| Veterans
News Flash 
Mental
Health Experts Convene for Summit
May 23, 2007
Nicholson: 100 New Outreach Workers for Latest
Combat Vets
WASHINGTON -- To ensure returning combat veterans
are receiving the latest, world-class mental health
care, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is
convening a four-day meeting here in July of mental
health clinicians and researchers from across the
country.
“The veterans of the Global War on Terror
have earned top-notch health care, and that includes
mental health care,” said Secretary of Veterans
Affairs Jim Nicholson. “This meeting of our
top mental health experts will ensure our mental
health programs remain the best in the world.”
Nicholson
also announced that VA will hire 100 new employees
to provide readjustment counseling at the Department’s
209 community-based Vet Centers.
The
expansion is on top of Nicholson’s announcement
earlier in the year to hire 100 new medical center
employees to serve as advocates for the severely
wounded. VA also recently hired 100 new Vet Center
employees, who are combat veterans, to conduct
outreach to veterans of the Global War on Terror.
VA
operates one of the largest mental health programs
in the country, with an annual budget of nearly
$3 billion solely for mental health services. About
1 million of VA’s patients have a mental
health diagnosis. The Department employs about
9,000 mental health professionals, which does not
include the mental health services provided by
primary care physicians and other providers.
The upcoming meeting in the Washington area of
mental health professionals will cover a wide range
of issues, from integrating mental health services
with primary care, to combat trauma, suicide prevention
and the special needs of the newest generation
of combat veterans.
Mental
health services are provided at each of VA’s
153 medical centers and nearly 900 community-based
outpatient clinics. Each medical center has a PTSD
Clinical Team or a specialist who focuses on the
treatment of PTSD.
VA
is a world leader in treatment and research concerning
PTSD. The Department’s National
Center for PTSD is internationally recognized for
its research into PTSD, other combat-related mental
health issues and non-combat mental health trauma.
SOURCE:
US Department of Veterans Affair
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