Government Supports Early Intervention for Psychological Health Concerns in Defense Bill

January 12, 2012
Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE)
http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Default.aspx
By Jayne Davis, DCoE Strategic Communications

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, signed by President Barack Obama Dec. 31, 2011, authorizes the budget and provisions for the defense of the United States to include, among other issues, critical programs for service members and their families. The act includes two new provisions that affirm the importance of early intervention for psychological health concerns for service members. The purpose of these provisions is to identify those in need of care and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal tendencies and other behavioral health concerns.

The first provision applies to active-duty service members and requires the Defense Department to provide psychological health assessments at prescribed intervals. All service members scheduled to deploy will be given a person-to-person assessment within 120 days of being deployed in support of a contingency operation.

Each subsequent person-to-person assessment will be provided as follows:

·    Once between 90-180 days after redeployment from the operation

·    Once between 180 days -one year after redeployment from the operation unless discharged or released from the armed services

·    Once between 18-30 months after redeployment from the operation unless discharged or released from the armed services

Beyond the initial assessment, if the service member is not exposed to operational risk factors during deployment or if undertaking an assessment would remove the member from forward deployment or put members or operational objectives at risk, the service member is not required to take the subsequent assessments.

The act is careful in stating that all assessments be performed by licensed mental health professionals and include a person-to-person dialogue if applicable to determine who is in need of psychological health care. Privacy and consistency in performing the assessments are emphasized as well as incorporating relevant health records of service members while still in service. Service members will be notified before taking any assessment of protocols that allow confidential information from the assessments to be shared with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure continuity of care in the transition of care from the Defense Department to the VA.

The second provision applies to reserve component members performing inactive-duty training. It allows for access to psychological health assessments with a licensed psychological health professional during scheduled annual or individual training periods at no cost to the service member.

It further emphasizes that while participating in training exercises, reserve component members have access to behavioral health support programs that must include one or more of the following elements:

·         Licensed psychological health care providers

·         Suicide prevention and post-suicide response training

·         Psychological health programs

“New provisions in the act give health care providers the opportunity to more frequently assess and then react as needed to psychological and behavioral concerns of service members and then to also engage them in personal dialogue,” said Col. Christopher Robinson, Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, deputy director for psychological health. “Health care providers will then be able to identify these concerns earlier in their development, reduce stigma and promote appropriate help-seeking behaviors.”