38 U.S.C. § 1720F — Comprehensive program for suicide prevention among veterans and members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces

(a) The Secretary must develop and carry out a comprehensive program to reduce suicide among “covered individuals,” using the components in this section. (b) The Secretary must require suitable Department staff and contractors, including all medical personnel who interact with covered individuals, to receive training. The training must fit their duties and cover: (1) recognizing suicide risk factors; (2) proper responses to crises involving covered individuals who may be at high risk; and (3) suicide-prevention best practices. (c) When a covered individual seeks care at a Department medical facility, including a center under section 1712A, medical staff must offer mental-health assessment as part of the overall health assessment. At the individual's request, staff must refer an individual showing signs or symptoms of mental-health problems to suitable counseling and treatment programs. (d) The Secretary must designate a suicide-prevention counselor at each Department medical facility other than a center under section 1712A. Each counselor must work with local emergency rooms, police departments, mental-health organizations, and veterans-service organizations to reach covered individuals and improve coordination of their mental-health care. (e) The Secretary must provide research on suicide-prevention best practices among covered individuals, consulting the heads of the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (f) The Secretary must provide research on mental-health care for covered individuals who experienced sexual trauma during military service. The research design must consider veterans and reserve-component members. (g) The Secretary must make mental-health care available to covered individuals 24 hours a day. (h) The Secretary may provide a toll-free hotline for covered individuals. It must be staffed by properly trained mental-health personnel and available at all times. (i) The Secretary must provide outreach and education for covered individuals and their families, with special emphasis on veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and their families. Mental-health education must provide information designed to remove the stigma of mental illness, encourage treatment and help, promote coping skills, and help families understand readjustment to civilian life, identify signs and symptoms, and encourage the individual to seek help. (j)(1) The Secretary must establish and operate a peer-support counseling program. Covered individuals may volunteer as peer counselors to help other covered individuals with mental-health and readjustment issues and to reach covered individuals and their families. (2) Peer counselors must receive adequate training, including training under the national program required by section 304(c) of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010. (3) The program must operate at each Department medical center and other suitable locations. (4)(A) The Secretary must emphasize appointing women peer counselors for women covered individuals and, as practicable, recruit women with expertise in women-specific issues and services, information about Secretary-administered benefits, or employment mentoring. (B) As practicable, the Secretary must emphasize counseling for women who qualify under section 1720D, have post-traumatic stress disorder or another mental-health condition, are homeless or at risk of homelessness, or are otherwise at increased suicide risk as the Secretary determines. (C) The Secretary must tell women covered individuals about the program and assistance. (D) The Secretary must coordinate with suitable community organizations, governments, colleges and other higher-education institutions, chambers of commerce, local business organizations, legal-assistance organizations, and others. (E) The Secretary must provide adequate training, including the training required by section 304(c) of that Act. (k) The Secretary may provide other actions the Secretary considers appropriate to reduce suicide among covered individuals. (l)(1) “Covered individual” means a veteran or a member of the Armed Forces reserve components. This section does not otherwise define “covered individual.” (2) In deciding coverage for reserve-component members, the Secretary must consult the Secretary of Defense.