donate, partner as an organization, or help us connect with communities that are ready to lead this initiative.

How You Can Support WAV

Contact the Whole Health Resilience and Wellness Center.

BVMRFAdmin@va.gov
(718) 741-4442

130 West Kingsbridge Road
Bronx, NY 10468