| Veterans
News Flash 
VA’s
Suicide Hot Line Begins Operations
WASHINGTON – To
ensure Veterans with emotional crises have round-the-clock
access to trained professionals, the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) has begun operation
of a national suicide prevention hot line for
Veterans.
“Veterans need to know these VA professionals
are literally a phone call away,” said Secretary
of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. “All service
members who experience the stresses of combat can
have wounds on their minds as well as their bodies. Veterans
should see mental health services as another benefit
they have earned, which the men and women of VA
are honored to provide.”
The toll-free hot line
number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255). VA’s hot line will be
staffed by mental health professionals in Canandaigua,
N.Y. They will take toll-free calls
from across the country and work closely with local
VA mental health providers to help callers.
To operate the national
hot line, VA is partnering with the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
of the Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS).
“The hot line will put Veterans in touch – any
time of the day or night, any day of the week,
from anywhere in the country – with trained,
caring professionals who can help,” added
Nicholson. “This is another example of the
VA’s commitment to provide world-class health
care for our nation’s Veterans, especially
combat Veterans newly returned from Iraq and
Afghanistan.”
The suicide hot line
is among several enhancements to mental health
care that Nicholson has announced this year. In mid July, the Department’s
top mental health professionals convened in the
Washington, D.C., area to review the services provided
to Veterans of the Global War on Terror.
VA is the largest provider
of mental health care in the nation. This year, the Department
will spent about $3 billion for mental health. More
than 9,000 mental health professionals, backed
up by primary care physicians and other health
professionals in every VA medical center and outpatient
clinic, provide mental health care to about 1 million
Veterans each year.
SOURCE:
US Department of Veterans Affair
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