Navy secretary asks for funding to embed mental health professionals in units
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Thomas W. Harker, acting secretary of the Navy, speaks to U.S. Marines at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on April 22, 2021. (Lance Cpl. Isaac Velasco/U.S. Marine Corps)
WASHINGTON — The Navy has submitted a reprogramming request to the Defense Department that would allow the service to reallocate some of its current budget to spend on mental health services, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker told reporters Wednesday.
The move would fund more embedded mental health practitioners “at the pointy end of the stick with the sailors and Marines, being able to give them services at the units where they are,” Harker said. “This is an area that we strongly believe in because it helps get people access to treatment at an early level, access to informal treatment.”