Haley to Get New Mental Health Clinicians and Support Staff

Posted Jun 12, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jun 12, 2012 at 12:32 PM

As part of a national expansion of mental health clinicians and support staff, the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital will hire 13 new mental health clinicians and three support personnel, according to hospital officials.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki recently announced the department would add approximately 1,600 mental health clinicians as well as nearly 300 support staff to its existing workforce., according to a media release. 

Funding for the new positions has now been distributed to the hospital and recruitment is underway, according to the release.

According to the release:
 
VA has an existing workforce of 20,696 mental health staff that includes nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. Currently, 175 mental health clinicians and support staff work locally supporting 86,827 Unique and 1,134,046 Outpatient visits.

With each additional mental health care provider, a facility could potentially reach hundreds more veterans battling mental illness. New providers will join a team that is already actively treating Veterans through individualized care, readjustment counseling, and immediate crisis services. Additional staff members also afford opportunities to look long-term and expand into cutting edge Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) research and to explore alternative therapies. 

Secretary Shinseki noted that “as the tide of war recedes, we have the opportunity, and the responsibility, to anticipate the needs of returning Veterans.”