Bill > S609

This bill, called the BRAVE Act of 2025, aims to comprehensively improve mental health services for veterans through multiple initiatives. The bill focuses on four main areas: improving the workforce supporting mental health care, enhancing Vet Center infrastructure and technology, addressing women veterans' specific needs, and implementing additional mental health support measures. Key provisions include requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to conduct market pay surveys for mental health professionals, modify hiring qualifications for psychologists and counselors, improve coordination between VA clinical care and Readjustment Counseling Service, expand Vet Center locations based on population needs, develop better outreach strategies for veterans, conduct a study on suicide prevention programs specifically for women veterans, modify the REACH VET suicide prevention program to include women-specific risk factors, extend the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, create a pilot program for mental health residential treatment for veterans with spinal cord injuries, and establish annual mental health consultations for veterans receiving disability compensation for mental health diagnoses. The bill also mandates a joint report from the VA and Department of Defense on improving mental health services access for transitioning service members, demonstrating a comprehensive approach to supporting veterans' mental health needs across various stages of their post-military lives.

Military Affairs and Security

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/609/all-info