Standing Watch
Training is the beginning.
The Standing Watch Partner Hub gives community partners the resources, refreshers, and practical next steps needed to keep the program active inside their organizations and communities.
Whether you represent a workplace, church, veteran organization, civic group, local business, community gathering place, or another trusted space, this hub is here to help you keep showing up.
Notice. Ask. Stay. Connect.
Already completed or scheduled Standing Watch training? You are in the right place.
New to Standing Watch? Learn about the program.
Welcome
Standing Watch exists to strengthen the communities around veterans and service members.
Some of us served. Some of us are serving now. Some of us are military family members. Some of us never wore the uniform.
Every one of us can choose to pay attention, stand beside another person, reduce isolation, and help create a connection to support.
Community partners are not expected to become clinicians or manage difficult situations alone. They are asked to become steadier, more prepared, and more useful when someone nearby may be struggling.
“We are not asking communities to become clinicians. We are helping communities become better neighbors to the people who have served them.”
The line holds because we hold it together.
Onboarding
A Standing Watch partner does not need to do everything at once. Begin with a few practical actions that make trusted support easier to find and community connection easier to maintain.
Choose one person inside your organization who can receive program updates, coordinate materials, and help schedule future training.
Make sure key staff, volunteers, or leaders remember the four actions: Notice. Ask. Stay. Connect.
Place current crisis and veteran-support information somewhere visible and accessible.
Make sure trained participants and appropriate organizational leaders know where to find these resources.
Select one realistic way your organization can strengthen connection during the next 30 days.
Plan when your organization will review materials, request additional training, or reconnect with The Veterans Phalanx.
Do not collect personal crisis disclosures, medical information, diagnoses, or treatment histories as part of your Standing Watch partnership.
Refresher
Standing Watch partners are not expected to remember every slide from Tier 1. They should remember the role they can responsibly play.
Pay attention when something changes.
Look for meaningful shifts in:
Behavior · Communication · Mood · Routine · Connection · Circumstances · Substance use · Expressions of hopelessness or being a burden
Risk factors tell us to pay attention. Warning signs tell us to act.
Speak directly, clearly, and without judgment.
Suggested language: “Are you thinking about suicide?”
Do not avoid the word suicide when direct concern exists. Asking clearly gives the person an opportunity to answer honestly.
Do not shame, lecture, debate, minimize, use vague euphemisms, or promise secrecy when someone may be in danger.
Remain calm and present.
Listen. Slow the moment down. Avoid arguing. Avoid making promises you cannot keep.
Do not make the situation about yourself. Do not attempt to manage an armed crisis yourself.
Stay involved while support is being connected when it is safe to do so.
Help create a real connection to qualified support.
A phone number by itself is not always a connection.
Whenever possible, help the person make the call, send the text, reach a trusted support person, connect with a crisis service, reach an appropriate professional resource, or move toward the next safe step.
Our Lane
Not Our Lane
Language
Language can reduce stigma or reinforce it.
Use
Avoid
Say the hard thing without adding shame.
Practice
What can your organization realistically do this month? Standing Watch partnership should be practical and sustainable. Partners do not need to create a new department or build an elaborate suicide-prevention program. Choose actions that fit the people, capacity, and environment you already have.
A Good First Month
Materials
Use these resources inside your organization, workplace, gathering place, or community. Standing Watch resources should be shared responsibly and kept current.
Available Now
Web page
A concise introduction to the Standing Watch program, training model, community-readiness mission, prevention, postvention, and partnership.
Reference
Current crisis-support information for veterans, service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and those who support them.
Resources in Development
Request Printed Materials →These resources are being written, reviewed, or produced. Partners who need materials in the meantime can request them through the Partner Support form below.
A brief public-facing introduction to Standing Watch and how community partners help strengthen the line.
Guidance for businesses, neighbors, community groups, veteran organizations, and local partners responding after a suicide death or suspected suicide death.
A concise refresher on the four actions at the center of Standing Watch.
Safe, direct, non-stigmatizing language for conversations and communication involving suicide.
Practical reasons to act when someone’s behavior, communication, connection, or circumstances change.
A simple onboarding checklist for organizations beginning their Standing Watch partnership.
A calm, readable poster that makes trusted crisis and veteran-support resources easier to find.
Approved email, newsletter, and social copy partners can use to explain their participation in Standing Watch.
Standing Watch materials may be shared for community education and partner use. Do not alter crisis-resource information, remove safety language, imply certification, or present The Veterans Phalanx as a crisis provider.
Response
A suicide death or suspected suicide death can affect family members, friends, coworkers, employees, customers, fellow veterans, service members, students, neighbors, and others throughout a community. A community partner does not have to become the help. A community partner can help someone find it.
Steady. Private. Useful.
In the First Hours
Safe Communication — Use
Safe Communication — Avoid
A fast post can cause lasting harm. A steady pause can protect people.
The complete Standing Watch guide for responding after a suicide loss with dignity, privacy, safe communication, practical support, and trusted resources.
Trusted Support
Standing Watch helps partners connect people to trusted support. It does not replace professional, clinical, crisis, medical, legal, or emergency services.
National Crisis Support
Veterans Crisis Line
For veterans, service members, National Guard, Reserve, and those who support them.
Veteran and Military Support
The Veterans Phalanx publishes specific contact information only after verification.
Local Support
The Veterans Phalanx is building a curated local resource guide for the communities served by Standing Watch. Local information must be verified before publication.
Local resource guide in development
Report a Resource UpdateThe Veterans Phalanx and Standing Watch do not provide crisis counseling or emergency response. We help connect people to trusted support.
Continue
Standing Watch is built around repeated presence, responsible action, and long-term connection. Use this section to request additional support from The Veterans Phalanx.
Training is the beginning.
Tell us what your organization needs. The Veterans Phalanx will follow up to discuss materials, training, resource questions, or future involvement.
Closing
Standing Watch partnership is not measured by how many posters are displayed or how many times an organization mentions the program.
It is measured by whether people are more prepared to notice concern, have a direct conversation, remain steady, and help someone reach support.
The line is all of us.
The line holds because we hold it together.
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