State Initiatives 

 www.nationalguard.mil/wrf January 2023 1

The National Guard Bureau (NGB) Manpower and Personnel Directorate’s (J1) Warrior Resilience and Fitness (WRF) Division 

works with States, Territories, and the District of Columbia to identify, evaluate, select, and disseminate evidence-informed

practices across the National Guard (NG). State Initiatives promote resiliency and prevent harmful behaviors including 

suicide. These state-driven activities receive funding and technical assistance to establish local implementation and evaluate 

effectiveness. Successful State Initiatives may transition to broader efforts with NGB support (see NGB-J1 Initiatives and 

Programs fact sheet for more details).

Identify Populations at Risk (e.g., screening tools, gatekeeper training)

Behavioral Health 

Primary Prevention & 

Retention

NM, SD ARNG/ANG

Proactively screen new recruits for pre-existing risk factors and provide preventative support to 

at-risk Service members (SMs). Screening for SMs during Recruit Sustainment Program to identify 

risk factors and provide proactive case management.

Mental Health First Aid

RI ARNG/ANG

Enhance prevention and intervention skills for a range of behavioral health (BH) issues. Full-day 

training teaches participants to recognize signs of distress and intervene for a range of BH issues; 

offered to SMs, families, civilians, and contractors.

VReal

NE ANG

Increase confidence in using gatekeeper skills through virtual reality. Virtual reality training with 

scenarios depicting Airmen in crisis to improve participants’ confidence and ability to apply 

gatekeeper skills for suicide prevention. 

Voi Detect

AZ ANG

Expand suicide risk assessment for crisis identification. Suicide risk assessment tool enabling 

non-clinician providers to identify SMs at risk of suicide and make crisis intervention referrals.

Peer Influencer

WY ARNG

Intervene at signs of risk for domestic and sexual violence. Bystander intervention workshop 

that trains junior and emerging leaders to identify individuals at risk for domestic and sexual 

violence, promote a culture of respect, and link those at risk to resources.

SOAR

FL ANG

Support Wingman wellness, resilience, and reintegration through peer advocacy. Trains SMs to 

support peers impacted by operational stress, trauma, or traumatic loss and encourage the use of 

helping resources and services. 

Provide Resources (e.g., access to care, crisis intervention)

SafeUTNG

UT ARNG

Reduce barriers to care through crisis intervention mobile app. A mobile app offers live chat with 

local clinicians, in partnership with the University of Utah, and allows SMs and their families to 

submit concerns about high-risk behavior.

Real-time Therapy App

AR ARNG/ANG

Provide mental health (MH) and stress management resources to monitor unit wellbeing in 

real-time. Resources built into state’s Guard App assess MH and provide access to therapeutic 

tools 24-7, while allowing commanders to track broad trends in their units’ wellbeing.

Sleep Disruption

UT ARNG

Monitor and support healthy sleeping patterns. Uses wearable sleep trackers to measure SM 

sleeping patterns and inform future strategies for mitigating risk (e.g., sleep intervention and 

education).

Coordinated Care Team

WY ARNG

Increase SMs’ access to and use of helpful services. 24-7 resource hotline for SMs in-need that 

provides a warm handoff to local resources, services, and organizations that address health and 

wellbeing concerns.

Virtual Personal Training

& Nutrition Coaching

AZ ARNG

Improve SMs’ physical fitness and nutrition via online support for goal-setting and 

accountability. Assigns a virtual personal trainer/nutrition coach, via online app, to provide 

personalized support for ABCP SMs/ACFT failures.

146th Airlift Wing 

Nutrition Initiative

CA ANG

Provide nutrition education and planning for SMs and their families. In-person and virtual 

sessions with a nutritionist for SMs struggling to pass fitness tests and their immediate family.
State Initiatives 

 www.nationalguard.mil/wrf January 2023 2

Create Protective Environments (e.g., economic support, manage access to lethal means)

CALM and Collect

GU ARNG

Reduce access to lethal means among SMs at imminent risk for suicide. Trains providers on

CALM (Counseling on Access to Lethal Means) to facilitate collaborative strategies for reducing 

suicide risk related to firearms, medications, and other lethal means.

Firearm Safety and 

Suicide Prevention 

NY ANG

Provide firearm safety education for SMs and families to reduce stigma related to suicide 

prevention. Firearm safety courses educate SMs and their families on safe storage practices and 

lethal means reduction for suicide prevention. 

Enhance Life Skills and Connectedness (e.g., relationship skills, responsible alcohol use)

First Line Leader Course: 

Relational Leadership 

OH ARNG

Build trust through counseling and relationship skills training for first-line leaders. Advanced 

training for conducting effective individual counseling with SMs, building professional 

relationships with subordinates, and facilitating unit cohesion.

Electronic Couples 

Relationship Education 

MI, RI ARNG/ANG

Build couples’ relationship skills to promote psychological health. A mixed-methods initial 

efficacy trial, in partnership with Michigan State University, that assesses how relationship 

education impacts psychological health.

142nd Air Wing Resiliency 

Team and Training 

OR ANG

Enhance resiliency through centralized resources and online training. Embedded one stop shop 

services and resources combined with EvenPulse training, which offers live, online, skill-based 

resilience training.

Purple Resolve

NV ARNG/ANG

Promote collective resilience and connectedness through interactive training. Annual force-wide

training to promote cultural change by enhancing connectedness and collective resiliency.

Operational Stress 

Management

IL ARNG/ANG

Strengthen operational stress management among first responders. Four-day training for

domestic response units with a high mobilization rate to improve operational stress management.

Building Resilience

PA ANG

Bolster resilience through personalized action plans. Workshops facilitate group conversations to 

identify resilient behaviors for use after stressful experiences and assist participants in developing 

their own "Personal Resilience Action Plan." 

Connection for 

Protection

IA ARNG/ANG

Improve unit culture through advanced emotional intelligence training. Embeds emotional 

intelligence trainers in units to support the development and implementation of Team Action 

Plans for improving emotional intelligence, work culture, job satisfaction, and retention.

Promoting 

Connectedness

MA ARNG/ANG

Facilitate peer-to-peer relationship cultivation and unit cohesion. Annual recreational event with

outdoor-adventure, team building, and community volunteering activities to improve 

connectedness and protect against downstream harmful behaviors.

Operational Neurofitness

WA ANG

Supplement physical fitness with mindfulness-based neurological conditioning. Diverse 

mindfulness-based education and trainings to enhance neurological-physiological conditioning

using free and contracted trainings adapted to NG.

Veterans Online Power 

Breath and Meditation 

Workshop

IL ARNG/ANG

Mitigate BH and MH concerns through group-based breathwork and mindfulness practices.

Online workshops incorporate breathwork, group discussion, yoga, meditation, and journaling to 

improve coping skills and stress management among SMs with military stress-related concerns.

Change Culture to Promote Help-seeking (e.g., resource coordination, holistic health)

Resiliency and Unit 

Cohesion Program

OR ARNG

Improve unit wellbeing through multi-component course. 3-day course on languages of 

appreciation in the workplace, team culture development, running gait analysis, sleep, and 

resilience to complement efforts to improve unit culture.
State Initiatives 

 www.nationalguard.mil/wrf January 2023 3

Wellness Onboarding

OR ANG

Build protective habits during new recruit trainings. 4-hour onboarding to new SMs to build

healthy habits through body composition and gait analysis; nutrition, physical fitness, and 

ergonomic consults; and a wellness resource tour.

Comprehensive Soldier 

Fitness Course

MN ARNG/ANG

Integrates prevention across domains through skills-based training. Resilience-focused course 

includes physical fitness, nutrition, goal-setting, relationships, substance misuse, finances, 

meditation, sleep hygiene, and spiritual resources.

For more information, please contact SFC Daniel Hoke at daniel.l.hoke.mil@army.mil.