The Battle Continues: Increasing Mental Health Care for Veterans and Their Families
Each year on Veterans Day, Americans show their respect and appreciation for the commitment of lifelong service that veterans and their families make to our country. But like any other group of individuals, veterans are not all the same. They come from very different walks of life and often have different military experiences, of which less than one third includes combat experience, yet make significant sacrifices as a part of their service.
Strikingly, approximately 22 veterans die by suicide every day, according to the VA. Approximately 30% of veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts experience mental health and substance use disorders, yet less than half receive any mental health treatment. Veteran families are also deeply affected by their family members' service, as lengths of deployments are associated with more emotional difficulties among military children and more mental health problems among U.S. Army wives, according to research shared by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.
Important efforts have been made to increase access to and use of mental health care among veterans in the past few decades. One example includes the legacy of former Georgia Senator and administrator of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA), Max Cleland, who passed away earlier this month. Other examples include the work of countless advocates, such as Matt Kuntz, Executive Director of NAMI Montana, who has been instrumental in service branches requiring mental health screenings for all service members, and Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, who founded Give an Hour in 2005 to enlist mental health professionals to provide free services to U.S. troops, veterans, their loved ones, and their communities.
In spite of these exemplary efforts, there are still gaps in the services provided to veterans by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and other programs due to accessibility, quality, cost, or qualification, especially as mental health needs among veterans and their family members grow. In an effort to fill these gaps, Mindful Philanthropy is highlighting four ways philanthropy can support veteran mental health:
Provide inclusive and culturally appropriate clinical services for veterans, regardless of qualification, and their families, who make considerable sacrifices in supporting their veteran family member through many relocations, deployments, and re-entry to civilian life
Increase access to wraparound supports, community building activities, group based support, and family engagement for those struggling with mental health or substance use challenges
Expand public private partnerships to ensure collaboration and handoff between organizations working on these issues, including faith-based groups, universities, nonprofits, corporations, and small businesses, as well as state and local governments
Increase investment in veteran suicide prevention research to identify risk factors and develop tailored screening, detection, and treatment programs specific to veterans
One program that is working holistically to fill these gaps specifically in clinical care for veterans and their family members is the Cohen Veterans Network, which was launched in 2015 to improve veteran quality of life by focusing on improving mental health outcomes, especially those associated with post-traumatic stress and related challenges. With now over 20 clinics across the country, CVN works with local partners to provide direct mental health care to veterans and their families regardless of their qualifications.
