New Service Presentation Paper

New Service Presentation Paper

LTC 310 / Social & Community Related Programs & Services

Long-term care New Services for Military and Veterans

In this paper, the team will be discussing the program of long-term care services to military members and Veterans of the military branch that suffer from mental illness. In we’ll go further into details regarding what is the program and who it all serves. We’ll then discuss the services that’ll be offered to those who qualify for the program and services that’s included in the program. The paper will then address the recipient’s requirements to qualify for the program and services. In lastly, we’ll elaborate on why the program and services is beneficial to military members, and veterans that suffer from many mental illnesses.

What is the program and who will it serve?

The program will serve present soldiers and past soldiers with an honorable discharge from the United States Military. While military service often fosters resilience in individuals and families, some service members may experience mental health, substance abuse challenges, and homelessness. Many of our U.S. soldiers come back home from tours to Afghanistan and Iraq broken and requiring additional care but do not receive the care they deserve. Often, soldiers are told to “deal” with their issues and “drive on”. This is not the response that soldiers dealing with Mental Health disorders should face. There are several programs currently available for soldiers who may be experiencing mental health disorders, PTSD, TBIs, and transitional concerns but not enough is being done to fully assist them to deal with these apprehensions. The statistics are startling and show just how bad our Active Duty Service Members and Veterans are treated when serving. Thirty percent, approximately 730,000 of Active Duty (AD), reserve and veterans return from duty overseas have a mental health conditions like PTSD, TBIs and major depression that requires treatment. Less than fifty percent of returning service members and veterans receive the mental care they require. According to the Veterans Affairs (2019), approximately 22 veterans die by suicide every day. Our mission is to help veterans and their families through the challenges of transitioning from active military service back to civilian life more so than what is already being offered. We can no longer look the other way or continue to under fund the mental health care system that our veterans utilize (Kime, 2019). These men and women stepped up and sacrificed to protect our nation, the least we can do is guarantee that they have the much-needed mental health treatment services available after they return home and are discharged from the military.

What will the program or service offer?

The military is a branch of the government that offers a large variety of services for their members past and present as well as their families. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs can help with finding a psychologist for someone with PTSD as well as those with any type of mental health issues and substance abuse. If they are active military, they can reach out to their commanding officer who can help guide them in the right direction to get the help they need. There are treatment options such as therapy and medication. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs also assist families of a loved one who needs help with PTSD or any other mental Illness. They offer counseling for the families and support. Veteran Justice Outreach is a program that helps those with mental illness and PTSD. For veterans who are homeless, The U.S Department of Veteran Affairs also can get the right help to the person as well as for their family. There are many resources for someone who needs and wants the help. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs is the main source for help for those who need it. There is a program called HUD-VASH which provides assistance to veterans who may be homeless or may become homeless. There is also Project CHALENG which is another program to help homeless veterans. There are many ways a person can get the help they need it. They can call or go to the local Veteran Affairs office, there is a crisis line and many outreach programs that military provides as well as different organizations that are not part of the military. Any veteran experiencing PTSD, mental illness or homelessness can get help to work again through the programs that are offered by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

What are the qualification requirements to be a recipient of this program or service?

Qualification requirements to be a recipient must be serving in the military (status being active duty), or retired veteran (veteran must hold an honorable status in order to qualify for benefits of this program). There’s no exception for accepting anyone that do not have connections to being an active soldier or a veteran that was discharged with an honorable status to be able to receive the benefits from this program and services. Many soldiers suffer from mental illness that do not often seek the proper help which is why it’s important to implement a program that is beneficial for helping those that are afraid to speak up about the battles that face within their mind. Often soldiers are afraid to admitted to having a mental illness because it could cause them to retire from the military before they planned. However, by creating a program that aims to protecting clients (Service members or Veterans) confidentiality than there will be more room to helping military members and veterans overcome the mental illness they’re suffering from such as PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, mood swings, etc. There’re programs that available for both services members and veterans that offer therapist but often for services members the information they share with their therapist can be disclosed to the soldier’s commander if the soldier mention hurting their selves, etc. Therefore, by implementing a program of long-term care for soldiers and veterans it’ll give the reassurance they need that there are people out in the world caring about their state of mind and truly wanting to make a difference in making the individuals who qualify for the program in a better mind frame. Therefore, the requirement for recipients to qualify for the program must serve or has served in any military branch which also must receive an honorable discharge if they no longer serve in the United States army.

Why is the program or service beneficial?

There are a few programs that were initiated by a leader of Mental Health Programs based out of VA. This program involves the expansion of the specialized Mental Health programs. These programs are Assertive Community Treatment, Homeless Outreach, along with Transitional Employment programs. A lot of times these government or community-based treatment programs can help our veterans cope with depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, as well as transitioning from military life back to civilian life. The biggest issues for our veterans are the transition back to being a civilian and PTSD. It’s a whole new experience for them even though they were civilians before they entered the military. Most of them suffer from PTSD. PTSD not only affects them but it also affects their families as well. Mental health or behavioral health programs are beneficial to our veterans. PTSD is a very serious mental health and long-term disorder. If not treated our veterans can lose themselves, their families, their jobs, or even their life from suicide. The benefits from long term mental health care can help our veterans that suffer from PTSD or any other type of mental illness transition back to a normal life. These programs can also help with employment, so they do not end up homeless. A lot of times they end up homeless and lose everything because they are unaware of the programs that can help them deal with their disorder.

Conclusion

A total of 321 active-duty members took their lives in 2018, including 57 Marines, 68 sailors, 58 airmen, and 138 soldiers (Kime, 2019). These service members experience so much anguish while serving and when transitioning out of the Military. They suffer from several Mental Health disorders to include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s), severe depression, substance abuse and Homelessness. This paper has discussed ways to elaborate on long-term care services to military service members, active and veterans that suffer from mental illnesses and homelessness. It went into further detail on how it can expand on services already offered by several different sources and programs like the Veterans Administration (VA) offers. It further discussed who will benefit from these services, the requirements of the services received and what all it will cover.

References

Kime, P. (2019, January 30). Active-duty Military Suicides At Record Highs In 2018. Retrieved From Https://Www.Military.Com/Daily-news/2019/01/30/Active-duty-military-suicides-near-record-highs-2018.Html

Pratt, J. (20150122). Long-Term Care, 4th Edition. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781284091342

Retrieved from Https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/book/NBK19834/

U.S. Department of Veteran affairs (2019). Mental health. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.va.gov

U.S. Department of Veteran affairs (2019). Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/health-care/health-needs- conditions/mental-health/

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