Advocates Want Veterans With Less-Than-Honorable Discharges To Take Advantage Of VA Mental Health Program
The program was started last summer, but almost no one has sought to utilize the services. "It’s a failure to contact them. To fully inform them. And to break the stigma,” said Kristofer Goldsmith, an Iraq vet who works with the Vietnam Veterans of America.
KPBS:
VA Program To Lower Suicide Rate Has Few Takers
The Veterans Health Administration in 2017 offered to treat vets who don’t normally qualify for care because they earned a less-than-honorable discharge. Almost no one used the program. Now veterans' groups are hoping a change in the program will help that group of veterans when they struggle with thoughts of suicide. (Walsh, 9/4)
In other mental health news —
Los Angeles Times:
USC-Verdugo Hills Hospital To Address Stigma Of Suicide In Annual Conference
On Saturday, medical professionals and motivational speakers will address the stigma surrounding the topic of suicide and shed light on California’s End of Life Option Act, as USC Verdugo Hills Hospital hosts its third annual Suicide Awareness and Prevention Conference. Held in conjunction with Worldwide Suicide Prevention Day, which falls on Sept. 10, the inaugural event was started in 2016 to respond to community members grieving the deaths of local teens in La Cañada and La Crescenta who took their lives, according to hospital officials. (Cardine, 9/4)