Community-based mental health is vital
Suicide rates for veterans continue to rise every year. The proposed Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act would build on the purpose of the Mission Act of 2018, which allowed for veteran access to communitybased health care outside the VA system (Jan. 13, “Measure Seeks Wider Mental Care Outside of the VA System”).
This act would offer funds to provide mental health services for harder-to-reach veterans to help lower the rising suicide rates in this population. As a firstyear occupational therapy student, I believe that the suggested Improve Act would help expand the ways that occupational therapists meet and care for veterans. After the 1963 Community Mental Health Act, occupational therapists began providing more mental health services to their clients. While community-based mental health occupational therapy may not be the first thought in mental health care for veterans, it should be.
Occupational therapists provide a unique rehabilitative view to serving veterans and lowering suicide rates. Many veteran suicides are triggered by decreased participation in daily activities. Occupational therapists can identify strategies veterans can use to work through daily tasks, break down barriers to social contact and improve their independence.
We are experts at understanding barriers to the performance of everyday activities that may be affecting a veteran’s quality of life and mental health status. Only occupational therapists can provide this unique and valuable service to veterans at risk for suicide. This act will benefit veterans by giving them more ways to find mental health services beyond the VA system. It will also allow occupational therapists to provide effective, lifesaving mental health services to a larger, harder-to-reach population.
ALEXA TAYLOR Oakland pain” (20 weeks). But glossing over these scientific facts, Mr. Lamb reveres “reproductive rights” as the law of the land. Did such cowardice overturn the infamous Southern segregation laws and champion the human rights of millions of African Americans? Certainly not. And there is no greater violation of human rights than refusing one’s right to live.
Mr. Lamb isn’t interested in your personal feelings on the matter — only your voting record. And you either oppose this violence, or you support it. JOHN ROKOSZ
Shaler