Caban Q&A: emerging mental health treatments for veterans

Shifting to another topic, mental health treatment is constantly evolving, constantly.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

And what does DBS do to keep up to date with emerging promising mental health treatments for veterans?

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

Like, you know, there's increased use of psychedelics in mental health care, the use of ketamine therapy in mental health care, for example.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

Are you guys staying up to date with those things?

If so, what are the treatments that seem to be the most promising?

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

Thank you for that question.

What we are tracking is that we have monthly veteran mental health coalition meetings that bring together members of the federal, state, as well as community partner organizations to speak about some of these emerging therapies.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

Most recently, we've had some conversations around moral injury and the impacts on mental health from that moral injury, as well as we've had some conversations about the impact of mental health on the community.

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

We are actively tracking, as you mentioned, the psilocybin studies that the VA is piloting in five different VAs to see what the results of that will be.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

So that is something that both on the legislative side of it, as well as with the community partners and listening to the community that knows best, is how we stay up to date on that information.

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

So is it sort of a wait and see in terms of some of these emerging therapies where...

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

It's piloted in some of these spaces, and then maybe you'll be bringing it on, or do you know if community-based organizations are actively helping connect veterans to these therapies?

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

Thank you for that question.

And while we are not the clinical side of this or having a health care facility, that's what we're doing to make those connections and to ensure veterans are kept informed about this information.

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

Specifically, we started a web series where we are sharing more of these stories to reach more people because we often think in the veteran community it's not a gap of service, it's more of a gap of knowledge in services.

And as an agency, as we continue having many roundtables at DVS, I've heard from many veteran groups that perhaps that this is one of the first times when the agency itself has really engaged many of the groups.

So that is something that as being a connector, as being those to facilitate that, sharing the information has proved to be the most.

So that's an example.

So at DVS, we are meeting with our providers to hear from them directly to let us know what has been working, what hasn't been working.

Impactful way of doing so.

Thank you.