Part One in a Five-part Series
This Veterans Day, Americans will pay tribute to our military veterans, and to the men and women who have recently returned home from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need much more than the usual tributes and lip service about how much a grateful nation appreciates their sacrifice. Our members of Congress need to issue a new collective and dramatic “call to arms” to help reintegrate veterans with mental health conditions into their families, their communities, and the workplace.
Making the investment in the lives of returning soldiers with mental health conditions can make a real difference. We need to increase service capacity through the use of community-based care, use new technologies and the workforce that is available. Clinical Mental Health Counselors are ready to serve in this capacity to address the mental health needs of returning veterans.
Our country must do what it takes to encourage service members, veterans and their families to get help when and where it is needed. As citizens—neighbors, employers and friends—we need to listen and care.
To make good on our assertion that we value our soldiers’ service to our country, we need to:
- Recognize the mental harm that combat can cause,
- Reduce stigma by regarding war-related injuries mental health as wounds of war, and
- Ensure reliable access to mental health treatment.
Not only can we save lives and improve health with the right investments, according to the RAND Corporation, if all 210,000 untreated veterans with PTSD and/or major depression were to receive evidence-based Care, the $481 million investment needed – according to RAND to get the job done – would result in over $1.2 billion in cost savings, a return on investment of 2.5 to 1 in 2015.
Thank You from AMHCA
Tomorrow's Part Two: Recognizing the Mental Impact of War