Wilson Q&A: LGBTQ+ veteran mental health support

And then just switching gears a little bit, you know, in light of a lot of recent federal policy that affects the LGBTQ plus community,

what steps is the department taking to address mental health impacts and uncertainty, stigma and discrimination for LGBTQ plus veterans?

I'm going to be passing this question to Nicole shortly.

However, I do want to emphasize that at the agency, we have a LGBTQ plus liaison.

On top of that as well, we are going to, we have had a round table around mental health and we had LGBTQ plus leaders that indicated

certain things that as an agency we can do better to outreach and we are working closely with specific nonprofits and leaders to be able to communicate whether it is through our social media

highlight what the LGBTQ community plus veterans have been going through and as a matter of fact we have been putting on our socials

the history of LGBTQ plus veterans because oftentimes history is erased and what we want to do is to highlight

since the beginning what veterans, LGBTQ plus veterans have been going through and what they're going through now.

So that's one platform and I'll pass over the mic to Nicole.

Thank you for that question and to just summarize also what Commissioner was saying is that we also want to make sure that our bonds with our community-based organizations are strong because we understand that our community is where we are seeing people reach out for services and connection.

So for us if there are issues and there's federal cuts and things of that nature, we want to ensure that our partnerships on the community-based level are strong, including we have a strong partnership with the Pride Center of Staten Island.

Sage Vets to ensure that we're hitting this community where they are and not making them come to us.