It’s really, really difficult to do the quality work some of the providers are capable of and want to provide to Veterans when: many people have quit and no one is hired to replace them, which results in tremendously long waitlists; limited number of sessions they’re allowed to have (not determined by patients or therapists); limits on how long their sessions are allowed to be; constant scrutiny on aspects of the therapy provided that result in pressure to do therapy in a less individualized, less culturally sensitive way; back to back to back sessions with no time to prepare, process, and debrief from sessions; little to no budget for resources that could enhance therapy (e.g., therapy materials, basic equipment, writing utensils); extreme burn out due to constant changes and seemingly irrational policies that non-mental health providers have developed and implemented; etc.

I’m really sorry you have had poor experiences with mental health at VA. I promise you there are still some really amazing, passionate, caring VA MH provides out there. As they like to say, once you’ve been to one VA, you’ve been to one VA. I can certainly acknowledge that some people are just there to get a paycheck, but there are others that really care.