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Georgia veterans agency details suicide-review findings, expands outreach and launches free mental‑health app
Summary
Commissioner Trish Ross told a joint Defense & Veterans Affairs hearing the Department of Veterans Service is intensifying suicide-prevention work after a mortality review; the department has screened thousands, runs a statewide referral network and rolled out a no-cost app providing 24/7 clinical access to veterans.
Commissioner Trish Ross, head of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, told a joint session of the Defense & Veterans Affairs committees that the department has intensified suicide-prevention efforts after a statewide suicide mortality review and related research with Kennesaw State’s AIM Center.
The department convened a suicide mortality review committee and performed a landscape analysis using violent death reporting system data, Ross said. She told lawmakers the review surfaced ongoing risks: Georgia recorded roughly 200 veteran suicides last year and a veteran suicide rate—17.6 in the department’s referenced series—that remains higher than the national average.
The review’s demographic signals include a majority male cohort, an average age near 56, and a high share of deaths involving firearms. Ross said firearms accounted for…
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