A nonprofit human services group has been awarded a $750,000 federal grant to help reduce suicides among veterans in Plymouth and eastern Massachusetts.
Volunteers of America Massachusetts – which runs the Plymouth Area Veterans Center – will use the grant funding to focus on veterans who have become more isolated as they age.
In 2024, 67 veterans died by suicide in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA also reports 62% of veterans who died by suicide nationally hadn’t received VA health care in the year that they died or the year before.
These veterans are not going to outreach events for veterans, said Justin Cobb, program director at VOAMass, so this program will reach out to veterans at events for the public, such as parades.
Cobb hopes to reach 8,962 veterans a year in nine counties in eastern Massachusetts. He hopes to find 178 veterans not currently enrolled in the VA and have 75% of them enroll.
“Three veteran peer specialists are going to be the boots on the ground out in the community,” Cobb said.
The team members who will implement the VA grant all have experienced losing a fellow veteran to suicide, Cobb said.
“We know that veterans are more willing to talk and engage to other veterans than lay people,” said Charles Gagnon, president and CEO of VOAMass.
The grant will also fund a curriculum on moral injury at the Plymouth Area Veterans Center, at 20 North Park Ave., Cobb said. It will feature six weeks of sessions with all kinds of veterans led by a veteran.
“Moral injury is a big factor in veteran suicide that often gets overlooked,” Cobb said.
Moral injury is distress caused by what veterans experienced or witnessed in combat.
“A lot of guys that don’t want to take a life have to end up taking a life to save them and their brothers,” Cobb said, citing an example of moral injury.
Veterans interested in the program or in need of assistance can email veteranservices@voamass.org, call or text 617-390-0280, or visit the Plymouth Area Veterans Center for additional information.
Additionally, veterans in crisis or those concerned about one can receive 24/7 confidential support by contacting the Veterans Crisis Line: dial 988, then press 1; chat online at www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help-now/chat/; or text to 838255.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org