PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Coco Culhane, Executive Director of Veteran Advocacy Project
1:43:02
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160 sec
Coco Culhane, Executive Director of Veteran Advocacy Project, emphasized the importance of data-driven decision-making in veteran support programs and urged the council to focus on identifying and funding existing successful programs. She raised concerns about the lack of family-focused mental health services and stressed the need for better understanding of the veteran population in NYC.
- Highlighted the need for more data on wait times and effectiveness of mental health programs for veterans and their families
- Questioned the evidence behind certain treatment approaches, such as RTM (Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories) therapy
- Called for follow-up on previously passed legislation and resolutions related to veteran support
Coco Culhane
1:43:02
Hi.
1:43:02
I'm Coco Colhain, the executive director of the veteran advocacy project.
1:43:06
We provide free legal services to veterans and their families, and we focus on working those with those who live with post traumatic stress disorder, brain injury, and other mental health conditions.
1:43:17
I just I wanna urge the council to focus on data because it feels like there are a lot of really great ideas floating around, but I'm absolutely no data backing it up.
1:43:28
We, you know, one of the things I think is most important that we do is we connect clients to mental health.
1:43:34
Like, we're removing the barriers to get them there.
1:43:36
They're the front lines.
1:43:38
We we work with probably about 10 programs, I'm only aware of one that works with families.
1:43:44
So if there are wait lists at these programs where we're sending our clients, I would imagine that one program probably has wait lists as well.
1:43:53
We didn't hear anything about those programs directly today.
1:43:55
I think it's really important to identify them and to fund, you know, doing the outreach, doing the education around the city is so crucial.
1:44:04
And I think that's probably one of the best things that was discussed today because these families are interacting at other points.
1:44:10
They're not all coming to DBS.
1:44:12
But in terms of funding, I think finding the existing programs that we know are successful that have data is so important.
1:44:21
One of the things this RTM came up, I was looking at a study that shows that all the studies done of it, there's nothing done after 2 weeks.
1:44:30
There's bias in like, it was a overview.
1:44:33
And maybe I have it wrong.
1:44:34
I'm not a medical provider, but we should look at that before we have a city agency recruiting people for that trademarked program.
1:44:42
Like, that's worrisome.
1:44:45
The other thing is that how many military families are there in the city?
1:44:50
Right?
1:44:50
I mean, if you look at the most recent stats or 130,000 veterans, 25, 30% of them of an age where they could have kids at a at a school age.
1:45:01
So what are we looking at?
1:45:03
What is the need?
1:45:05
And and to really focus on that before legislating anything, because I think a lot of times, really good intention.
1:45:11
Like, GBS is supposed to have a pure hotline.
1:45:14
That was a bill that was introduced in 2018 and was passed in 2021 because it, you know, when unsigned on the mayor's desk.
1:45:21
What's going on with that.
1:45:22
There's a resolution where one of the caregiver cities for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
1:45:28
What have we done about that?
1:45:29
Where are we still involved?
1:45:31
What does that mean for New York?
1:45:33
I just think some of these things we need to league follow-up and making sure that the very limited resources are being spent really wisely.
1:45:41
Thank you.
