"Step Into My Parlor," Said The Spider To The Fly

Obama signs executive order to expand veterans' mental healthcare and suicide-prevention services
 
President Obama will sign an executive order Friday to make improvements to mental healthcare and suicide prevention services for veterans, which he will announce in a speech at Fort Bliss in Texas.

The executive order instructs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to hire 800 peer-to-peer support counselors for mental healthcare and to increase the VA veteran crisis line's capacity by 50 percent before the end of the year.

The order also tells the VA to work with the Defense Department to develop a national suicide prevention campaign, and for the VA, DOD and Health and Human Services to conduct a study about the causes and treatments of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.