Dublin VA and Georgia War Veterans Home to Collaborate for Mental Health Summit in Milledgeville September 13

The Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin and the Milledgeville Georgia War Veterans Home, an agency of the Georgia Department of Veteran Services, will co-host a mental health summit Sept. 13 from noon until 4:30 p.m. The purpose of the event is to provide veterans with information about VA mental health services and to enhance cooperation between VA and its community partners for the benefit of Georgia veterans.
The Dublin VA hosts mental health summits several times each year to ensure that veterans, their families, and other VA stakeholders are aware of the services available to help veterans have healthy, satisfying lives. Topics include suicide prevention, access to care, residential programs, Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO), and many others.
The summit will offer valuable information to veterans and their supporters about mental health services available through VA and how they can be accessed. According to event coordinator Marla Roche, the opportunity to build strong alliances with community partners that will benefit veterans is equally important.
“What we find is that when VA works closely with its partners in the community, outcomes for veterans are most effective. We use these summits as a way to get out info to veterans about services and programs but also as a way to promote partnerships with our counterparts in the middle Georgia community,” Roche said.
Dublin VA Mental Health director Dr. Matthew Geyer says that his medical center provides mental health services to approximately 10,000 veterans in middle and south Georgia, but that there are many more veterans eligible for care who are not seeking VA services or who are not aware that such services are available. He is particularly keen to address issues related to preventing veteran suicides and mitigating homelessness.
“It’s absolutely critical that we reach our veterans and our communities with information about suicide prevention, psychological health challenges, substance abuse, and ending homelessness. Working with our community partners in a variety of venues is one of the best ways for us to do that. These are issues not just tied to the veteran’s health, but are significant for families, neighbors, and communities.  The veterans we serve are not just our patients, they are our friends, spouses, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, neighbors, and community members,” Geyer said.
The Milledgeville summit will be at the Birdsong Recreation Complex at the Georgia War Veterans Home, 2249 Vinson Highway SE, Milledgeville. Pre-registration for agencies is required. For more information, contact Marla Roche at 478-272-1210 ext. 2579 or Marla.Roche@va.gov