Vicky Hartzler: “I thank the chairwoman and the ranking member for including two of my amendments in this bipartisan en bloc package, and…”

“I thank the chairwoman and the ranking member for including two of my amendments in this bipartisan en bloc package, and I would specifically like to highlight one of my amendments that will provide $5 million for the Department of Defense to utilize community-based, nonprofit, post-traumatic growth organizations for mental health treatment. Suicide prevention is a top priority for the DOD, yet suicides in our military communities continue to rise. While current pharmaceutical and psychotherapy approaches help alleviate some struggles, they fail to address two key elements of resilience: social and spiritual fitness. My amendment provides resources to enable the DOD to employ a variety of pathways for our servicemembers and will allow the Department to leverage the resilience expertise of post-traumatic growth organizations that are seeing so much success. I am excited about this potential. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate their support of this amendment, and I ask everyone to support this package.”