“It’s something I am very concerned about. We have already had a few calls into our center, and I am anticipating a larger need down the road,” said Dr. Michael O’Leary, director of the Columbia County Mental Health Department.

O’Leary and Columbia County Director of Veterans Services Gary Flaherty recently asked the U.S. Veteran’s Administration to make a mental health counselor available in Hudson once a week or even twice a month.

Flaherty told ccSCOOP that they have not received a yes or no from the agency, which provides mental health services to veterans through the Stratton Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albany. A clinic is also available to veterans on Wolf Road in Colonie, he reported.

In general, the officials said that returning veterans are reluctant to travel to Albany to seek the help they need—especially when it involves mental health services. “I have talked to four or five veterans from Columbia County [in recent months]. A lot of times they are seeking help, but they don’t want to go to Albany and say they are going to the 'tenth floor' [which is the mental health services floor of the Stratton VA Medical Center],” Flaherty said.

Often, Flaherty added, combat veterans refuse assistance from anyone who they perceive has no knowledge of the experiences they have endured. He said he recently received a call from an associate of one returning Columbia County veteran who told him the veteran threw his wife and children out of their home and withdrew into a “cocoon of isolation.” “He refused to go get help, but he would talk to someone who had been in combat before,” said Flaherty.

Though the county has had state and local veterans’ assistance offices, there has never been any mental health assistance available, O’Leary said.

A retired state official said there is no count maintained of the number of active duty personnel from a county or region, so it would be impossible to determine just how many Columbia County residents are serving in the two ongoing wars. However, anyone involved in veterans’ organizations in the county or who attends Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day ceremonies throughout the county will recall the attendance and speeches of numerous returning service personnel.

O’Leary said he sees veteran mental health issues as a major concern in the coming years as the country continues combat activities in Iraq and Afghanistan and struggles to deal with the impact of hundreds of thousands of returning soldiers.    

On the national level, the U.S. Army last month reported that 143 active duty personnel committed suicide in 2008— the highest number since it began keeping records in 1980. In addition, twelve deaths in January 2009 and two in February 2009 have been ruled as suicides, and twenty-eight more are still under investigation as to the cause of death.

As a result of those startling numbers, the Army has begun to review its mental health services to determine what other help is needed.

As far as Columbia County is concerned, O’Leary has established a task force to review the startling increase in suicides in 2008 from a previous yearly average of two or three suicides to twenty. That task force continues to meet.