Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul: A Holistic Approach to Serving Those Who Served

As a country, we’ve gotten so used to facing the alarming number of veterans who take their own lives that it often feels abstract at this point; nameless, faceless statistics. For those of us who personally know veterans who’ve taken their own lives, it doesn’t take a 22-a-day statistic to feel the hurt — even one veteran suicide is one too many!

There are many resources available to help veterans in crisis, from non-profit organizations to federal programs administered by agencies such as the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense. Despite these programs, however, the crisis persists, begging the question of whether our collective understanding of this crisis is adequate. If the answer is no, based on the continued prevalence of veteran suicide, one reason may be our failure to attack the factors that culminate to a point reaching crisis levels, at which time it may be too late to intervene.

Intervening is no easy task. Veterans can be tough patients; arguably the toughest population to treat for myriad reasons. For one, many have endured extraordinarily harsh mental and physical trials during military service, and a great number of them continue to do so in their daily lives after service. A key aspect of this is the one most often overlooked: mental health.

Mental illness brings about many ups and downs for the sufferer that can have an impact beyond what’s going on in one’s psyche. It can be a constant battle of depression and anxiety leading to a lack of desire to taking care of one’s physical needs. Consequently, mental illness has been found to correlate with a poor immune system. Weakened immunities prevent human bodies from fighting and preventing disease and infection. Even the common cold could have a detrimental impact.

Mental illness is complex, and its impact on one’s physical health can create a vicious cycle that requires thorough attention and treatment to break. Only through this comprehensive assessment can a provider discern all relevant issues that can lead to identifying necessary interventions, before they hit crisis proportions such as the 22 veterans a day.

The days of business as usual in veteran health care are over. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried countless incremental fixes, reducing errors, enforcing practice guidelines, giving veterans more choices etc.. But none of these efforts have had much impact. The VA healthcare system remains very complex, the level of bureaucratic constraints is comparable to a maze for many who often need a navigator, such as AMVETS, to help find their way to the desired end.

Adding to the difficulty are the variations in timeliness and quality of care for veterans throughout the country depending on which VA facility they use. The Congress passed the VA Choice Act in 2014 to address the rising demand for medical care among veterans who relied on the VA as their only option. But this simply added another layer of bureaucracy and fragmented coordination in too many cases, leaving some veterans better off staying on a waitlist rather than having to deal with new tensions and transition stresses.

In response to this reality, AMVETS commissioned the HEAL program comprised of a team of clinical experts to provide healthcare intervention in cases where access to quality healthcare was blocked. Veterans, service members and their caregivers who contact the HEAL team receive that aforementioned full clinical intake that’s required to understand the entire problem, not just one or two dimensions. Then, HEAL team members employ a case management approach to helping the individual identify critical issues such as the need to find an appropriate healthcare provider or resources to help eliminate access barriers, which can range from substance abuse to private providers not being paid on time by the VA.