Senator Collins Joins Bipartisan Group of Senators in Cosponsoring Bill to Expand Veterans’ Access to Peer Counseling Specialists

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins joined a group of six bipartisan Senators in cosponsoring the Veteran Partners’ Efforts to Enhance Reintegration (PEER) Act.  The legislation would help expand veterans’ access to peer counseling specialists to help reduce the risks of suicide and treat associated mental health conditions.

“We owe it to our veterans to provide each of them with the health care that they have earned through their service to our country,” said Senator Collins.  “I encourage my colleagues to join this effort to ensure increased access to vital mental health and substance abuse treatment services for the brave men and women who have sacrificed so much to defend our nation.”

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) currently employs peer specialists to assist veterans in treatment for mental health and substance abuse disorders. Peer specialists support fellow veterans and encourage recovery by helping veterans access health services and navigate the VA health care system.  Peer specialists also teach coping and positive health-affirming behavior. The VA was instructed by a 2012 Executive Order to hire and train 800 peer counselors by December 31, 2013, to treat the estimated 1.5 million veterans requiring mental health services.

The Veteran PEER Act would expand veterans’ access to peer specialist services by specifically targeting the current program’s shortcomings, such as peer specialists’ restricted participation in primary care services, persistent stigma attached to seeking treatment for mental health disorders, and under-promoted proven successes of the peer specialist program in veteran reintegration.

The Veteran PEER Act would:

• Authorize the VA to establish peer specialists in Patient Aligned Care Teams within VA medical centers to promote the use and integration of mental health and substance abuse treatment services in the primary care setting.

• Implement the program in 50 locations across the nation over two years, with required consideration of rural and underserved areas when selecting program locations.

• Require regular reports to Congress with information on the benefits to veterans and their families derived from the use of peer specialists.