The Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health & Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) held their annual DoD/VA Suicide Prevention Conference Friday.
With suicides on the rise among veterans, the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments are stepping up their efforts to address the problem. Top enlisted military leaders took part and discussed some of the improvements that have been made to the detection and treatment of mental health problems in veterans.
In the first session, attendants heard from the son of a football player who committed suicide after suffering from brain trauma, and the head of Mental Health America. The second session, the head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed the crowd.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke in the third session on veterans suicide prevention. The Defense Department confirmed recently that suicides among veterans are on the rise.