From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Improvements Needed for Veteran Suicide Prevention Outreach Description: Suicide prevention is one of the Department of Veterans Affairs's top priorities. GAO reviewed one of VA's suicide prevention initiatives, a national outreach campaign to raise awareness of suicide prevention resources among veterans and their loved ones. Related GAO Work: GAO-19-66: VA HEALTH CARE: Improvements Needed in Suicide Prevention Media Outreach Campaign Oversight and Evaluation Learn more: https://gao.gov/products/GAO-19-66 Released: December 2018 [ Background Music ] GAO logo on a black background [ Narrator ] [ video clips of veterans in action ] After military service, many veterans struggle with mental health conditions and other hardships [ video close-ups of people in uniform ] that put them at a higher risk for suicide. [ VA logo and seal appear on a white background ] The Department of Veterans Affairs reports that an average of 20 veterans die by suicide each day [ "on average, 20 Veterans die by suicide each day." comes in on the screen as if being typed ], a third of which were recent users of VA healthcare services. According to VA [ images of Veteran's with family members ], suicide prevention is the agency's highest clinical priority. The VA has many suicide [ a picture of a man in the background with the words, "Veteran Suicide: Ask the Question ] prevention initiatives, including a national media outreach campaign. [ white background appears with the Veteran's Crisis Line logo, their phone number and website ] The primary focus of the campaign has been to raise awareness about the Veteran's Crisis Line, a toll-free number that any veteran can call to be connected to a trained responder. [ Man on telephone ] [ A man appears on the screen and is talking into a headset ] I'm also a veteran so I can understand your concerns but we're here for you, my friend. [ Narrator ] [ VA Crisis Line logo appears and screenshots of the different media platforms come on the screen as the narrator is describing them ] We reviewed VA suicide prevention media outreach efforts since 2012. VA has developed outreach content used on websites, on social media platforms--such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram--in brochures, and posters, in advertisements--like billboards and bus ads--and in television and radio public service announcements, among other things. [ PSA Speaker ] [ Video of a veteran who is receiving a referral to call the VA Crisis Line from a friend ] We're all in this together. When you recognize something isn't right, make the call to the [ White background appears with the Veteran's Crisis Line logo, their phone number and website ] Veteran's Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. [ Narrator ] [ White background with the words "Report #: GA0-19-66" are typed across the screen ] We also found areas where the agency could improve its oversight of the campaign, [ A graph appears showing the trends of social media content developed for VA ] specifically VA's media outreach efforts have dropped off, while the responsible office lacked consistent leadership in 2017 and 2018. [ Images of a magnifying glass and graphs move across the screen ] We also found that VA doesn't have targets to measure campaign success, which it could use to [ videos of veterans with families and friends are played across the screen ] help ensure that the agency is focusing its content and strategy to reach veterans most effectively. [ White background appears with report number at the top. The words "VA Suicide Prevention Media Outreach" are moved across the screen ] To learn more about our findings and recommendations to help the VA improve its outreach, [ GAO.gov logo appears ] check out our report at gao.gov.