Rising Veteran Suicide Rates Prompt Tampa YMCA To Take Action

TAMPA, FL — To demonstrate its commitment to supporting military veterans, Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA has trained its employees in veteran suicide intervention through a partnership with Florida-based veterans nonprofit, The Fire Watch.

In doing so, the Tampa Y becomes the latest organization to be recognized as a Veteran Safe Place by The Fire Watch and joins more than 90 organizations statewide that are dedicated to connecting veterans to potentially life-saving resources. The Safe Place certificate presentation happened on Tuesday at the Central City YMCA in conjunction with World Mental Health Day.

Mental well-being is a special focus of the Tampa Y and serving veterans is part of the Y's goal of meeting critical community needs, said Dawn Kita, Tampa Y’s operations director of community health, who was on hand to receive the certificate on behalf of the 65 staff members at the Tampa Y who have trained to become watch standers.

“Thank you to The Fire Watch for this certificate. Being a Veteran Safe Place makes us part of a community network, and educates our staff who interact with thousands of people daily to recognize when someone is in crisis and know how they can help direct them to the needed resources," Kita said. "It provides resources to all of our members about the signs when someone may be in crisis, and tools to evaluate your own current support circle.”

The Fire Watch monitors veteran suicides by county in Florida and offers virtual and in-person suicide intervention training to individuals and businesses. The training is available to the public for free and supporters who complete it are referred to as watch standers.

There are 20,901,636 veterans living in Florida, the third highest veteran population in the country, and 7,466 of those veterans committed suicide, according to The Fire Watch’s data.

Hillsborough and Pinellas counties had the most recorded veteran suicides from 2010-2021, according to The Fire Watch. There are 115,205 veterans in Hillsborough County and 91,643 veterans in Pinellas County.

In Hillsborough County, 421 (29.41 per 100,000) veterans took their own lives in 2021 and 436 veterans died by their own hands in Pinellas County (36.43 per 100,000 veterans). The majority of veterans taking their own lives in Hillsborough County were pre-9/11 Gulf War veterans and the majority in Pinellas County were Vietnam War veterans.

By comparison, nearby Pasco and Polk counties had much lower suicide rates.

There are 57,182 veterans living in Pasco County and 281 (41.81 per 100,000 veterans) killed themselves, the majority of which were Vietnam veterans.

And there are 56,270 veterans living in Polk County. Of those, 203 veterans (27.31 per 100,000 veterans) took their own lives. Again, the majority were Vietnam veterans.

In Northeast Florida, which has the highest population of watch standers, veteran suicide went down by nearly 50 percent from 2019 to 2021.

Statewide, 5,133 Florida watch standers assisted 1.5 million Florida veterans.

“It’s critically important that we empower the community with the resources they need to approach veterans who may be in crisis,” said Brianne Brown, an Air Force veteran and Central Florida regional programs director for The Fire Watch, who presented the certificate to Tampa Y.

“We’re grateful for Tampa Y’s passion for serving veterans by training their employees to recognize suicidal warning signs and volunteering to be a lifeline to those who have served," Brown said.

Among other key findings in the The Fire Watch report are:

• An increasing number of female veterans are dying by suicide. Although women represent 10 percent of the overall veteran population in Florida, the suicide rate for female veterans rose significantly in 2021, reaching its highest point over the past 10 years.
• As in previous years, suicide is disproportionately common in Caucasian veterans.
• There was a 3 percent increase in the number of minority veteran suicides statewide in 2021.
• The percentage of veteran suicides in Florida involving a firearm increased to 81 percent in 2021, a six-point increase from 2019.

The change in the rate of veteran suicides per 100,000 people varies significantly by region. For counties with lower populations, fluctuations in rates can be large due to the small denominator, said Brown.

When isolating to only counties with 10 or more veteran suicides per 100,000, the most significant differences are in Northeast Florida (Saint Johns, Duval, and Clay all had significant differences), Central Florida (Sumter and Polk) and in Southwest Florida (Sarasota, Charlotte, Manatee).

Saint Johns County went from 11 suicides in 2019 to four suicides in 2021. Similarly, Duval County went from 45 veteran suicides in 2019 to 24 in 2021. County-by-county data is seen in the graph below.

The Watch Stander program is the first of its kind in the U.S.

"Its success is dependent on your participation," Brown said, adding that anyone can train to become a watch stander. "We have over 1.5 million veterans in Florida. They are family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. They are heroes who have risked their lives to protect our community. The least our community can do is work together to protect them."

To be a watch stander, the volunteer is asked to view two or three short training videos, explore a guide of resources available to veterans, and sign a pledge. The qualification process takes about 45 minutes.

To review the full data report or to register to become a Watch Stander, click here.