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The Human Cost Of Veteran Trauma · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Hi everyone, Justin here, Voices for Voices.
• 0:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode.
• 0:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're grateful to have you with us on this and over 570 episodes.
• 0:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's just incredible.
• 0:16
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• 0:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Share the Voices for Voices podcast with maybe 25, 50, or 100 of your contacts.
• 0:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Uh, we're on our way to reaching and helping at least 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond.
• 0:46
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• 0:50
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• 0:57
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• 0:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Things that are free, easy, and that we already do uh throughout the day, most of us do.
• 1:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you for being with us.
• 1:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Today we're going to be talking about the human cost of veteran trauma.
• 1:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So here we go.
• 1:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Your call is important to us.
• 1:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Please continue to hold.
• 1:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's the sound of a crisis.
• 1:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Not on some distant battlefield, but right here at home, in living rooms, on city streets, and at the other end of a thousand mile long telephone wire.
• 1:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For millions of American veterans, this is the sound of a promise being broken.
• 1:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They were promised support, a system that would have their backs, but what too many found out was a maze of bureaucracy, a series of closed doors and a system pushing them to the brink.
• 2:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We're gonna look at 2023.
• 2:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In twenty twenty three alone, six thousand three hundred and ninety-eight veterans died by suicide.
• 2:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's an average of seventeen point five lives cut short every single day.
• 2:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But this isn't just a number.
• 2:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a father, a daughter, a brother, a friend.
• 2:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a human being who is promised care and somewhere along the line was failed.
• 2:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the story of that failure, a systematic collapse that leaves its deepest scars on those who have already sacrificed so much.
• 3:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the story of the devastating human cost of veteran trauma.
• 3:09
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's look at the promise of service, the peril of transition.
• 3:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Before the hold music, the forms and the waiting list, there was a promise.
• 3:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A promise forged in the intense heat of basic training and sealed with an oath to protect and serve.
• 3:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For so many, military isn't just a job, it's an identity, it's a community, a mission, and a sense of purpose that's crystal clear.
• 3:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You're part of something larger than yourself.
• 3:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Your team depends on you, and you depend on them.
• 3:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The structure is rigid, the regulations, the expectations are high, and your role is vital.
• 4:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Imagine a nineteen year old leaving their small town for the first time.
• 4:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They're taught discipline, leadership, and a skill, maybe as a combat medic, an engineer, or a logistics specialist.
• 4:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They travel the world, face down challenges they never imagine, and build bonds that feel unbreakable.
• 4:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They serve with honor for four, eight or twenty years.
• 4:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They're told that they are heroes, and they're promised that when their service is done, a grateful nation will be there to help them transition back to the life they left behind.
• 5:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But shifting from structured, high stakes world of the military to the sprawling, ambiguous landscape of civilian life can be a shock to the system.
• 5:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The easy camaraderie of a unit is replaced by isolation of a cubicle or the quiet of an empty apartment.
• 5:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That clear sense of mission evaporates, often leaving a void that's hard to name and even harder to fill.
• 5:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This transition is known danger zone.
• 5:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This transition is a known danger zone.
• 5:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The first year after leaving the service is a period of intense vulnerability, marked by a sharp increase in mental health risks.
• 6:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The various skills that made them exceptional in the military don't always translate neatly onto a civilian resume.
• 6:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The hypervigilance that kept them safe in a war zone becomes a source of anxiety in a crowded grocery store.
• 6:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The memories they carry, the experiences seared into their minds, create a gulf between them and civilians who can never truly understand.
• 6:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And this is where the first cracks in the promise start to show.
• 6:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The system designed to bridge this gap is often fragmented and tough to navigate.
• 6:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A veteran might need one office for job help, another across town for health care, and a third for education benefits.
• 7:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: All while trying to find a place to live and reconnect with family.
• 7:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: There's no single person or place accountable for their well being.
• 7:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They're left to piece together their own support structure right when they need stability the most.
• 7:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a journey that many are forced to make alone, and for some it's a start of a downward spiral.
• 7:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The health care hurdle.
• 7:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A system in crisis.
• 7:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The physical and psychological toll of military service is immense.
• 7:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Chronic pain, traumatic brain injuries, also called TBI, and post traumatic stress disorder, also called PTSD, aren't abstract diagnoses, their daily lived realities for hundreds of thousands of veterans.
• 8:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In fact, pain is one of the most frequently identified risk factors among veterans who die by suicide.
• 8:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And a traumatic brain injury can be devastating.
• 8:38
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Research shows that a TBI traumatic brain injury diagnosis can increase a veteran's suicide risk by over ninety percent compared to those without such an injury.
• 8:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These are not moral failings.
• 9:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They are medical injuries, the cost of service.
• 9:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The Department of Veteran Affairs, or VA, was created to deal with these exact issues.
• 9:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's meant to be the nation's top clinical provider for veterans, with suicide prevention stated as its highest clinical priority.
• 9:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And on paper, you can see signs of progress.
• 9:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The VA has launched massive outreach campaigns and reports completing millions of suicide risk screenings annually.
• 9:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For those identified as being at risk, the overwhelming majority are supposed to get a follow up evaluation and a support plant.
• 9:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But those numbers as hopeful as they sound mask a much more complicated and often tragic reality.
• 10:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What good is a screening if the follow up is months away?
• 10:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And the follow up care is also months away.
• 10:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: What good is an enrollment card if the nearest clinic is a hundred miles away?
• 10:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or if the bureaucracy is so dense that a veteran just gives up?
• 10:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For many, the first encounter with the system they were told would save them is a wall of institutional friction.
• 10:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's endless phone trees, lost paperwork, and appointments scheduled so far out they feel like a cruel joke.
• 10:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Veterans talk about feeling like a number, a case file to be processed, rather than a person in pain.
• 10:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The report feeling and they report feeling dismissed and not taken seriously by providers, which only makes them more hesitant to disclose thoughts of suicide.
• 11:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the critical disconnect.
• 11:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: While the VA may be screening more veterans than ever, the system's ability to provide timely, effective, and accessible care hasn't always kept up.
• 11:34
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The problem is especially bad for those in rural areas or for those who need specialized care that isn't available locally.
• 11:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: They're told to seek community care, but navigating that separate system of referrals and billing can feel like another full-time job.
• 11:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: An exhausting battle for someone already low on reserves.
• 12:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And then there's the most devastating statistic of all.
• 12:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In 2023, sixty one percent of veterans who died by suicide had not received VA health care in the last year of their life.
• 12:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let that sink in.
• 12:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The majority of those who lost their battle weren't in the system at all.
• 12:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This single fact reframes the entire crisis.
• 12:42
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It tells us this isn't just a problem of treatment quality inside the VA.
• 12:51
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a monumental problem of access, outreach, and connection.
• 13:01
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's look at the path of homelessness.
• 13:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When a system fails, the street becomes the safety net.
• 13:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The road to homelessness for a veteran is rarely a straight line.
• 13:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a winding, brutal path paved by the failures of other systems.
• 13:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It starts with the untreated trauma, the chronic pain that makes it impossible to hold down a job.
• 13:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It continues with that social isolation that pushes friends and family away.
• 13:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's compounded by substance use, often a desperate attempt to self medicate the pain and silence the memories.
• 13:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For many, each step away from health and stability is a step closer to losing their home.
• 14:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Housing instability isn't a separate issue from veteran trauma.
• 14:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It is one of the most direct and devastating consequences.
• 14:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The same factors that drive suicide risk, mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and social isolation are the very factors that push veterans onto the streets.
• 14:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is the ultimate systemic failure.
• 14:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A person trained to be a leader, entrusted with immense responsibility, is now invisible sleeping in a car or a shelter.
• 14:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The skills they learned and sacrifices they made feel like they belong to another lifetime, completely disconnected from the daily struggle for survival.
• 15:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The link between homelessness and the veteran suicide crisis isn't just anecdotal, it's a statistical certainty.
• 15:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: According to the VA's own data for 2023, the suicide rate for veterans in VA care with a homelessness diagnosis was a staggering 146% higher than for veterans who were stably housed.
• 15:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: 146%.
• 15:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's one of the clearest, most undeniable indicators of risk.
• 15:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The daily stress, the uncertainty, and the profound sense of despair that comes with homelessness creates an environment where mental health crisis can quickly become fatal.
• 16:18
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The experience of homelessness is profoundly dehumanizing.
• 16:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Veterans report feeling stigmatized not only by society, but also by the very health care providers they turn to for help.
• 16:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It creates a vicious cycle.
• 16:40
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The trauma and the lack of support leads to homelessness.
• 16:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And the experience of homelessness adds another layer, another deep layer of trauma, making the recovery much harder.
• 17:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The turning point.
• 17:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Housing as health care, connection as a cure.
• 17:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The narrative of veteran trauma is filled with despair.
• 17:16
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But it's also a story of resilience and hope.
• 17:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The darkness of the crisis is immense.
• 17:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But there are points of light, programs and people actively saving lives.
• 17:32
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The turning point often comes not from one big solution, but from a single vital connection.
• 17:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For many veterans on the brink, the connection is a lifeline.
• 17:47
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It might be a peer support specialist, another veteran who has walked the same path.
• 17:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It might be a caseworker who refuses to give up.
• 17:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Or it could be a call to a veteran's crisis line, a moment of reaching out and finding a qualified, compassionate voice on the other end.
• 18:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The data proves that when these connections are made, the outcomes change dramatically.
• 18:20
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We know the suicide rate for homeless veterans is terrifyingly high.
• 18:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But here's the other side of the coin.
• 18:31
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: For those veterans with a homelessness diagnosis who get services from a VA homeless program, the suicide rate is 33.7% lower than for those who don't.
• 18:50
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: That's not a small number.
• 18:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a one-third reduction in the death rate for one of the most vulnerable groups.
• 19:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a statistical proof of a simple, profound concept.
• 19:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Housing is health care.
• 19:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Housing is suicide prevention.
• 19:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: When you give a veteran a safe, stable place to live, you're not just putting a roof over their head.
• 19:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You're giving them a foundation to rebuild their life.
• 19:27
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You're removing the constant crushing stress of survival, freeing up the mental and emotional bandwidth they need to address their trauma and reconnect with their community.
• 19:45
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The VA and its partners have recognized this, making it a growing priority.
• 19:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: In twenty twenty three, the VA successfully housed over forty six thousand homeless veterans.
• 20:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Each one of those numbers represents a turning point.
• 20:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: A person pulled back from the edge.
• 20:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Programs like HUD VASH HUD-VASH, which combine housing vouchers with ongoing case management.
• 20:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Address the root cause of homelessness, not just the symptoms.
• 20:30
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Similarly, the veterans crisis line has become an indispensable front door to care.
• 20:39
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Since the launch of the 988 number, it has handled millions of contacts.
• 20:46
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a twenty four seven confidential resource available to any veteran, whether they're enrolled in VA healthcare or not.
• 20:58
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's the system working as it should, immediate, accessible, effective.
• 21:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: These successes show us the path forward.
• 21:10
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's about meeting veterans where they are and building a system that is proactive, not just reactive.
• 21:24
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Let's look at the broader context and a call to action, which is a national responsibility.
• 21:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The story of a single veteran struggle is a small picture of a national crisis.
• 21:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This isn't a veteran issue.
• 21:43
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's an American issue, a reflection of our national priorities and our collective commitment to those who have served.
• 21:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We have seen both the devastating cost of failure.
• 22:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And the life-saving impact of success.
• 22:04
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We know that when veterans fall through the cracks, the consequences are deadly.
• 22:11
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We also know that when they're connected with support, stable housing, accessible health care, and a strong community, they can thrive.
• 22:25
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The progress is real.
• 22:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Housing tens of thousands of veterans in a single year is a monumental achievement.
• 22:35
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But the fact that about seventeen and a half seventeen point five veterans still die by suicide every day is an urgent, unacceptable reality.
• 22:52
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is where you come in.
• 22:54
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This problem can't be solved by the VA alone.
• 22:59
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It requires all of us.
• 23:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: First and most importantly, if you're a veteran in crisis or know one who is, there is an immediate an immediate confidential help right now.
• 23:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Don't wait.
• 23:19
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Call nine eight eight and press one or text eight three eight two five five.
• 23:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You can also chat online at veteranscrisisline dot net that is V E T E R A N S C R I S I S L I N E dot N E T.
• 23:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You don't need to be enrolled in VA benefits to use this service.
• 23:55
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: This is a lifeline.
• 23:57
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Please use it and share it.
• 24:00
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Second, raise your voice.
• 24:03
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: So we're doing.
• 24:05
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Contact your elected officials.
• 24:07
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Ask them what they're doing to support veteran mental health and end veteran homelessness in your community.
• 24:17
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Demand they support funding for programs like HUD VASH, HUD, VASH, and community-based organizations that fill the gaps.
• 24:33
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Finally, share this story.
• 24:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Awareness is the first step toward change.
• 24:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The more people who understand the true nature of this crisis, that this is a systemic failure, not an individual one, the greater the pressure will be to build a system that truly honors the promise we make.
• 25:02
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Last but not least, a hopeful but realistic future.
• 25:08
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The path to recovery from trauma is not a straight line.
• 25:13
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a long, difficult journey that continues long after a veteran has a roof over their head.
• 25:22
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The scars, both visibly and invisible, remain.
• 25:28
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: But with the right support, the future can be one of stability, purpose, and peace.
• 25:37
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The human cost of veteran trauma is measured in broken families and shattered lives, but the value of a promise kept is immeasurable.
• 25:49
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We have a national responsibility to build a system that doesn't just thank our veterans for their service, but actually and actively demonstrates that gratitude through seamless access to health care, guaranteed housing, and unwavering community support.
• 26:14
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's a difficult and expensive task, but it's not optional.
• 26:21
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It's not optional.
• 26:23
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: It is the cost of a debt that can never be fully repaid, but which we must never stop trying to honor.
• 26:36
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: The work continues, and for the sake of everyone and every veteran, we cannot afford to fail.
• 26:48
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the Voices for Voices podcast.
• 26:56
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Last but not least, if you can give us a thumbs up, like, follow, subscribe, share, reshare, repost, word of mouth.
• 27:06
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: However, you do it, please share the Voices for Voices podcast.
• 27:12
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: You can also pull out your phone if you don't already have your phone pulled out, watching or listening to this episode, and maybe reach out to 25 or 50 of your contacts, connections, share the Voices for Voices podcast with them.
• 27:26
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: We greatly appreciate it.
• 27:29
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: And until next time, let's celebrate all the voices in the world and let's be a voice for ourselves and those in need that may not be able to share their voice.
• 27:41
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you, and we'll see you next time.
• 27:44
  Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: Bye bye for now.