 Hi everybody, this is Ashley with DAV. I am so pleased to be joined today by DAV Assistant Legislative Director, Marky Bearfield. Marky, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Ashley. Thank you. And this is a wonderful day in DAV for the things that we're gonna discuss today. Yeah, so Marky, he's one of our legislative folks here in DC and one of his portfolios that he handles as far as advocacy is concerned is suicide prevention. So something we're all very clearly interested in. We're trying to make sure we're doing everything we can to bolster those suicide prevention efforts. So we wanna talk a little bit about veteran suicide prevention today and some of the legislation to address it, including some kind of big news from over the weekend. So Marky, can you tell me about the two bills that the president signed into law over the weekend? It's, we'll go ahead and start with the Commander John Scott Hanan veterans, Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act, quite of a mouthful, but packed with some really important stuff. I know there's some important provisions in there for improving access to mental health care, for opening the doors in how we treat mental health conditions, as well as transitioning from military to civilian life. So can you talk a little bit about that and touch on some of those finer points for me? Yes, I can. As most of us are well aware, 20 veterans die by suicide a day. And of those 20, about 14 do not have direct access to VA care or VA treatment. One of the big things that happened this weekend was the president signed into law, Senate Bill 785, the Commander John Scott Hanan Mental Health Care and Suicide Prevention Act. And there are six major points that bolster this particular piece of legislation. One of them is VA's mental health workforce to serve more veterans by offering scholarships to mental health professionals, to work at VA centers or vet centers and placing at least one suicide prevention coordinator at every VA medical center. Some other key points from that bill are improving rural veterans access to mental health care as well, along with implementing a pilot program to provide veterans to access the complimentary and interrogative health care programs through animal therapy, sports and recreation therapy and therapy and other art therapy and post-traumatic growth therapy. It also establishes a grant program that requires the VA to better collaborate, excuse me, with community organizations across the country that serve veterans. So it opens the door for community care networks to be available when a veteran is having a mental health crisis and they can't get specifically to either a VA medical center or a clinic, they can get to a place out in their local communities to get the care and assistance that they need. And it also holds the VA accountable for its mental health care and suicide prevention efforts by examining how the Department of Veterans Affairs manages suicide prevention resources at their various facilities across the country. Yeah, I mean, it really is a very comprehensive piece. I mean, there's so much involved there. Clearly we know that VA is a great place for veterans on the whole. The quality of care there is proven. It's study after study has shown that it's very good, very high quality. But we have seen that the issue, of course, is actually getting access to that and getting people in the door. So making sure that we're meeting veterans where they are in the community, that no matter where they are, if they're in crisis, we're able to get them help, that's very important. Yes, it is very important because a lot, like I said, a lot of veterans who have thought about it, or thought about or have mental health issues or have concerns with suicide, or the VA is trying to make sure that there are ways that they can get back into the VA health care system. As you indicated earlier, we understand that the VA is the leader in mental health care for veterans. And we wanna make sure that they know and understand that, hey, if there is an issue, please, by all means, go to your local VA, talk with your primary care physician or go to your community-based outpatient clinic or vet center, whatever is most easier or prevalent for you to get to, make sure that you take advantage of your VA benefits and know that they are there to help you. And the next thing we'll talk about actually kind of plays into that as well. It's making sure that, again, no matter where you are, help is available to you. And I think the important thing too, that we talk about this community prevention effort is making sure that everyone knows and understands where to send a veteran who's in crisis. So the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act. Tell me a little bit about what that does and what does the timeline look like for implementation of that? The National Suicide Hotline Prevention Act will designate the numbers 988 in an emergency situation for mental health or suicide prevention crisis. And this designation was signed into law on Saturday as well and this piece of legislation will designate the numbers 988 just like 911 for any type of emergency. But this one's for specifically mental health or suicide prevention. So instead of having to remember the former number, the long 10-digit 1-800 number, this particular piece of legislation will allow a person or a veteran to be able to just call 988 and specify once you call those digits that if you push the option one, you'll be connected with a veteran's crisis counselor and they will intervene and take it from there. The piece of legislation that was signed into law on Saturday should be implemented over the next two years. So by 2022, 988 will be the new designated number to call if you know someone or if you are a veteran that is having a mental health or suicide prevention crisis. You can call that number and help and assistance will be with you just like with dialing 911. That's excellent, excellent. Now, Mark, I have some legislation that DAB has supported regarding lethal means safety training, the Lethal Means Safety Training Act, actually. And this would effectively create touchpoints within VA to ensure that anyone who's interacting with a veteran at the VA is able to have these important and potentially life-saving conversations about lethal means safe storage and suicide prevention. So can you tell me a little bit more about that? Yes, this particular piece of legislation is HR8084, the Lethal Means Safety Training Act. And yes, we support this particular act because when a veteran goes into the VA, everyone who they come in contact with has the potential to make sure that this veteran is okay or that this veteran is acting in a normal manner, whether it's your primary care physician, mental health specialist, the person you see at the pharmacy or at the lab, it doesn't matter who you come in contact with. But the VA or this piece of legislation is trying to ensure that no matter whom a veteran comes in contact with, that if conversations are had about weapons or any type of lethal means doesn't necessarily have to be weapons. It could be over-the-counter drugs that you receive from the pharmacy at the VA, whether it be your opioids or other types of medications. This piece of legislation is just making sure that the VA employees have conversations or kind of gives them an open door for them to have conversations with veterans to make sure that, hey, you're doing the right things with your medications. You have your weapons stored in a safe manner in a safe place, and that they're either locked or stored properly, that things are away from either yourself or from people who they could cause harm to. So this piece of legislation is something that we support as well. Yeah, I mean, that conversation has been growing. It's ever more so important when we're talking about the idea of lethal means safety is that creating of time and space between a person's impulse to take their own life or do harm to themselves and the actual action of doing it. So like you said, just making sure that they have a plan in place, if it's involving prescription medication, if it's involving firearms, whatever the case is, that they have a plan that someone is able to bring that up with a veteran and ensure that in crisis, that's not a factor that's going to play into or that they're able to kind of mitigate that risk. So very important. Mark, I wanna thank you for taking the time again to discuss this really important issue, some great legislation that will hopefully help us battle against veteran suicide as we move forward. You can be sure to go to DAVcan.org. It's the DAV Commander's Action Network. You can see the legislation that is backed by DAV, including a number of bills that you can help us take action to address this crucial issue of veterans mental health care and suicide prevention. So again, thank you Mark Key for a great conversation. Please be sure to check out DAVcan.org, learn a little bit more about how you can take action with us. Thanks so much. Thank you, Ashley. Really appreciate the conversation this morning.