Tampa General Adds Veterans’ Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Services

The hospital’s three-part initiative combines behavioral health services at its Military and Veterans Primary Care Center, the Help for Heroes program at TGH Behavioral Health Hospital and Project Link, a community outreach effort funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Tampa General says the programs are intended to connect people with support at different levels of need, including treatment for PTSD, depression and substance-use disorders.

The primary care center’s services, developed with Home Base and USF Health, open November 16. They include evaluations, individual therapy for adults and children, family education and ongoing multidisciplinary care. Services are available at no cost to veterans, active-duty personnel, National Guard and Reserve members and their families, regardless of discharge status or ability to pay. Care is offered in person in Tampa and by telehealth throughout Florida.

Help for Heroes launched October 19 and provides trauma-informed treatment for military personnel, veterans, first responders and healthcare workers. Options include inpatient treatment, individual and group therapy, medication management and partial hospitalization, which provides intensive daytime care without an overnight stay.

Project Link will use three veteran peer navigators to identify and support veterans at risk of suicide across Hillsborough County. The program expects to serve about 150 people annually, offering risk screening, care coordination and help accessing treatment, VA benefits and services addressing housing, finances, employment, isolation and transportation. It aims to connect at least 75% of participants with VA or community behavioral health services and provide follow-up and assessments during an initial 90-day period.

The grant was awarded to Florida Health Sciences Center Inc. as part of $9.6 million distributed to 19 organizations in Florida and Georgia, within $112 million awarded to 191 organizations nationwide. The VA’s 2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report recorded 550 veteran suicides in Florida in 2023, the second-highest state total. The state’s rate was 38.6 deaths per 100,000 veterans, compared with 35.2 nationally. Nationwide, 61% of veterans who died by suicide that year had not received Veterans Health Administration care in the year of their death or the preceding year.

Veterans in crisis, or anyone concerned about one, can call 988 and press 1, text 838255 or use VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat. Support is confidential and available around the clock; VA health care enrollment and benefits are not required.