The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarded $1.5 million in federal funding to support veterans’ suicide prevention efforts in Hawai’i. The funding is made possible through the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2019 (Hannon Act), a bill that will go to multiple state organizations including Blue Star Families, Catholic Charities Hawai’i, and Child and Family Service.

As of 2020, there were over 112,000 veterans in Hawaiʻi, comprising over 10 percent of the state’s adult population. According to a recent report, published by the VA’s Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans have the second highest suicide rate of suicide among the demographic groups that were surveyed.

The Hannon Act broadens mental health care and suicide prevention programs for veterans by building upon the VA’s existing mental health services while aiming to improve access options for all veterans by combining community and clinically-based interventions to prevent veteran suicides. The bill also enhances the VA’s mental health workforce and increases rural veterans’ access to care, while also expanding access to alternative and local treatment options like animal therapy, outdoor sports and activities, yoga, and acupuncture.

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