VA adding new mental health staff to address veteran suicides

Abstract

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to staff up on mental health professionals and launch new resources to address an uptick in veteran suicides, the Federal News Network reported. The VA on Nov. 16 released its National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, which tracks veteran suicides in 2021 — the most recent year for which the VA has data. The report shows that 6,392 veterans died by suicide in 2021; 114 more veterans than in 2020. That's nearly a 2% increase compared with the previous year. In 2021, an average of 17.5 veterans died from suicide each day. The number reflects an increase in deaths by suicide in the non‐veteran U.S. population. The non‐veteran population saw 40,020 suicide deaths in 2021; 2,000 more than in 2020. The VA, in its report, said it plans to launch a “full hiring initiative” for mental health experts. That includes hiring additional mental health care professionals and expanding its own programs to train mental health care professionals. The VA's Under Secretary for Health, Shereef Elnahal, told reporters that increased mental health staffing is particularly important to the VA. Higher levels of mental health staffing have been associated with decreased suicidal behavior among patients within health care systems, the VA stated.