Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today joined Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and over 30 colleagues in introducing legislation requiring the Department of Defense (DoD) to take immediate action to enhance suicide prevention efforts. The bipartisan Save Our Servicemembers (S.O.S.) Act would direct DoD to evaluate the effectiveness of its suicide prevention efforts, improve data collection, reduce bureaucratic duplication and strengthen collaboration between offices.
“Our servicemembers have fought selflessly for our country. They ought to be able to access the best support services and mental health resources,” Grassley said. “We know there are gaps in DoD’s prevention efforts. I’m proud to support this commonsense legislation that will address those gaps and ultimately save lives.”
This past spring, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan watchdog agency, released the findings of a review of the DoD’s suicide prevention programs. The report identified three areas that DoD should address to improve suicide prevention efforts. The S.O.S. Act directs DoD to implement those GAO recommendations, which include:
· Assessing DoD’s individual non-clinical prevention efforts to determine their effectiveness.
· Improving DoD’s data collection by reducing duplication and developing consistent suicide-related definitions to be used department-wide. This is in response to concerns that inconsistent definitions could be impeding the ability to access and improve prevention programs.
· Strengthening collaboration between Pentagon offices, specifically between the Defense Suicide Prevention Office (DSPO) and the Psychological Health Center of Excellence on the production of the annual suicide reports, to minimize duplication of efforts.
The introduction of the bipartisan S.O.S. Act also comes after an alarming report revealed a 15 percent increase in military suicides in 2020 from the year prior.
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