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VA 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.

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Larry Scott

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