Senate President Karen Spilka Co-hosts Mental Health Roundtable for Veterans
Connecting Veterans to care, assisting suicide prevention efforts of Home Base
State Senate President Karen E. Spilka, in partnership with Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital program, and local community leaders, co-hosted the statewide organization’s first Veteran Suicide Prevention roundtable in MetroWest. Founded in 2009 and based in Boston, Home Base has provided mental healthcare and support services to more than 25,000 Veterans and members of their families at no cost to patients.
“Our Veterans deserve access to quality health care at every level, including mental health care,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka. “As the daughter of a Veteran, I know firsthand how the stresses of military service and unmet mental health needs can affect entire families. For this reason, I am especially supportive of efforts, such as those by Home Base, which involve Veterans’ families in the process of healing and addressing mental health needs.”
“Given the unprecedent times we live in and the perfect storm of events that include the pandemic, and the abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan, we have seen a significant increase in Veteran suicides and demand for care. Our collective effort to connect Veterans to evidence-based mental health care is more important than ever, said Brigadier General Jack Hammond, Executive Director of Home Base.”
The current statewide suicide prevention campaign has partnered with groups in communities across the state to host a series of roundtable discussions seeking to evoke conversation, raise awareness, break the stigma associated with seeking mental health care, and to create a community driven ecosystem to identify at risk Veterans in local communities to connect them to care.
Such needs are particularly pronounced among the Veteran community as, more than 100,000 Veterans have died by suicide in the last twenty years and Veterans are 1.5 times more likely to die by suicide than Americans who never served in the military.
Approximately 50 people attended the event, including Veterans, state and local elected officials, health professionals, first responders, Veterans organizations and human service nonprofits. Many of the participants have previously partnered with the Senate President on aspects of state policy related to mental health, suicide prevention and substance use disorder, and were acknowledged by the Senate President for their expertise on these issues. The event also served as a forum for coordination among these groups and for Veterans to highlight concerns specific to mental health services in the MetroWest region. Also in attendance were Representatives Carolyn Dykema of Holliston and Jack Patrick Lewis of Framingham.