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U.S. Reps. Rush Holt and John Runyan call for suicide prevention program funding

By Emily Brill/Times of Trenton 
on May 01, 2013 at 7:00 AM, updated May 01, 2013 at 7:03 AM

TRENTON — Two years after her soldier son Coleman shot himself, Linda Bean told Congress the Department of Veterans Affairs was not doing enough to help veterans at risk for suicide.

The military suicide rate hasn’t changed since Bean, of East Brunswick, gave her testimony in 2010 — in fact, it has risen slightly, from 343 in 2010 to 349 in 2012, exceeding the 295 Americans killed on active duty in Afghanistan last year.

Alongside New Jersey congressmen Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) and John Runyan (R-3rd Dist.), Bean called for $40 million in federal funding for military suicide prevention efforts yesterday during a press conference at the state’s World War II Memorial on West State Street.

Among other projects, the money would fund Vets 4 Warriors, a 24-hour helpline that connects servicemen to veterans for advice and support, Holt said.

“This is the only program in the country designed to affirmatively reach out to Individual Ready Reservists,” Bean said. “The amazing and courageous veterans answer about 500 calls daily. Of those callers, nearly 200 are at risk for suicide.”

Based in Piscataway, the Vets 4 Warriors call center has taken 32,000 calls and made 26,000 since the helpline launched 16 months ago. The program runs the risk of shutting down if it loses its $5 million in federal funding, founder Christopher Kosseff said.

Holt said Vets 4 Warriors is necessary because it provides the outreach that many VA programs do not.

“It’s the best — perhaps, the only — program I know that confronts the problem in the right way,” Holt said. “We have to go to where the soldiers and veterans are and make sure they are not alone.”

Holt said he wants the $40 million to fund outreach efforts. Half the money would go to the Department of Defense, which handles active duty servicemen, with the other half going to the VA, Holt said.

Holt and Runyan secured the funding in the last two years, and Holt said he planned to press heavily for the money again this year to lower the risk of losing it.

“I have reason to believe the appropriations process won’t go well this year, and a lot of things that should be funded won’t be,” Holt said. “I want to make sure this isn’t one of those things that doesn’t get funded.” Holt’s office said it did not know if the amount would be affected by sequestration budgetary constraints. The office has yet to receive “a full accounting” of how the $40 million was spent in past years, an aide said.

The VA’s suicide prevention efforts have so far included public service announcements and billboard campaigns, Holt’s office said.

Holt said he would like to see more money spent on direct outreach, television advertising, social media campaigns and programs such as Vets 4 Warriors.

“Putting a number on the side of a bus and saying, ‘Call this number if you feel suicidal’ is not enough,” Holt said. “We need outreach.”

Bean agreed. If a program like Vets 4 Warriors had existed five years ago, it could have helped her son, she said.

“As a nation, we ask the young people who join the armed services never to leave a fallen brother,” Bean said. “This is the program that makes that promise real.”

Contact Emily Brill at (609) 989-5731 or ebrill@njtimes.com.