Meeting the mental health care needs of Veterans

With San Antonio being one of the fastest growing areas of the country for Veterans, the need for mental health care for Veterans there is expanding. At South Texas VA, the Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (LPMHC) internship program is not only helping to meet that need but strengthening VA from within.

In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the internship program began its first training cohort to address the mental health care needs of Veterans in the area.

"This program is helping us meet that need so Veterans don't have to wait so long for appointments and receive the appropriate psychotherapies that they need," said South Texas VA Chief of Psychology Dr. Jeremy Crostley.

The success of the program can be measured in many ways, but hiring health professions trainees within VA after graduation has been a key milestone for the new program.

Five now working at South Texas

"I'm so proud that out of the nine students that started our program, five have applied and been hired to work here at South Texas," said Training Director Tanya Workman. "They have been doing so well in their transition to full time employment, even earning their full licensure through the state of Texas. That is a true testament to the program working."

Pictured above, Tanya Workman, center, meets with team members,

VA's education mission, established 78 years ago and overseen by the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA), educates and trains health professionals to enhance the quality of and timely access to care provided to Veterans.

For Associate Chief of Staff for Education Dr. David Bell, South Texas VA's education program is further enhancing that mission. "This program is exactly what we are targeting in our education mission. We are getting the best and brightest from our schools and universities. They are working and training alongside our team and they are caring for Veterans and their families. And the best part is [that] this program has been so successful in having those best and brightest stay with our team."

For many of the trainees, the high-quality program and staff support reinforced their decision to stay with VA.

"What I enjoyed most from the program was the support we got from the entire psychology department, as well as the model we had in the program, so we always had someone to work with us and we were never alone," said Payton Bostick, former intern. "It just really fostered my love for working with Veterans, so I wanted to stay with VA and continue my work full-time."

Connecting with Veterans most important

Workman explained that one of the most important parts of the program was that the trainees have a good experience and develop a team mentality throughout the training. "We just want them to work together and eliminate any feeling of competition between the trainees, as this work can be life or death and we need to be able to trust each other. Our Veterans need that trust and support. We show them how to speak to Veterans, how to support our Veterans and how we connect with them. That's what is most important."

Bell sees the program as successful whether the trainees stay with VA or move on to the public sector for the experience they get working with the Veteran population. "Whether or not they stay here on our team or they go out into the community, they'll have that expertise and understanding of what it means to deliver that best care to Veterans and their families."

The trainees in San Antonio are among the 120,000 health professions trainees in 60 disciplines training in VA health care training programs across the country. Working with over 1,500 academic institutions throughout the nation, VA's health professions education program makes VA the largest provider of health care education in the United States.

For more information on VA's education mission, visit OAA's website.

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