The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs should do more to ensure service members leaving the military have access to mental health care, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released July 15, 2024. (Stars and Stripes)
Service members facing the stress of separating from the military need more help from the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs to access mental health care, a federal watchdog agency says in a new report.
Armed forces personnel are particularly vulnerable while transitioning to civilian life, the Government Accountability Office said Monday, noting that the rate of suicide is about 2.5 times higher among veterans in their first year of separation than among active duty troops.
The report raises specific concerns over a Defense Department program designed to help service members during transitions, saying it could be doing a better job.
DOD automatically enrolls service members who received mental health care or traumatic brain injury care in the year prior to leaving the military into the inTransition program, which offers specialized coaching and connects participants to mental health services.
Those directly enrolled accounted for 85% of all participants in 2022, according to the most recent data available.
But the program doesn’t reach out to these enrollees until two to three months after they leave the military, the GAO found.
“This delayed timing may leave a gap in assistance to mental health services during a vulnerable period,” the report said.
American flags wave outside the 177th Fighter Wing in Egg Harbor Township, N.J., in honor of veterans who died by suicide. Service members are particularly vulnerable while transitioning to civilian life, with suicide rates about 2.5 times higher among veterans in their first year of separation than among active duty troops, according to a Government Accountability Office report released July 15, 2024. (Hunter Hires/U.S. Air National Guard)
Challenges with readjusting to family and social life, financial strains and a loss of sense of purpose are faced by some service members during this time, it added.
The program also was unable to connect with over 70% of its automatically enrolled service members in 2022, partly because it relied on reaching them by telephone rather than by email, text and other methods, according to the GAO.
That year alone, nearly 175,000 service members transitioned out of the military, according to the Pentagon, which the GAO said continues to see a growing demand for mental health services among all military branches.
DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs Joint Executive Committee oversee military transition activities.
Once service members leave the military, they have the choice of seeking health care through the VA or through DOD’s Tricare program, if eligible.
Among the five recommendations in the report was one that DOD revise inTransition’s enrollment criteria and outreach policy, and establish performance goals.
The DOD-VA Joint Executive Committee was urged to assess the two departments’ efforts to facilitate access to mental health services.
The Department of Veterans Affairs concurred with the DOD-VA Joint Executive Committee recommendation. DOD has yet to take action in response to the recommendations, the report said.
