County May Increase Mental Health Services for Veterans

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 22, 2008 at 12:54 PM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Veterans and their families dealing with the stress of war and deployment might benefit from an increase in San Diego County mental health services. County officials held a forum in Oceanside to consi

Veterans and their families dealing with the stress of war and deployment might benefit from an increase in San Diego County mental health services. County officials held a forum in Oceanside to consider how to supplement services provided by the VA. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

More than 6,000 vets from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are registered with the VA in San Diego. Almost 30 percent have PTSD , and the VA is stretched to provide treatment.

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San Diego County will have $16 million to spend on preventing mental illness, thanks to Proposition 63, the so called millionaire tax voters passed in 2004.

At the forum to consider how the money could help Veterans, the County’s Dr. Phillip Hanger said families could use help before they break down.

Hanger : The veteran population may not show mental illness, but they’re at risk for mental illness. Their family members are stressed and they’re higher risk. If we provide services earlier on in some cases we can prevent mental illness from occurring.

However many veterans hesitate to ask for help for symptoms of PTSD, for fear it will affect their future careers.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.