Addressing mental health issues is one of the greatest challenges facing the military community, and President Barack Obama recently announced his latest attempt to meet those concerns. From July through mid-September the Department of Veterans Affairs will host mental health summits in an effort to streamline coordination between the department and local community health providers, reports Marine Corps Times.
The program will bring together experts from several different organizations including mental health specialists and government officials. The plan is to not only develop new methods to treat mental health but also improve veteran outreach. Obama's announcement is just the latest step forward in addressing the issue. The VA recently hired more than 1,600 additional mental health professionals.
"We lose 22 veterans a day to suicide, and we have to do a better job than that of preventing these all-too-often silent tragedies," Obama said during the National Conference on Mental Health at the White House on Monday.
Obama's announcement comes as a greater focus on mental health and conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder has surfaced. A growing amount of research has been centered around potential treatments for PTSD, which range from therapy dogs to meditative breathing, according to Forbes.