Members of the color guard, from left, Karl Klonowski, Gregory S. Majesky, Joanna Rodney, and Grant Brewer, listen as President Bush speaks at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Thursday, Nov. 11, 2004 in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
If you’re dealing with mental health issues or have contemplated suicide, call the national crisis hotline by dialing 988, 24 hours a day.
Military veterans in New York are twice as likely to report having a disability than they did fifteen years ago. That’s one of the findings in a recent report commissioned by the New York Health Foundation.
Veterans have relatively high rates of physical and mental health issues, including PTSD and depression. But the report says the sharp increase in disabilities may be because veterans are reporting them more and seeking more help.
Derek Coy, a senior program officer at the New York Health Foundation and also a Marines veteran, told David Sommerstein that younger generations are overcoming the stigma of seeking counseling and other therapy that has been common in the military for decades. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
DEREK COY: Maybe they wouldn’t have sought out a disability rating or VA compensation for a mental health issue. There’s also something that we seen as a result of The PACT Act, which was the largest expansion of veteran benefits in a generation. What that does is expand benefits for veterans who were likely exposed to toxic chemicals, so we’ve seen a lot of things that have allowed veterans to come forward and admit some of the issues they’re having, but also make it easier for them to claim disability compensation.
DAVID SOMMERSTEIN: Let’s dive into this generational shift that you’re talking about here — there being less of a stigma to seek mental health care and health care of all kinds. How does that change how we as a society can help veterans get the care they need?
COY: Absolutely. One thing that I always do is to point out that Vietnam veterans in particular have done so much to raise awareness about issues around mental health and the invisible wounds of war. What we’re seeing is not only the reduction in stigma because of those generations prior, but we’ve also seen a really unique veterans-to-veterans network, especially in rural communities, which are very tight-knit and self-reliant, where you kind of know everyone and you have a similar culture.
If one person comes up and says, ‘hey, you know what, I’ve been having some mental health issues and I’ve been seeking care and have a great service,’ that’s going to really open up the doors to a lot of other folks that might not have felt comfortable coming forward, for stigma, worried maybe about their job if they’re still in the military, maybe a security clearance.
So we’ve seen a lot of things that have changed and now, it’s very common for folks even outside of the military community to admit, hey, you know, I’m having some anxiety. I’m feeling depression. Maybe I’m feeling things that I don’t understand, and I want to talk to someone.
SOMMERSTEIN: So the next obvious question is, are these veterans able to get the mental health and physical medical care that they’re seeking?
COY: Yes, that’s a great question. Unfortunately on the whole, not nearly as much as they should. What we’ve seen is that we know there’s a shortage of mental health care providers nationwide. It’s really hard just to find one in general. Do they accept your insurance? Are they accepting new appointments? On top of that, do they have any kind of military cultural competencies. Do they have an understanding of what some of the unique mental health needs of veterans are? As we’ve seen, that’s really not the case.
So we’ve seen an increased reliance on tele-mental health, which is actually great. It’s able to provide services to rural communities, where folks might not have easy access to the VA otherwise. But there are still a lot of issues with connectivity for internet, even just cell phones. Do you have a reliable connection so that if you do have a mental health provider that you’re seeing through tele-mealth health services, is it secure, is it able to meet the needs that are required? We’re seeing a lot of those issues across the board, unfortunately.
SOMMERSTEIN: This report makes several recommendations. What do you think is the biggest message and the biggest recommendation that would provide help and provide the resources that veterans are asking for?
COY: One that encompasses all of them and kind of leads to the rest is expanding outreach about benefits. We know that veterans, according to this study, think benefits are great and they’re useful, but they’re still not utilizing them.
There are a few things there. One is just the military culture, where you’re taught to endure and persevere regardless of your situation. You also see that in rural communities, where there’s a culture of self-reliance and hardiness about being able to make it on your own. But there are a lot of benefits out there that veterans either don’t know they have access to or just feel like, ‘hey, maybe some other veterans have it worse, so I don’t want to take away their benefits.’ But that’s just not the way it works.
So I think there should be more expansion of outreach to veterans so they know this is what they’ve earned. We should also be working on strengthening and expanding a lot of these services. Like I mentioned, mental health, tele-mental health, or anything else, especially veteran-specific suicide prevention programs, which is also another huge issue facing rural communities and veterans in particular.
