Q&A
Call for increased funding and support for veteran mental health programs
0:46:37
·
6 min
Council Member Holden emphasizes the long-term impacts of PTSD on veterans and their families, calling for increased funding and support for veteran mental health programs. The discussion highlights the broader societal question of fully supporting veterans.
- Holden shares personal experiences of how life stressors can trigger PTSD symptoms in veterans
- The importance of continuous check-ins with veterans throughout their lives is stressed
- Holden criticizes the lack of funding for veteran support programs and mental health treatment
- Commissioner Hendon raises the broader question of whether the country is willing to pay the full cost of supporting veterans
- The discussion concludes with a call for more comprehensive support for veterans, including addressing homelessness and improving mental health services
Robert F. Holden
0:46:37
Right.
0:46:38
I I just I'll I'll turn it over to my colleague in a second, but but I'll just tell you living with somebody with post traumatic stress disorder, what sets what set him off?
0:46:51
And I'll go over a couple of things in his life.
0:46:55
He got married in in 1946, I was born at 51.
0:47:01
So by the time, like, let's say, 5 years into the marriage, he had 3 kids.
0:47:04
And within the next year, he had my my dad had 4 kids.
0:47:09
He bought a new house, and Then the department about he he worked for the department of agriculture.
0:47:16
They moved to Chicago, and they said, you could you just bought a house, but you're gonna have to move to Chicago to keep your job.
0:47:23
So he had a mortgage that set him off after he stopped functioning because his life was disrupted to the point where 4 kids, a mortgage losing his job job, having to move away from his family to go to Chicago.
0:47:40
So just leave these hurdles.
0:47:41
So he had to re got another job, still life kept coming at him.
0:47:47
So you get to a point, and the VA knew nothing.
0:47:50
There was nothing from the VA forever.
0:47:52
It was like 50 years before he got it.
0:47:55
We got eventually help, but it was too late.
0:47:58
But it there was no again, my uncle told me there was he didn't like the army.
0:48:04
He said the army.
0:48:05
My uncle had a different perspective on things, but he didn't he didn't exhibit the same things my dad did because they were different people.
0:48:11
And they were in the same battles.
0:48:13
They were in the same situations.
0:48:15
So my my uncle could function, my dad couldn't.
0:48:18
So we get to a point where anything in life that throws you a curve, and we're all we all face hurdles in life everybody has.
0:48:26
But it affects people with post traumatic stress.
0:48:28
I learned that because I saw what would make him drop out.
0:48:33
You know, even though we sometimes we got him on on treatment, it'd never he can never hold it.
0:48:41
Because he saw too many horrors And like I said, the only people the only person that ever told me of the horror was my uncle after my father passed.
0:48:50
So the the the fact that he never got the treatment the fact that the Vietnam vets didn't get the treatment.
0:48:58
You would think we'd learn a lesson that there would be somebody, a mental health expert, interview everyone, and then sit down and try to give them some treatment.
0:49:07
I know it's it could be a situation of finances money for for this.
0:49:12
But this is well, we're we're investing in people's lives here.
0:49:17
So what it did was we had a chain reaction where family members and I have a short fuse because I experienced that.
0:49:26
I experienced like I had to I had to correct things in the family at at eleven years old, and I had to carry that through until my father passed.
0:49:35
And then only then that I learned something here, So this is a you know, we really need to push for mental health treatment from this council, but not only from that from the council, but the VA on a federal level.
0:49:48
I'll turn it over to my colleague, council member Lee.
James Hendon
0:49:52
Mister Cheers, anyway, I can just say something response to that.
0:49:55
Is that okay?
Robert F. Holden
0:49:55
Yeah.
James Hendon
0:49:56
First of all, you were we've gotta keep checking in with folks throughout their lives.
0:50:01
You know?
0:50:01
And so that's what we're trying to do to try to get into the battle over the muscle memory of constantly reaching out with these veterans to check-in.
0:50:08
Because in that situation you spoke of with your father, we don't know what he would have said at first when he was first getting out, but we know there were issues that came up later.
0:50:15
So how do we do what we can to keep checking in our folks?
0:50:18
As we do things like Mission Vetcheck, other activities like that.
0:50:21
So I just wanna call out one piece.
0:50:23
Another thing to say too is this is This victim hero thing is serious in that we don't wanna scare people off if we just enfantilize them or automatically approach them as though we think they're crazy.
0:50:34
We think something's wrong.
0:50:35
You know, we've got to do these things with care.
0:50:37
And so in all of these interactions with our brothers and sisters, it's gotta be done in a way where folks don't feel like, yeah, I'm gonna stay away from them.
0:50:43
Say right away, assume I'm a certain way they've got these assumptions.
0:50:46
And so that's kind of a it's you know, both things which were at the same time.
Robert F. Holden
0:50:50
Alright.
0:50:50
But the the fact that this city has has we do a we put a lot of money into not for profits.
0:50:57
We put a lot of money into programs.
0:50:59
And the fact that we can't put in a minimal amount.
0:51:03
To try to reach veterans who are who are damaged.
0:51:08
Let's let's face it.
0:51:09
They they they go they go through a situation that is very stressful that we can never imagine.
0:51:15
I can't imagine not being in combat, but I could just imagine just looking at at at film of what they went through in the war having, you know I mean, when you look at World War 2, I always look at World War 2 footage because it's I I just can't imagine charging, you know, you know, landing on a beach and then having, you know, rounds come at you at all different directions, and then thinking and then seeing your buddies die.
0:51:43
That just that one incident for one minute would affect obviously most of us.
0:51:48
To go through that for years.
0:51:51
That has to be so important that we we counsel people on mental health because we didn't know back then.
0:51:59
I mean, they called it everything from you.
0:52:01
Michelle Schoch, they called they had all these names for it.
0:52:05
But they're humans.
0:52:07
And, again, this needs to be treated seriously.
0:52:10
And the fact that this council won't won't fund pro minimal programs is disgrace.
James Hendon
0:52:16
Questions bigger than the council chair?
0:52:18
Big on the state of the country.
0:52:19
Do we, as a country, wanna pay the full cost to be right by our veterans?
0:52:22
Do we as a country wanna pay?
Robert F. Holden
0:52:24
We don't.
0:52:25
We don't.
0:52:26
We don't.
0:52:27
We and the fact that there are homeless veterans, and they don't have they they have to sleep in a congregate shelter, that's that's ridiculous.
0:52:34
That is and that's a that's a certainly a black mark on this country.
0:52:39
The fact that we did this.
0:52:41
We put these men through this and women through this, and we're not helping them to a full extent.
0:52:47
You're doing what you can, but It's not a coincidence that you're the smallest agency.
0:52:52
That's a testament to how we're treating our veterans, but let me turn it over to my chair.
0:52:58
Marco Chip, sorry.
