STATES SEEKING TO FILL THE GAP IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR RETURNING VETERANS
Volume 28, Issue 493 June 11, 2007
Sarah Steverman
A growing number of states are acting to fill a perceived gap in mental health services for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, for example, the Texas Legislature sent a bill to the Governor aimed at helping returning Veterans readjust to their communities.
Authored by Senator Royce West, SB 1058 requires the state to develop a program to refer returning veterans and their families to counseling services. Community-based organizations offering mental health services already provide treatment, but this bill helps veterans and their family members get connected to providers. The services must be evidence-based practices and be carried out, when possible, in community rather than military settings.
The program is necessary “in order to support those young people coming back to Texas and their families…in their readjustment to society,” Senator West said.
“It has become very, very clear that there are significant gaps in services for our recent Veterans and their families,” Senator Leticia Van de Putte, co-sponsor of the bill added. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) does not have adequate services available, and “until they can address that capacity problem, Texas is stepping up to the plate.”
The VA is taking some steps to increase the number of mental health services for Veterans. Last week, for example, it announced plans to hire 100 new counselors to provide reintegration counseling services at the 209 VA operated community-based Vet Centers around the nation. But critics say that even with this help, VA mental health services will remain inadequate. The National Veterans Foundation and families of veterans that have died by suicide after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan say Veterans are often dissuaded from seeking help by bureaucratic obstacles, as well as a military culture that does not give proper credence to the severity of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other mental health needs of those returning from war.
States are acting in part because they want to prevent some of the costly mental health-related problems (such as substance use disorders and homelessness) that arose during and after the Vietnam war. Experts say that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have the potential to create more mental health problems than the Vietnam war in part because for many servicemen and women, the tours of duty are lasting more than twice as long.
The geographic distribution of VA facilities also may make it more difficult for some states to meet the mental health needs of their returning Veterans. In some previous wars, drafts were used to meet the military’s personnel needs. Those drafts were designed to draw troops from around the country, more or less equally. VA hospitals and clinics were then built around the nation, in accordance with the drafts.
But today’s volunteer military draws many of its members from rural, less affluent areas, especially in the South. Accounts have been reported of VA facilities in these areas being overwhelmed and unable to meet the needs of the veterans and families in their jurisdictions.
According to his family, Jonathon Schulze, a Marine who served in Iraq, asked to be admitted to a VA hospital twice and was turned away on both occasions. He took his own life in January. Some Veterans are unable to get to their “local” VA clinics for mental health treatment because those facilities are so far away. The longer a Vet with mental health needs goes without treatment, the more debilitated he or she may become, making that veteran even less able to seek out help and more at risk for endangering himself or attempting suicide.
Some State Strategies
In Massachusetts, lawmakers are considering a bill (HB 3728) that would create a commission to study the mental health needs of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The 11-member commission would include representatives of the House and Senate leadership, as well as representatives from the state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the state National Guard, the VA and two designees of the governor.
“The VA has not been there enough for veterans with mental health problems,” said Representative Anthony Verga, chairman of the House Veteran and Federal Affairs Committee. “We see the stories of veterans committing suicide and waiting for benefits and struggling to find care.” The Veteran and Federal Affairs committee estimates that 25 percent of the 28,000 service members who have returned to the state since September 11, 2001 have faced “serious mental health challenges.” Governor Deval Patrick has stated that he will sign the legislation if it is sent to him.
In addition to efforts to form a commission, Massachusetts’ FY 2008 appropriations bill, passed in April, designates $3.75 million for the implementation of a statewide suicide prevention program, a portion of which is to be used specifically for a Crisis Hotline for Veterans.
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty signed HB 2227 in early May, appropriating $80,000 for mental health support (including suicide prevention) for returning veterans. Of that money, $50,000 will fund a study on the mental health needs of returning servicemen and women, and the remaining $30,000 will be used to create a telephone hotline to refer veterans to available mental health services.
© Copyright 2007, State Health Notes
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