SWK 5002 Week 2 Assignment Exploration of Social Justice

SWK 5002 Week 2 Assignment Exploration of Social Justice

 

Student Name

Capella University

SKW5002

Prof. Name

Submission Date

 

Exploration of Social Justice

In the United States, access to mental health services by military veterans is a serious social justice concern. When veterans come home after serving their country, they come back with invisible wounds, which include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and substance abuse. Unluckily, the stigma, bureaucracy, underfunded programs and lack of culturally competent care make it difficult to provide the needed support to a lot of veterans.

The paper will discuss how the problem of oppression affects the access of veterans to mental health services, ethical issues surrounding the situation, and the policies that are being implemented to resolve the problem. The effect of such policies and differences in the advocacy strategies that have been employed to facilitate better access to care are also evaluated in this paper.

Forms and Mechanisms of Oppression and Discrimination

Veterans, especially those belonging to marginalised communities, including people of colour, women, and the lesbian/gay/bi/trans community, are likely to be at risk of facing systematic oppression which denies them access to mental health care (Bartlett et al, 2022).

Institutional neglect is one of the primary forms of oppression, i.e. bureaucratic failures in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) mean years-long wait times, divided care, or outright denial. A report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released in 2024 showed that nearly one in five veterans who used the VA to receive mental health care experienced significant delays in receiving care, and the delays had adverse outcomes or withdrawal (Office, 2024).

Stigma is also a significant factor. The military culture of stoicism and toughness makes many veterans not want to seek any help, especially the male veterans, who are often socialised not show any emotional weakness. In addition, rural veterans are oppressed geographically, as there are fewer mental health professionals and mental health clinics.

Currently, as of 2022, there are approximately 2.7 million rural veterans with limited to no access to specialised VA mental healthcare services due to distance or transportation issues or telehealth infrastructure (Rural Health Information Hub, 2021).

Ethical Problems Associated with the Issue

The lack of available and equitable mental health services to veterans raises several ethics issues, in particular. When people who have served the nation are not able to access the basic health services due to bureaucracy, cultural or geographical barriers, the principle of social justice is infringed. In addition, the value of dignity and worth of the person is compromised when mental illness is labelled and not addressed, and veterans end up suffering in silence.

Social workers have a moral obligation to facilitate systems that achieve positive outcomes for the clients and provide equitable access to services. Lack of doing so may lead to avoidable injuries such as suicide, homelessness and imprisonment among the veterans. On average, 17 veterans have been found to commit suicide each day, according to the reports made by the VA, thus highlighting the need to act ethically and change the policy.

Current Enacted Policies

Several federal policies have been implemented to improve access to mental health services for veterans. The VA MISSION Act increased access to community care in veterans if VA services are not provided or if they take too long (Rasmussen & Farmer, 2023). It also expanded the funding for telehealth programs and networks of care providers outside of the VA system. The Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act of 2020 focuses on suicide prevention by creating more funding for mental health screenings, expanding telehealth services, and supporting community-based mental health programs (Pannell, 2021).

Additionally, the PACT Act of 2022, while focused mainly on giving more benefits for toxic exposure, covers information on improved mental health evaluations and treatment for affected veterans. While these policies have positively impacted, there are some significant challenges left to address. For example, the VA MISSION Act has actually improved access on paper, but implementation has been hampered by poor provider coordination and limited provider availability, especially in rural areas.

Policy Impact and Constraints

The above policies have made an impact on the issue of improving access to mental health care among the veterans in a measurable but limited way. Specifically, telehealth services have shown great potential as VA records show that tele-mental health visits have risen by 300 per cent between 2020 and 2022 and therefore improved access to rural and underserved veterans (McBain et al., 2023).

Although this has been the case, the technological barriers are an issue, especially for the older veterans and those with poor access to the internet. Moreover, despite the recent legislation, which has provided increased funding for suicide prevention, the same has not been implemented. Such problems as a shortage of staff, insufficient trauma-informed care providers, and a low level of cultural competence of healthcare professionals, which have existed for a long time, have a negative impact on the efficacy of these policies.

Especially for those veterans who are part of the so-called “trash queer” – the LBGTQ + veterans and veterans of colour – who often complain that they have been discriminated against or that their culture has not been adequately considered, can be put off from seeking the help that they need. The situation is further complicated by several policy restrictions such as shortage of funding, persistent shortage of providers, bureaucratic complexities of eligibility and claims processing, inconsistent policy enforcement on state and facility level, as well as lack of supervision of quality of care provided through community partners.

Advocacy Methods and Their Effectiveness

The support of mental health care in veterans has been advocated in numerous ways, all of which have led to increased awareness and policy changes. Organisations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and the American Legion have been able to lobby policies through legislative means that have led to the passing of such essential policies as the VA MISSION Act.

Stigma-reduction efforts, such as the VA-sponsored Make the Connection, have been significant in helping to discourage stigma as well as motivating veterans to get help. Also, community-based projects have participated together with nonprofit groups to provide peer support and crisis intervention outside the formal VA apparatus. Although these are good initiatives, there are significant problems.

The process of legislative advocacy is often long, and not every veteran is likely to be reached by the public awareness campaign, especially those who are isolated or who do not have access to digital media. Additional measures would be needed to improve the results of advocacy, for example, expansion of peer-led veteran support networks, development of culturally appropriate mental health provider training, and implementation of requirements for more effective coordination between VA and community-based care services.

Conclusion

The issue of access to mental health services by veterans is an urgent social justice problem that is affected by oppression and bureaucracy, as well as the stigma that is still present. Although some current policies have provided a basis upon which reforms can be made, such as the VA MISSION Act and the Hannon Act, there are considerable gaps, especially among rural, minority, and LGBTQ + veterans.

Social workers have to promote fairer, trauma-informed and culturally competent systems. In the future, it is planned to analyse the VA MISSION Act of 2018 in order to determine its further efficiency and the possibility of its reform. It is not just a policy issue to resolve these challenges; it is a moral imperative to those who have served the country.

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