Active Duty airmen may be eligible for four off-the-record visits at their local base mental health clinic as part of service-wide efforts to bolster airmen’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, announced service medical officials on Wednesday. The Resiliency Enhancement Visits program aims to encourage service members who might otherwise hesitate to seek mental health treatment to get the help they may need. These visits are meant to support airmen experiencing temporary reactions to stress events, such as grief or relationship or occupational problems, according to the Jan. 30 release from the 87th Medical Group at JB McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. Health officials will not establish a mental health record for these visits and will not document these visits in an airman’s electronic medical record, states the release. The appointments are voluntary and commanders and supervisors cannot direct persons to participate. (McGuire report by SSgt. Amber Merefield)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.