Kristina Derro, Esq.<\/p>\n
Beginning this summer, the Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a> will offer urgent mental health care to thousands of veterans with less-than-honorable discharges.<\/p>\n The announcement was made earlier this month by VA Secretary David Shulkin who noted that former service members are more likely to have mental health distress<\/a>, as well as much higher rates of suicide. Shulkin also stated that he could not wait for legislation and needed to act immediately since a vast majority of veterans who have committed suicide, approximately 20 veterans a day, were not connected to VA care.<\/p>\n The VA also plans to hire more than 1,000 more mental health providers to assist the VA emergency departments.<\/p>\n According to VA statistics, there are as many as 500,000 former service members with less-than-honorable discharges, many for misconduct such as violence or use of illegal drugs. The Army<\/a> has dismissed at least 22,000 combat veterans diagnosed with mental health disabilities or (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kristina Derro, Esq. Beginning this summer, the Department of Veterans Affairs will offer urgent mental health care to thousands of veterans with less-than-honorable discharges. The announcement was made earlier this month by VA Secretary David Shulkin who noted that former…<\/span><\/p>\n