Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America Praises Senator Gillibrand for Mental Health Support for Veterans

Washington, DC — (New York, NY) — Yesterday, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) announced its support of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs encouraging the provision of additional mental health resources to veterans in transition.

“We know that veterans in transition are the category of veterans at highest risk for suicide,” said Lindsay Rodman, IAVA’s Executive Vice President for Communications and Legal Strategy. “Anything we can do to help alleviate the stress of transition is going to have an outsized impact on our ability to curb the epidemic of veteran suicides.”

In IAVA’s most recent survey of its members, which is the largest and most comprehensive non-governmental survey of post-9/11 veterans, 65% of IAVA veterans stated that they personally knew someone who had attempted suicide and 59% personally knew someone who died by suicide. IAVA has made combating veteran suicide its highest policy priority. A shocking 21 veterans a day die by suicide.

IAVA has for years offered solutions to the veteran suicide crisis. Senator Gillibrand is a co-sponsor of the IAVA-led Commander John Scott Hannon Veteran Mental Healthcare Improvement Act, which would significantly improve veterans’ access to the mental healthcare resources they need.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) is the premier veteran’s advocacy and support organization on the planet. Every day, we fight for veterans. Hard. We are the tip-of-the spear non-profit engine of impact that connects, unites and empowers over 400,000 veterans and allies nationwide. Founded by an Iraq veteran in 2004, IAVA is the non-partisan leader in advocacy, public awareness, and 1-on-1 case-management support. We organize locally and drive historic impacts nationally.