Mission & Goals

As part of the Department of Defense’s comprehensive suicide prevention strategy, the MSRC, will research the causes and prevention of suicide. The MSRC's research will assist in the development of more effective prevention interventions, risk assessment methods and treatments to decrease suicide. Findings will provide the scientific basis for suicide prevention policy recommendations and clinical practice guidelines.

The Consortium’s overall mission can be summarized as follows; each function is developed with the goal of clear military relevance:

  • Produce new scientific knowledge about suicidal behavior in the military that improves mental health outcomes for our men and women in uniform.
  • Use high quality research methods and analyses to address problems in policy and practice that have a direct impact on suicide-related and other mental health outcomes for military personnel.
  • Disseminate Consortium knowledge, information, and findings through a variety of methods appropriate for decision makers, practitioners, and others who are accountable for ensuring the mental health of military personnel. This includes a rapid response function so that queries from decision makers and others to the Consortium are answered with speed and efficiency. Technical assistance and support for decision makers and others is an integral aspect of this Consortium function. This aspect of the Consortium warehouses knowledge about suicidal behavior in general (e.g., from civilian and international sources as well as from military sources), so that military issues can be informed in a comprehensive manner.
  • Train future leaders in military suicide research through experience within a multi-disciplinary setting for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars interested in research questions on military suicide of both a basic and applied nature.

Goals

  • Monitor all current suicide research as well as integrate the currently funded DOD suicide prevention studies.
  • Facilitate the development of an evidence-based comprehensive military suicide prevention approach that includes risk screening, assessment, and prevention and intervention efforts.
  • Pool military and civilian efforts to support military-related research initiatives from multiple practice areas, such as behavioral health, emergency departments, and primary care clinics.
  • Integrate, synchronize, and implement a multidisciplinary research approach to suicide prevention.
  • Rally experts, academia, and industry in addition to marshaling its own resources in an attempt to define causal factors that contribute to suicidal behaviors.
  • Expand our knowledge and capacity to prevent, treat and enhance the quality of life of persons in military communities and the general public who are affected by suicide-related issues.