(Great Falls, Mont.) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester, Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today spoke in Great Falls, at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Montana Conference on the importance of expanding access to lifesaving mental health care, especially for veterans. Montana has one of the largest veteran populations per capita in the country.

“We are seeing the benefits of the John Scott Hannon bill in this state,” said Tester. “The Hannon Act established the first of its kind grant to help local groups that are working to try to save lives and help folks get health care closer to home…and it’s helping connect veterans to expanded mental health care.”

Tester highlighted the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act’s impact on expanding access to traditional mental health treatments and innovative treatments, including increasing access to alternative treatment options like sports and recreation therapy, art therapy, and yoga. The Senator also underscored his work to bring more Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) providers to Montana. During his time as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, VA Montana has increased its health care workforce by 37%, hired nearly 500 more staff, and decreased the staffing vacancy rate by 61%.

Tester also spoke on the importance of improving mental health resources for students and farmers. In Congress, he is pushing for his CARE for Student Mental Health Act to assist schools in applying for federal mental health grants and his Farmers First Act to reauthorize the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network that will connect farmers, ranchers, and other ag producers with mental health programs and resources.

Tester concluded his remarks: “I want to thank NAMI for their efforts in this area because once again, whether it’s a veteran, whether it’s a farmer, whether it’s a student, whether it’s a working person, whether it’s a business owner, everybody has their challenges at some point in time, and to [have] someone that they can talk to, particularly in crisis, is critically important and it saves lives.”

Named for a Montana veteran who lost his life to suicide, Tester championed the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement Act in his capacity as the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee to bolster VA’s mental health workforce and increase rural veterans’ access to care through alternative and local treatment options. Among its many provisions, the law established the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, a three-year community-based grant program to deliver financial assistance to organizations that provide or coordinate suicide prevention services for at-risk veterans and their families. Under this grant, Tester has already secured more than $6 million in federal funding for local suicide prevention programs in Montana. Tester’s BRAVE Act would reauthorize this grant program for another three years and increase the cap on grants from $750,000 to $1,000,000.