Chair Caban opening: veteran mental health crisis and family impact
Chair Caban welcomes veterans, families, and advocates, noting that Queens has the highest concentration of veterans. She highlights elevated rates of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicide among veterans and the ripple effects on military families and caregivers.
Thank you very much, Chair.
And just echo the sentiments that you talked about previously.
We're, you know, willing to work with anybody who wants to solve a problem.
So that's what we're here to do.
I'm excited to be talking about this topic today.
I want to very quickly recognize that we have been joined by Councilmember Areola on Zoom.
We have also been joined by Councilmember Aldebal.
Right?
Oh, we already did her.
Okay, great.
Well, I recognize you twice.
Okay.
And I'd like to recognize Councilmember Wong again, too.
Okay.
So my name is Councilmember Tiffany Kaman.
I'm the chair of the New York City Council's Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
I want to welcome our veterans, their families, caregivers, service providers, and advocates who have joined us today.
Many of you took time away from work, caregiving, or your own recovery to be here.
Your presence matters, and your testimony will shape the committee's work going forward.
New York City is home to more than 170,000 veterans and hundreds of thousands more family members and caregivers whose lives are shaped by military service.
These are New Yorkers who served, often at great personal cost, and who came home to a city that owes them real, accessible, and effective care.
My home borough of Queens.
Like the chair mentioned, has the highest concentration of veterans in our city.
And veterans experience post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and moral injury at rates significantly higher than the general population.
Suicide remains a devastating crisis in the veteran community nationally, and every one of those deaths reflects a failure somewhere.
In our systems of care.
Substance use, often a form of self-medication for untreated trauma, disproportionately affects veterans and can compound housing instability, family breakdown, and further mental health decline.
This crisis doesn't stop with the veteran alone.
Military families carry their own trauma, living with the ripple effects of deployment, reintegration, and often an unseen, undertreated condition in someone that they love.
Caregivers frequently sacrifice their own economic security and mental health to provide care, often without adequate support or recognition.
And if we're serious about veteran mental health, we have to be serious about family and caregiver.
mental health too.