MIRECC / CoE
About the Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention
Leading the Way for Suicide Prevention Among Veterans
The Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) established the Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention (CoE) in August 2007 with the overarching mission to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with Veteran suicide and self-directed violence.
Since its inception, the CoE has been guided by a public health approach to suicide prevention. This approach, later adopted the 2012 U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, is widely held to be the most promising strategy to reduce suicides among Americans. Most recently, both the VA and its Office of Mental Health & Suicide Prevention (OMHSP) "embraced a comprehensive public health approach" as the model for the National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide: 2018-2028.
In pursuing its mission within the public health framework, the CoE is guided by four overarching goals that systematically drive Center activities:
Goal 1: Continually enhance a leading-edge suicide surveillance system of all Veterans.
Goal 2: Identify target populations and settings for future interventions.
Goal 3: Shape the development of effective interventions across the suicide risk continuum.
Goal 4: Drive novel suicide prevention training programs and disseminate information related to prevention.
The CoE is currently comprised of an interdisciplinary research team representing the diverse fields of public health, psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, health communication, health services. economics, sociology, nursing and social work (meet our staff).
