DoD and VA Need for Partnerships, Warns NAMI Convention

Ask just about any group out here in the real world and they will agree with this. The VA and the DOD cannot do it alone. Ask any expert and they will tell you that there is a deep need for clergy to get involved as well. The biggest problem is, getting from here to where we need to be.

Military and Veterans Mental Health: State Budget Crises Hurt DoD and VA Need for Partnerships, Warns NAMI Convention


Download image WASHINGTON, July 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- American troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and other veterans cannot depend solely on the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) for mental health care—even though the civilian mental health care system is in crisis, according to the annual convention of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) held this past week.


"The VA and DoD can't do it alone. We need to rely on community providers," declared Jon Towers, senior policy advisor on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs at a symposium broadcast live on C-SPAN.

In the opening speech at the 2010 NAMI Convention, U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy warned, "Every day in America, our military veterans are being held behind enemy lines" because of the nation's "Byzantine mental health system."

"By changing the mental health system for veterans, we will change it for all of us," Kennedy said.

"We're only going to see great progress when the civilian community starts paying attention," said Tom Tarantino, legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in the July 2 symposium.

"This shouldn't be a DoD-VA dialogue, but a national dialogue," said the Army Surgeon General's special assistant for mental health, Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, M.D., who called for a "needs assessment" in local communities to identify duplications and gaps in efforts.
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State Budget Crises Hurt DoD and VA Need for Partnerships