WASHINGTON, DC] – The Senate unanimously passed the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act last week, bipartisan legislation to improve veterans’ mental health services, which includes a provision authored by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) to expand the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) suicide prevention media outreach campaigns. Applauding the bill’s passage, Blumenthal released the following statement:
“This issue unites us all. We’ve all seen the devastating impacts on our community from mental health, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries. Connecticut’s own Staff Sergeant Tyler Michael Reeb, who served as a sniper on various tours in the Marine Corps, took his own life in October of last year. His is one of countless heartbreaking stories, evidence of the failure of our mental health system to help those who gave their lives – literally – for our nation. This bill provides many critically – potentially lifesaving – programs and funding for veterans who may suffer from the invisible wounds of war. I will keep fighting to make sure it becomes law.”
The Senate passed this comprehensive mental health package to provide critical programs and funding to strengthen access to mental health services for our country’s veterans. The bill includes a provision based on the Reach Every Veteran in Crisis Act, authored by Blumenthal. This provision would improve the operation, oversight, and evaluation of its suicide prevention media outreach campaigns. It adopts several recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which reported in December 2018 that the VA’s suicide prevention outreach activities had “dropped off in 2017 and 2018.” The provision establishes targets to evaluate the efficacy of its mental health and suicide prevention outreach campaigns and creates a process to oversee VA’s suicide prevention media outreach campaigns.
The Senate-passed Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act also includes provisions long-supported by Blumenthal to authorize a report on expanding care for veterans with other-than-honorable discharges who are currently ineligible to receive VA benefits and to strengthen support for service members transitioning from military to civilian life.
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