New rules for troops leaving the military miss mental health obstacles, experts say

The Department of Defense recently updated its rules on “continuity of mental health care” for separating troops, a policy meant to connect departing service members to mental health resources as they leave service. But veteran mental health experts said the instruction makes the same mistakes — it focuses on service members already accessing treatment while in uniform, but does not implement new methods to include others as they enter a vulnerable year of transition.

And that first year out of the military, experts say, is where new veterans often need the most guidance.

Earlier this month, the Department of Defense published its updated instruction on “continuity of mental health care” which addresses how service members separating from the service can smoothly move into programs and enter the Department of Veterans Affairs (the rules also cover troops switching bases to new assignments). A key part of that transition is a mental health assessment, or MHA, required for military members within 180 days of separating.

A Pentagon official told Task & Purpose that the policy “codifies existing programs and procedures, such as the inTransition program; establishes transfer of care procedures when a service member transitions to another command or separates from military service; and incorporates procedures for obtaining a mental health assessment and suicide risk screening at separation.”

But that mental health screening, experts told Task & Purpose, does not fully capture the new stresses that many troops run into soon after leaving.

“I think all through the document it’s very clear that somebody who understood these issues well was doing their very best to weave a net that nobody could fall through,” said Harold Kudler, former head of VA mental health policy. “What you can’t account for are people who are not going to tell you no matter what. And the other reason, of course, is military culture.”

Experts in veteran health care told Task & Purpose that, underlying…