With Veteran’s Day quickly approaching, the Santa Clarita Valley looks forward to annual traditions that honor our heroes. However, while honoring our veterans is undoubtedly important, ensuring that their mental health is taken care of is a must as well. From the prevalence of mental health issues among those who have served and even new resources for the veterans of Santa Clarita to take advantage of, here’s what you need to know.

The prevalence of mental health issues  

Over 1.1 million veterans who were treated in a VA Patient Aligned Care Team between 2010 and 2011 were diagnosed with at least one of the five following mental illnesses: depression, substance use disorder, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, according to one 2016 study that was published in the American Journal of Public Health. While this certainly highlights the prevalence of mental health issues among those that have served, it’s important to realize that mental health issues can stem from a number of things, aside from being on the front lines during active duty.

Unfortunately, veterans who experience mental health issues may have them due to a number of factors, such as sexual assault, combat stress, injury, or even as a result of a military medical malpractice by a military medical provider. Military medical malpractice, for instance, can not only result in needless suffering or injury due to a provider’s mistake, but could also result in the need for getting a malpractice attorney involved in order to get the justice and compensation that the service member deserves. Regardless of the cause of mental health issues, however, it’s imperative that veterans get the help that they need, and there are a number of resources out there to do just that.

Finding help 

When it comes to finding help for mental health as a veteran, it’s important to keep in mind that there are a number of services geared towards helping. For example, the BeThere peer assistance program (in partnership with Military OneSource) allows veterans to speak to a fellow veteran. The VA telemental health program can also aid by allowing you to connect with a VA mental health provider via a mobile device. And, if you’re already using VA medical services, scheduling your first appointment to take care of your mental health can be as easy as asking your primary care provider to help in making an appointment with a VA mental health provider.

New resources are now available for the Santa Clarita veterans community at the Santa Clarita Veteran Services Collaborative’s Veteran Center. This happens to include the help of a peer support specialist with Los Angeles Veteran Peer Access Program (VPAN), which is set to be at the center on a weekly basis in order to help both veterans and their families with finding support and services. Enrique Conchas, leader of the VPAN program, notes that the primary goal is to mitigate the veterans from falling through the cracks via eliminating barriers.

With Veterans Day quickly approaching, it’s important to not only remember the sacrifices that veterans have made, but to remember that mental health also plays a significant role in many veterans’ lives as well, in addition to physical injury.

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