Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs (HVAC) helped pass the bipartisan Supporting the Resilience of Our Nation's Great Veterans Act of 2022 or the STRONG Veterans Act to expand the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) resources and tools to support the mental health of veterans and reduce veteran suicide.
"Our veterans sacrifice so much in service to our country and often return home only to face undue barriers to the tools they need to reintegrate into society, including mental health resources," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "That's why I helped pass the bipartisan STRONG Veterans Act to improve access to mental health care to combat the high rate of veteran suicide and save lives. I'll never stop fighting to protect our veterans and ensure that they can access the care and benefits they have earned."
Specifically, the STRONG Veterans Act would:
- Increase and improve training of VA's mental health provider workforce;
- Further strengthen the Veterans Crisis Line as demand is projected to surge with a new 3-digit hotline number going live in July;
- Require explicit mental health and suicide prevention outreach to traditionally underserved veteran populations, including Native veterans;
- Expand popular peer mental health services to reach more veterans;
- Open up eligibility for Vet Center services to more student veterans and families who have lost veterans to suicide; and
- Deepen research knowledge of veteran mental health challenges and suicide prevention to further guide evidence-based prevention and care.
Original source can be found here.
