U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly held a round table discussion at the Indiana War Memorial Wednesday on improving access to community mental health providers trained to serve troops and veterans. Donnelly says last year 434 active service members committed suicide and 22 veterans a year in the US commit suicide.
Donnelly convened the meeting to discuss the Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act, one of three bills in his Servicemember Mental Health “Care Package”, which recently passed the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of the national defense bill.
Donnelly says one of the goals of the act is to establish an online registry of mental health providers with a military friendly designation so service members and their families can search for options in their own communities…
Yesterday’s roundtable participants included representatives from Purdue University’s Military Family Research Institute (MFRI), the Indiana National Guard, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the American Legion, several Hoosier mental health care community providers, and family members of those lost to suicide or who are suffering from post-traumatic stress.