Tri-sector Partnership for Military Suicide Prevention: Developing, Testing, and Scaling Wingman Guardian Connect

Our tri-sector partnership (Department of the Air Force, University of Rochester, and SafeSide Prevention, LLC) developed, tested, and scaled up Wingman Guardian Connect (WGC), the first RCT-validated program shown to reduce suicide risk, depression, and occupational problems in a broad military population (Wyman et al., 2020). Using the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework (Aarons et al., 2011) adapted for a military context, we trace the partnership from an initial Department of Defense grant (2014) through data-driven program development, a cluster RCT demonstrating efficacy (N = 1500 active-duty personnel), extension to operational installations, and ongoing force-wide scale-up across 72 installations. The partnership produced three outcomes addressing long-standing barriers to reducing military suicides: (1) a network enhancement training model that replaced lecture-based prevention programming, (2) methods enabling randomized trials of universal prevention in non-clinical military populations, and (3) a data-informed implementation strategy incorporating a National Institute of Mental Health-funded hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial. We describe how the tri-sector model-combining academic research rigor, governmental policy authority, and private-sector operational capacity-overcame challenges including leadership turnover and intervention fidelity at scale. We conclude with recommendations for partnerships seeking to advance evidence-based prevention within governmental agencies.