Granger, Ind. — The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law today by President Obama, includes provisions of U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly’s bipartisan “Servicemember and Veterans Mental Health Care Package” (“Care Package”). This legislation will improve military mental health care quality and access for servicemembers and seeks to prevent military suicide. The national defense bill passed the Senate earlier this month with Senator Donnelly’s support on a 91 to 3 vote.

Donnelly said, “Seeing the ‘Care Package’ signed into law is another important step forward as we continue the fight to bring military suicide numbers down to zero. Getting these provisions implemented in communities across Indiana and throughout the country will improve the quality of mental health care provided to our servicemembers. It will expand their options, helping connect Hoosiers with local providers who are specially trained to deal with challenges unique to the military. It will also help our Department of Defense providers better recognize the signs of suicide risk in their patients and connect them with the resources and support they need. We owe it to our servicemembers and their families to help them get access to the best quality mental health care. Our work is far from done, and I will keep pushing to improve mental health care for our servicemembers, veterans, and their loved ones.”

Shelley Wadsworth MacDermid, Director, Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University, said, "We applaud Senator Donnelly’s outstanding commitment to addressing the psychological health of service members, veterans and their families. There is a significant need for community-based behavioral health training, and we at MFRI are proud to have helped to create Star Behavioral Health Providers, which makes care more accessible and builds important infrastructure to also support members of the Indiana National Guard and Reserves in their communities."  

John Madigan, Vice President of Public Policy, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said, “Once again, Indiana’s Senator Joe Donnelly is leading the way to combat military suicide. Joe’s tireless, bipartisan efforts to make sure the national defense bill included his ‘Servicemember and Veteran Mental Health Care Package’ will help save lives. Whether it’s providing specially-trained mental health providers for veterans and servicemembers, requiring DOD primary care and mental health care providers to receive evidence-based training on suicide-risk recognition and management or training physician assistants to specialize in psychiatric care to meet increased needs; Joe Donnelly knows what it will take to keep mental health services going to all of our veterans and servicemembers. Thank you Senator Donnelly.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, President, National Guard Association of the United States, said, “National Guardsmen and their families across the country greatly appreciate Senator Donnelly listening and leading on mental-health issues. With Senator Donnelly’s bipartisan ‘Servicemember and Veteran Mental Health Care Package’ becoming law, it will mean those struggling with invisible wounds can find the care they need and we owe them, including access to trained community providers.”

Vice Adm. Norb Ryan, Jr., President, Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), said, “The signing of the defense bill into law is vital to fulfilling commitments to our servicemembers, veterans and their families. MOAA is grateful to Senator Donnelly for championing the ‘Servicemember and Veteran Mental Health Care Package,’ a significant provision in the legislation which would expand access to quality mental health care. Never in our country’s history has the health and wellness of our warriors and their families been more important than it is today to our national security.”

Jeffrey Phillips, Executive Director, Reserve Officers Association, said,  “ROA applauds passage of Sen. Joe Donnelly’s mental health care provisions just signed into law as part of the defense authorization bill.  In an ROA survey, Guard and Reserve members explained stigma exists as a result of mental health problems.  The new avenues of access included in the defense bill will help to overcome these types of issues.”

Joyce Raezer, Executive Director, National Military Family Association, said, “We appreciate Senator Donnelly’s continued support for service members and their families, especially his efforts to address the military community’s well-documented shortage of culturally competent mental health providers utilizing evidence-based treatments.”

Donnelly has worked the past three years to advance commonsense, bipartisan legislation through his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In March, Donnelly introduced the “Servicemember and Veteran Mental Health Care Package” (“Care Package”), made up of three bipartisan bills to help expand access to quality mental health care for servicemembers and veterans through both DoD and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, as well as local community providers.

Military mental health provisions from the “Care Package” first passed the Senate in June and will help ensure that there are a sufficient number of the best trained mental health providers for active-duty servicemembers and veterans.

As part of the “Care Package,” Donnelly took into account how stigma, provider shortages, and budget constraints are harming veterans and servicemembers as they seek care. Donnelly is working to improve access to quality mental health care through the expanded use of specially-trained community providers.

Donnelly’s Community Provider Readiness Recognition Act (co-sponsored by Senator Joni Ernst, R-IA) is inspired by the Star Behavioral Health Provider Network, a program led by Purdue’s Military Family Research Institute. Donnelly’s provision will create a special designation for private sector, community mental health providers who demonstrate – either through training or past experience – a strong knowledge of military culture and evidence-based therapies for mental health issues common to veterans and servicemembers. It would create a regularly-updated online registry, so veterans and servicemembers can search for these specially-designated community providers in their area.

Donnelly’s Military and Veterans Mental Health Provider Assessment Act (co-sponsored by Senator Roger Wicker, R-MS) would require that all DoD and VA primary care and mental health care providers have received evidence-based training on suicide risk recognition and management and that their training be updated to keep pace with changes in mental health care best practices.

Additionally, elements of Donnelly’s Frontline Mental Health Provider Training Act (co-sponsored by Senator John Boozman, R-AR) were included as part of the Senate Armed Services Committee report, urging DoD to train physician assistants to specialize in psychiatric care in order to help meet the increasing demands for mental health services among servicemembers and their families.

The ‘Care Package’ builds on the progress made by Senator Donnelly’s Jacob Sexton Military Suicide Prevention Act, which was signed into law late last year. The Sexton Act — named for Hoosier Jacob Sexton, a National Guardsman who took his life in 2009 — for the first time requires an annual mental health assessment for all servicemembers including Active, Guard, and Reserve. To learn more about the “Care Package” click here.

In the first half of 2015, DoD reported that more than 200 servicemembers took their own lives. Last year, 443 servicemembers took their own lives and in 2013 474 were lost to suicide, the Pentagon reported.

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