Achieving Whole Health: A New Approach for Veterans and the Nation by Alex H. Krist (Contribution by); Jeannette South-Paul (Contribution by); Marc Meisnere (Contribution by); Committee on Transforming Health Care to Create Whole Health: Strategies to Assess, Scale, and Spread the Whole Person Approach to Health; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Samueli Foundation, and the Whole Health Institute commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to establish a committee to provide guidance on how to fill gaps and create processes to accelerate the transformation to whole health care for veterans, both inside and outside the VA system, and the rest of the U.S. population. The resulting report presents findings and recommendations that provide a roadmap for improving health and well-being for veterans and the nation.

Improving Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care for Veterans by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Care Services; Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders; Megan Snair (Editor); Adrienne Formentos (Editor); Marc Meisnere (Editor) The mental and behavioral health care needs of Americans, including veterans, have substantially grown over the past few decades. As the nations largest provider of mental health care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces some of the greatest challenges in meeting the mental health care needs of its population. These challenges are exacerbated by a shrinking mental health care workforce and provider shortages in low-income and rural communities. To address these challenges, and at the request of VA, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders held a public workshop on Improving Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care for Veterans to explore the U.S. landscape for mental health care services, including telehealth services.

Improving Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care for Veterans: Proceedings of a Workshop by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Care Services; Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders; Megan Snair (Editor); Adrienne Formentos (Editor); Marc Meisnere (Editor) The mental and behavioral health care needs of Americans, including veterans, have substantially grown over the past few decades. As the nations largest provider of mental health care, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) faces some of the greatest challenges in meeting the mental health care needs of its population. These challenges are exacerbated by a shrinking mental health care workforce and provider shortages in low-income and rural communities. To address these challenges, and at the request of VA, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders held a public workshop on Improving Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care for Veterans to explore the U.S. landscape for mental health care services, including telehealth services.

Military Psychology: Understanding the Mind in Defense and Combat Environments by Virversity Online Courses This course provides a comprehensive introduction to Military Psychology, exploring the critical role psychological principles play within military settings. Students will gain insight into human behavior in combat, mental health challenges faced by service members, and leadership strategies to enhance team cohesion and decision-making. Explore Psychological Principles Impacting Military Personnel Understand the history and evolution of military psychology and its practical applications Learn to identify and manage stress, trauma, and PTSD specific to combat environments Develop techniques to build resilience and psychological strength among soldiers Examine leadership psychology and decision-making under pressure in military contexts Discover psychological assessment tools and strategic methods including PSYOPS and behavioral profiling Explore ethical considerations and support systems for military personnel and their families Gain insights into rehabilitation and reintegration strategies for veterans Comprehensive study of psychological factors that influence military effectiveness, mental health, leadership, and ethical responsibilities. This course begins with foundational lessons on the role and history of military psychology, providing context to how psychological science supports military operations and personnel.

Review of the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice; Committee to Review the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process; Bruce N. Calonge (Editor); Anne N. Styka (Editor) The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides health care and other benefits to eligible veterans with physical and mental injuries or illnesses (conditions) related to their military service. When the scientific information needed to connect a veterans service or a particular military exposure with their diagnosed condition is nonexistent, impossible to obtain, or incomplete, VA may make a presumption of service connection using a formalized decision process. In 2022, VA instituted a series of changes intended to ensure the presumption decision process was more scientifically based, fair, consistent, transparent, timely, and veteran-centric. The PACT Act of 2022 called for a National Academies committee to review the VA revised process document used to identify medical conditions to evaluate for presumption status, the factors that such an evaluation entails, and the governance process for the review and approval of a presumption recommendation. This resulting report, Review of the Department of Veterans Affairs Presumption Decision Process, contains the committee findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Service Denied by John M. Kinder (Editor); Jason A. Higgins (Editor) Wartime military service is held up as a marker of civic duty and patriotism, yet the rewards of veteran status have never been equally distributed. Certain groups of military veterans--women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and former service members with stigmatizing conditions, "bad paper" discharges, or criminal records--have been left out of official histories, excised from national consciousness, and denied state recognition and military benefits. Chronicling the untold stories of marginalized veterans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Service Denied uncovers the generational divides, cultural stigmas, and discriminatory policies that affected veterans during and after their military service. Together, the chapters in this collection recast veterans beyond the archetype, inspiring an innovative model for veterans studies that encourages an intersectional and interdisciplinary analysis of veterans history. In addition to contributions from the volume editors, this collection features scholarship by Barbara Gannon, Robert Jefferson, Evan P. Sullivan, Steven Rosales, Heather Marie Stur, Juan Coronado, Kara Dixon Vuic, John Worsencroft, and David Kieran.

Veterans Benefits for You by Paul R. Lawrence All veterans and their families deserve the maximum benefits they earned by bravely serving their country! Veterans of the United States armed forces are entitled to a broad range of benefits and services provided by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Dr. Paul R Lawrence, former Under Secretary for Benefits in the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and accessible guide to all the benefits and services available to veterans of the US armed services and how to make the most of these benefits and services.

When Cowboys Come Home: Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post–World War II America by Aaron George When Cowboys Come Home: Veterans, Authenticity, and Manhood in Post-World War II America is a cultural and intellectual history of the 1950s that argues that World War II led to a breakdown of traditional markers of manhood and opened space for veterans to reimagine what masculinity could mean. Aaron George presents three intellectual biographies of important veterans who became writers after the war Through their lives, George shows how wartime disabused men of the notion that war was inherently a brave or heroic enterprise and how the alienation they felt upon their return led them to value the authentic connections they made with other men during the war.