Obama Signs EO to Improve Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and ...

[Tx4obama]

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 31, 2012

Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order to Improve Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families


WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama will sign an Executive Order directing key federal departments to expand suicide prevention strategies and take steps to meet the current and future demand for mental health and substance abuse treatment services for veterans, service members, and their families.

Ensuring that all veterans, Active, Guard, and Reserve service members and their families receive the support they deserve is a top priority for the Obama Administration. Since September 11, 2001, more than two million service members have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with unprecedented duration and frequency. Long deployments and intense combat conditions require optimal support for the emotional and mental health needs of our service members and their families. The Obama Administration has consistently expanded efforts to ensure our troops, veterans and their families receive the benefits they have earned and deserve, including providing timely mental health service. The Executive Order signed today builds on these efforts.

-snip-

Full statement and formatted text here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/08/31/fact-sheet-president-obama-signs-executive-order-improve-access-mental-h

Please click on the above link to see full page - there was too much formatting that would not copy over to here, so it's better to look at it at the White House website.

[Autumn]

1. This is a man who cares.

Way to go President Obama. K/R

[pinboy3niner]

2. K&R!

Thanks for posting this, Tx4obama.

Watching the President's speech at Bliss today on CNN, I was very impressed. More evidence of President Obama's support for the troops and vets--in sharp contrast to the lip service of Romney and Ryan--while Ryan's GOP budget cuts Obama's VA budget by billions.

[pinboy3niner]

3. See also Kadie's photo thread of the President's Bliss visit (great pics):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101753512

[white cloud]

4. More

Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Veterans, Service Members, and Military Families
Ed. note: Tune in to WhiteHouse.gov/live today at 3:00 pm EDT to watch President Obama speak to troops at Fort Bliss about our responsibility to stand by those who have served as we wind down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since September 11, 2001, more than two million service members have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, many of them serving with unprecedented duration and frequency. Long deployments and intense combat conditions require optimal support for the emotional and mental health needs of our service members and their families, and ensuring that they receive the support they deserve is a top priority for the Obama Administration.

That's why today, President Obama signed an Executive Order that will help the federal government better meet the current and future demand for mental health and substance abuse treatment services for our troops and veterans, as well as their families.

Building on the ongoing efforts to expand these services, today's Executive Order:

•Strengthens suicide prevention efforts across the force and in the veteran community
•Enhances access to mental health care by building partnerships between VA and community providers
•Increases the number of VA mental health providers serving our veterans
•Promotes mental health research and development of more effective treatment methodologies
•Launches a government-wide collaborative effort to address these issues through a Military and Veterans Mental Health Interagency Task Force




http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/08/31/improving-access-mental-health-services-veterans-service-members-and-military-famili