After seeing consistently positive results in the three years following its founding, a Northeast Florida nonprofit that works to reduce veteran suicides plans to begin reaching out to businesses and philanthropic organizations for financial support to expand its reach.
The Fire Watch, which trains volunteers to recognize signs of crisis among veterans and connect them with suicide-prevention services, launched in 2019 with a near-term goal of helping reduce suicides among veterans in Northeast Florida by 25% in 2020 through 2022 compared to the baseline level in 2019.
That year, the organization reported that 81 veterans committed suicide in Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Baker and Nassau counties.