Is 30 Minutes
Enough?
I've always said, “In order to be healthy, your mind,
body and soul have to be ONE.” 30 minutes of exercise, 30 minutes
of meditation and 30 minutes in therapy! All well and good, but if your
body is wracked with pain and the prescribed meds you take are causing you to
grow by leaps and bounds, how can 30 minutes of exercise be enough? Of
course diet is key...but when stressed, I eat! I don't even feel like
exercising because of my pain. I know, you say, "excuses, excuses,
excuses." The truth is, I just have to do it! But oh...the
pain.
Pain management for those suffering with mental health
issues is a tremendous concern. I don't know about you, but the
older I get the less tolerant I am to pain. That's when I try to breathe,
focus or meditate. Meditation works if you do it every day----helps calm your
soul.
What about the mind though? 30 minutes of
therapy -- is once a month really enough?
It's taken me 10 years to get to this point in my quest
toward a healthy mind and only in the last 3 years have I made any significant
progress after attending an inpatient treatment center in Lyons New
Jersey. It was there that I learned you have to Feel, Deal and Heal. I meditated, I
walked with the help of a walker and tried to eat well...but I was in long term
therapy and that's the difference. It's my personal belief that 30
minutes of therapy once a month is not enough for those who have serious mental
health issues. You realize that when it takes 10 minutes to take off and
put on your coat in the therapist's office. We all know there is limited access
for every veteran for Mental Health Care and that time is precious. The
Mental Health staff are stressed themselves to be able to meet the demand and
case load. You can see it in their faces-- I'm sure they too, need help
from the case load.
While I was very excited and proud that the VA hired over 1600 Mental Health Professionals to expand health care and provide outreach efforts a year ago to show good faith commitment to the health and well-being of the men and women who have served our Nation – we must do all we can to continue to increase their access to care. So what's the answer? If you extend the time to one hour, less veterans will be seen with our existing staff.
The answer is simple: Continue to hire more mental
health care staff to meet the demands. Shouldn't we have learned this
from Vietnam? More important, let's afford every veteran with serious
mental health issues the opportunity to attend inpatient treatment, open more
access to mental health and make sure women veterans get equal access. I
had to travel clear across the country to get my extended inpatient care,
even though the Denver VA is a large facility. There was no PTSD program
for women veterans in Denver either. That's an issue we must address as
well -- access to treatment near our homes. Let's not make sick veterans travel
clear across country to get their care. Congress must fully fund these
programs and deal with mental health issues regarding all our veterans - be
they active duty, reserve, retired, etc.
Mental Health issues are a community crisis now and it
will take a Village of mental health professionals to ensure adequate care.
Every American should be afforded mental health care. To deny access is
to deny a basic human right.
Feel, Deal and Heal - is 30 minutes enough? I don't think so!
Bonnie Tierney
Author, Poet, Disabled Veteran
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