Homeless Veterans Essay

In order to categorize the priority of a patient’s necessities, the VA has implemented a series of tiers that rank veterans into groups in order to classify their severity of need (“Removing Barriers to Mental Health Services for Veterans”). Typically, those that are experiencing mental health concerns will be ranked in the bottom two tiers, leaving them stranded without care for months at a time. Within the VA in the last year, there was currently upwards of 500,000 appointments that were waitlisted with delays totaling longer than 30 days (Griffin, Drew, Nelli Black, Scott Bronstein, and Curt Devine). Although there is currently an influx of patients seeking treatment at VA health clinics, the number of patients being waitlisted throughout the past year has augmented up to fifty percent, meaning those that are pursuing mental health care through military benefactors can end up waiting up to six months without treatment. Statistically proven, the rates of mental and emotional suffering experienced by American veterans is excessively high, meaning that the obstructions to care for them after reentering the civilian world puts them in a further

Many people around the world are homeless and majority of them are homeless veterans that served in wars like the vietnam war. The age range for veterans are usually in their 50 and 60’s and the numbers are increasing rapidly. In 2016 january ,communities in america identified 39,471 homeless veterans during the point in time.

We as a nation are not providing adequate treatment centers or doing enough to service the people who are prone to these mental illnesses, especially those who are working hard to protect our country. There needs to be a solution to this prevailing problem and it will start with U.S. citizens making an effort to encourage veterans to attend treatment centers and making the treatment centers more efficient and available.

Veterans and our soldiers are coming home from war or getting out of the military and when they get home they can’t afford rent or they have a mental disease from war. Homeless veterans tend to experience homelessness longer than non-veteran homeless. This should not be happening to our soldiers. This is very undesirable for our troops to come home and becoming homeless. They fight for our freedom and our rights and we repay them by becoming homeless. Us Americans should be helping our troops when they come home.

Another issue that veterans struggle with when they come back from war is mental illnesses like PTSD. According to “bringing the war back home”, “Of 103 788 OEF/OIF veterans seen at VA health care facilities, 25 658 (25%) received mental health diagnosis(es)”. This disabilities can make getting into the workforce much more difficult and even leave veterans to live on the streets from lack of employment. The solution discovered from this research is that if these mental diseases are caught early enough, the veterans will receive the help they need and be able to continue their normal civilian lives. “Targeted early detection and intervention beginning in primary care settings are needed to prevent chronic mental illness and

These veterans are what made this country free and why we get the the right of free speech and being able to own a gun etc. One of the main causes of homeless veterans is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD. “ is a medical problem where

Supporters argue that there are ample programs to support our military, while opponents disagree. Mental health disorders are a byproduct of war, they both agree to this. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), acute stress, anxiety, and depression are all mental health disorders soldiers can suffer from. Tens of thousands of soldiers are diagnosed with one of these conditions, but many never come forward or seek help. Many soldiers are afraid of the stigma associated with being diagnosed with a mental illness; they do not want to be perceived as being weak physical or mentally. If untreated, many veterans my turn to drugs or alcohol. Drugs and alcohol abuse then may cause unemployment, lead to being homeless, and even suicide. Supporters state that every soldier is briefed on mental illnesses before, during, and after each deployment. With the briefings, the hope is that the negative stigma of mental health disorders will go down. Service men and women along with their family, have access to a hotline (Military OneSource) were they can talk to a mental health care professional twenty-four seven. Funding for mental health has also increased allowing the hire of more mental health professionals and developing more programs. Still some active duty military and veterans refuse to get help. Critics think we are doing more for our military than in the past, but we still need to do

Is it the stresses of war and inadequate job training? In addition, could it be untreated PTSD that keeps veterans from being productive once back in civilian life, thus causing the risk of homelessness? PTSD is one of the leading problems leading to homelessness among our veterans. As a veteran, myself, I understand the day to day struggles to come to grips with some things that were experienced as a soldier. For example, seeing fellow soldiers shot or killed, or the people you’re there to help turn on you, it’s a living nightmare. Then to come home and find out that some Americans don’t believe that veterans are entitled to special services. However, whatever the reason we are obligated to find out what is going on with our veteran population. The government should take this very seriously because there is another generation growing up to take the place of our veterans and they’re watching how our heroes are treated. Do we want to deter the next generations of going off to defend our great nation and our freedom?

There are over forty-seven thousand American veterans who are homeless and seventy percent of those veterans are suffering from some form of mental illness. Most veterans who have mental illness, mostly PTSD, do not know how to get help. About eleven percent of the adult homeless population are veterans .The veterans who are suffering from PTSD do not want to get help mostly because they do not have the funds to get the help they need or they are afraid of seeking help. If the government would give more funding to the Veteran Affairs or other organizations, it would be easier for homeless veterans to find the help that they

Specific purpose: To persuade my audience to be more involved in homelessness in Memphis TN.

Many times, a lot of veterans will be injured while they are in the military. First of all, a lot of times veterans will come back from the military and they will have mental disabilities such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety and if they experience something truly traumatic, those disabilities can be crippling. Secondly, some veterans will come back from war and if they were shot or experienced heavy damage to the head, they can have severe brain injuries and when they’re homeless and they don’t have much help, that can be horrible for the homeless veterans. Lastly, while veterans are fighting in wars, if they get shot or a grenade goes

The issue of veteran benefits in the United States is not taken as seriously as it should be in our country, even though it is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. The lack of available funding for veterans is especially obvious when compared to that available for lower income citizens, or even illegal immigrants. Also, what does exist appears to fall short in taking care of veteran’s needs. Considering that these veterans are people who have risked their lives fighting for this country, the fact that they are not receiving immediate benefits or even what they have earned is unfair. The VA needs to change the way it deals with Veterans and their bout with homelessness, consistent and worthwhile employment, and mental

The US has grappled with many questions about society’s obligations as to whether or not to offer services and benefits to the men and women in the armed forces. Supporters argue that helping veterans will help the society as whole and opponents argue that we shouldn’t be increasing our federal government spending in repaying veterans. Although I do see where people can argue that we are spending too much money on helping veterans after war, I believe that the government owes them for what they have done for the country, despite the cost. The government owes certain benefits to veterans because the men and women in the armed forces deserve to be welcomed home with a generous system of services for what they have done for the country.

According to National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), the likely persistence of this problem is evident on considering that the homeless veterans are identified to be younger on average in comparison to the entire veteran population. Among these, 9 percent is made up of those aged between 18 and 30, while 41 percent are in the 31-50 years bracket. Nevertheless, veterans in the 18-30 age bracket make up only 5 percent while those aged 31 to 50 make less than 23 percent. Notably, the exact figure of the homeless veterans may be impossible to establish considering the difficulty posed by the transient nature of such populations. However, estimates by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development indicate that there are 49,933 homeless veterans at any given night. Apart from those who are already homeless, around 1.4 million more veterans are at risk of homelessness because of lacking support networks, poverty and miserable living conditions in substandard or overcrowded housing. The situation is compounded by the difficulty to transfer some of the military training and occupations to civilian workforce (NCHV, 2015). This places some of the veterans at a disadvantage in the search of employment in the competitive job

Understanding PTSD symptoms is important, because PTSD makes one experience feelings of anger, aggression, despair, and hopelessness. Also, many have problems with relationships, social isolation, impairments in 4 work and school, homelessness, and suicide (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2011). PTSD affects many elements of one’s life that can lead to devastating impacts without the proper treatment. Therefore exploration into the quality of services available for veterans is beneficial. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions and attitudes of combat veterans towards the quality of mental health services. (Toscano&Roberts pg.