Veterans Mental Health & Well-Being

Returning soldiers coming home to communities across America are faced with innumerable challenges as they transition out of the military and resume civilian life. Our veterans often face a multitude of physical and mental health challenges, and their families and caregivers feel the impact as well. Nearly one in four men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer with major depression or post-traumatic stress, yet many soldiers who need mental health care are not receiving it.

The Foundation’s Veterans' Mental Health & Well-Being initiative focuses on community-based solutions to aid in the much-needed response to the mental health and community reintegration needs of veterans, military service members, their families and the families of the fallen.

The Foundation also partners with employees in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Veterans Community Network (VCN) to facilitate employee engagement with the veteran community. 

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America Warrior Partnership

The America Warrior Partnership’s project Operation Deep Dive will receive $2,961,536 over four years to identify critical markers of suicide amongst the veteran population to understand and enable the development of more effective interventions to reduce suicide in this population. The project aims to first take a “deep dive” into the individual, organizational, and community factors that contribute to suicides and early mortality due to self-harm among all those who have served in our armed forces, and then create a holistic plan to help communities be more equipped in prevention. (Read More)

Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families will receive $746,930 over 3 years to implement the Connected Communities Pilot. The project will focus on creating solutions that address the root cause of military families’ mental health, social, and financial readiness problems - the disconnect and isolation faced by military families living in civilian communities that undermines their well-being across the board. (Read More)

Code of Support Foundation

Code of Support Foundation will receive $470,000 to ramp up their cloud-based platform, PATRIOTlink^TM, a strategically populated provider assistance tool that allows easy navigation to find resources that are most appropriate for the needs of the service members, veterans, and their families. (Read More)

Mental Health and Chaplaincy

The Mental Health and Chaplaincy Office at the Veterans Health Administration will receive $729,037 over two years to implement the program Equipping Faith Communities and Clergy to Care for Veterans. The project aims to enhance faith communities’ capacities to provide a welcoming and supportive home for veterans. (Read More)

Red Cross

Red Cross will receive $552,500 to launch and operate the Online Peer Support Community Program for military caregivers. This virtual social support will offer the post 9/11 era caregivers access to peer support services that promote their connectedness and reduce their sense of isolation. This Online Peer Support Community Program funded by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation in addition to the Peer Mentor Support, funded by Wounded Warrior Project, and the Community-Based Peer Support, funded by the Bob Woodruff Foundation, will form a broader network to improve military and veteran caregiver social connectedness, increased knowledge and resilience. (Read More)

Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI)

Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving will receive $600,000 over three years to pilot an all-volunteer workforce version of Operation Family Caregiver (OFC), a non-clinical, skills-building support program for caregivers of service men and women who have been wounded in action. RCI will partner with Blue Star Families, whose members will serve as the volunteer coaches that will assist military caregivers to navigate local services and learn how to better cope with and handle the long-term challenges of caregiving. (Read More)

Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (RCI)

Rosalynn Carter Institute will receive $1,661,968 over three years to embed the evidence-based Operation Family Caregiver (OFC) program at the point of service within three VA medical facilities to support caregivers of severely injured and disabled veterans. This project will enable caregivers, who are accompanying veterans to medical appointments at VA, to access care and receive training to develop self-supportive care methods. (Read More)

The Volunteers of America

The Volunteers of America will receive $918,443 over 2 years to design and pilot the Spiritual Resiliency Training Program to support veteran’s recovery from moral injury via a peer-facilitated, multi-dimensional group process. (Read More)

University of Michigan’s Military Support Programs and Networks (M-SPAN)

University of Michigan’s Military Support Programs and Networks (M-SPAN) will receive $585,198 over three years to develop, implement and evaluate After Her Service, an evidence-based resiliency pilot program tailored for post 9-11 women veterans. (Read More)

University of Michigan’s Military Support Programs and Networks (M-SPAN)

University of Michigan’s Military Support Programs and Networks (M-SPAN) will receive $848,870 over two years for their project Peer Advisors for Veteran Education (P.A.V.E) to develop a replicable and scalable version of the earlier funded version of the P.A.V.E model, a peer to-peer program connecting student veterans on participating college campuses with peer advisors. (Read More)

Zero8hundred

Zero8hundred will receive $396,561 over two years to expand the Military Transition Support Project and implement a comprehensive program focused on supporting transitioning military families. (Read More)