A peer-first crisis system — built for veterans, by a veteran.
Hey — I'm Dr. Jonesy. Combat vet, Army OIF. This is the working Phase I demo of LM4VSP — Language Models for Veteran Suicide Prevention.
Most veteran suicide tech tries to compete with the Veterans Crisis Line. This doesn't. It plugs into the social architecture that's already saving veteran lives — your peer ring — and uses the LLM to route the right signal to the right person at the right time. Peers respond first. Veterans Crisis Line is second-line backup. Hard-coded. No model gets to override.
The thesis
The veterans most likely to die by suicide are the ones who won't dial 988. They'll text a battle buddy at 2 AM before they'll call a stranger. That fact is the design constraint. The LLM doesn't try to be the help — it gets the signal to the people who can.
How it works
- — You connect 3-7 trusted vets to your peer ring (one-time onboarding)
- — You do a self check-in when you need to — text input, no judgment
- — The LLM screens for crisis indicators using a tight RACE-framework clinical scaffold (Columbia C-SSRS, Joiner ITS)
- — Crisis flag → peer ring gets a coded notification ("Bro check on Charlie") within seconds
- — 5-minute peer-response window. If a peer responds, the system holds. If nobody responds in 5 minutes → auto-escalation to Veterans Crisis Line (988 + press 1 / text 838255)
- — Every recommendation is traceable back to a clinical framework citation. Audit log writes every step.
What this isn't
It's not a clinician. It's not a treatment. It's not a substitute for a real conversation with a real human. It's a Phase I demo — proof the architecture works in code, with the peer-network UX flow stubbed for live messaging in Phase I post-award.
If you're in crisis right now: call 988 then press 1, or text 838255. Don't use this demo. Call them.