Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair.
First and foremost, under the various acts, Veterans Affairs is for the veteran. Most of our services, disability awards or pensions and things like that, are aimed at the veteran. That said, we strongly encourage family members to attend the OSI sessions, peer support, and various other programs. It's been proven that having the family involved in treating the illness usually works better.
The other thing we've learned is that often the member may say they're doing okay, but the family member may not be quite in agreement with the diagnosis of the member.
However, that being said, there is a full range of services that we provide to the family, without going through the veteran. As an example, the 1-800 phone number is 24/7. A family member, a child, or a veteran may call there and get help online immediately and/or, depending on the severity of the situation, be referred to a psychologist or a mental health care provider for up to 20 sessions. Veterans Affairs pays for this, regardless of whether it's service related or not service related, or whether the veteran is a client. A lot of the apps I just mentioned are available to family members.
As we're advancing in our program, we are looking at how to have better programs for families. We have the family caregiver program, but again that is through the members themselves to help the caregiving side.