Mission Daybreak Tech Aims to Reduce Veteran Suicides

Mission Daybreak, a grant campaign centered around developing innovative solutions to combat veteran suicides, is leveraging emerging technology and bolster data analytics to better address and prevent veteran suicide, Department of Veterans Affairs Executive Director of Suicide Prevention Matthew Miller said in December 2024.

Miller stated that initiatives like Mission Daybreak have already demonstrated promising early results, and the VA expects a clearer understanding of the impact to emerge in the 2023 and 2024 veteran suicide data.

“I think that there’s a lot of potential with what we’re seeing in the Mission Daybreak work, and a lot of what we’re talking about in terms of how can we exponentially advance these efforts in the most efficient and effective way?” Miller said.

Miller pointed to Mission Daybreak’s efforts to advance quality and supervision within the Veterans Crisis Line through silent monitoring of calls. When a veteran would show signs of mental health issues, that call would be flagged for further review by VA health professionals.

“One way that we can augment some of that is by using AI, machine language and learning to do initial reviews of caller feedback and engagement and then screen for indications in need of further review,” Miller told GovCIO Media & Research.

Miller said the burgeoning work within Mission Daybreak will lessen the need to “hire an entire cadre of new silent monitors, but will allow us to increase our ability to review caller engagements and offer feedback to our crisis responders.”

The Mission Daybreak grand challenge in 2022 awarded $20 million to suicide prevention solutions. The competition received over 1,300 submissions from veterans, veterans service organizations (VSOs), community-based organizations, health tech companies, startups and universities before 10 finalists were chosen to move their ideas into the pilot stage.

VA Undersecretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said in a 2023 press release announcing the winners that “veterans need and deserve suicide prevention solutions that meet them where they are, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.”

Each year, the agency releases its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which collects data and reports findings on leading causes of veteran suicides as well as highlights agency efforts to minimize veteran suicides and better address their mental health.

The 2024 report, which focused on data collected by counties, states, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Defense Department and VA records during 2022, highlighted that though the number of veteran suicides rose compared to the previous year, agency efforts are trending to an overall decline in veteran suicides.

“I think that there are encouraging signs of progress overall. I think that suicide prevention and a public health approach are a long term investment,” Miller said. “What you’re going to be hearing in the coming year and coming years involves what we’re doing from a public health approach to advance not only the clinical aspects and domains of suicide prevention, but also those community-based, in collaboration with states and local communities.”