Understanding Access — Mental Health Care at the VA

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“One of the highest points of stress is before you even have that diagnosis,” Dr. Kysa Christie tells SurvivorNet, noting her statement is backed up by psychology and research.

“Because not knowing something is really scary,” she adds. “You don’t know how to plan, you don’t know what it’s going to be like. You just don’t know. And that can be consuming so often. That’s a very stressful time.”

The Level of Care at the VA

Dr. Christie says that one of the things she loves about the VA is “they’ve done a phenomenal job of integrating psychology and mental health within medical settings. She works specifically in a cancer clinic, which “is important for a lot of reasons because not everybody likes to ask for help. Not everybody even knows that help is available or how to ask for help,” she explains.

That’s why the level of care the VA offers makes such a difference.

“So you might see me even in the waiting room. I might come up to you as you’re waiting for your appointment with something like a distress screen, which is a checklist of how’s your stress level on a thermometer, a zero to 10. ‘What kind of things are stressing you out?’ And introduce myself and let you know I’m part of your team,” she shares.

“I am here with your oncologists, with your nurses, with the social workers. We are here to take care of all of you.”

Same-Day Help

Dr. Christie says that you don’t even need an appointment. “You can just say, ‘Hey, I’d like to meet with psychology today after my appointment.’ ”

Additionally, they can also help schedule mental health appointments for you outside of the clinic.

“Your doctors may have started to talk about side effects that are going to happen after your treatment,” Dr. Christie says, which may cause some distress.

According to the VA’s site, “You may qualify even without enrolling in VA health care.”

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