Giving Compass' Take:

• Doug Irving, writing for RAND, shares solutions to preventing veteran suicide that can be implemented through policy changes. 

• How can funders work to advance policies that can help prevent suicide? 

• Read about practices to advance advocacy and policy change. 

More than 6,000 veterans die by suicide every year. It's a public health crisis, a broken promise to those who served, and the highest priority within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Yet the numbers have not improved. More veterans still die by suicide every year than the total number of combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

A decade of research at RAND has sought to focus the national conversation about suicide in general, and veteran suicide in particular, around solutions that work. The overwhelming message: We could do more to save the lives of veterans.

The VA and the Department of Defense have both invested heavily in public-awareness campaigns and efforts to better identify those at risk of suicide. That's important, but the research shows it's not enough.

The U.S. mental-health system is facing its own crisis, a shortage of providers to meet the needs of veterans and non-veterans alike. There's no quick and easy way to fix that. But making sure mental-health providers get reimbursed at rates similar to those of other health providers could start to bring more people into the field.

We know that nearly 70 percent of veterans who die by suicide use a firearm. Policies that promote safe gun storage, encourage health care providers to ask their patients about guns, and remove guns from those at highest risk could all help. But we also need more research to identify gun policies that make a difference, and those that don't.

We also know that sexual assault within the military is a major risk factor for suicide among female veterans. Younger female veterans, especially, have suicide rates more than double those of their non-veteran peers. Zero-tolerance policies that meaningfully reduce sexual assault and harassment within the military are suicide-prevention policies.

So are policies that promote better sleep, attack the nation's drug epidemic, and address what former RAND researcher Rajeev Ramchand called our “culture of stress.” One of the most proven and effective strategies to reduce suicide is to promote a life worth living.

Read the full article about preventing veteran suicide by Doug Irving at RAND Corporation.