1.This Act may be cited as the
Student Veteran Counseling Improvement
Act
.
2.Counseling for
student veterans with mental health conditions
(a)Chapter 36 of title
38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
3697B.Assistance
and training for mental and behavioral health professionals
(a)Hotline for
mental health professionals at institutions of higher education(1)Subject to the availability of
appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary shall establish a toll-free
telephone number to provide mental and behavioral health professionals with the
information described in paragraph (2).
(2)The information described in this paragraph
is information related to the treatment and counseling of a veteran reporting
or exhibiting symptoms of—
(A)post-traumatic stress disorder;
(B)traumatic brain injury;
(C)anxiety;
(D)depression;
(E)sexual assault;
(F)sexual trauma;
(G)readjustment disorder; or
(H)other service-connected mental health
conditions.
(3)The Secretary shall ensure that a licensed
mental health counselor employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs operates
the hotline and provides the information described in paragraph (2).
(4)The Secretary shall ensure that the
hotline is operational during business hours each weekday (other than Saturdays
and Federal holidays).
(5)In carrying out this subsection, the
Secretary shall—
(A)notify each institution of higher
learning of the hotline by mail; and
(B)provide information regarding the
hotline on the Internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(b)Training mental
and behavioral health professionals(1)Subject to the availability of
appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall
provide mental and behavioral health professionals at each institution of
higher learning with training on the information described in paragraph (2) of
subsection (a).
(2)The Secretary shall ensure that the
training under paragraph (1)—
(A)is
provided by a licensed psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or licensed
counselor employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs; and
(B)is
provided to mental and behavioral health professionals at least once every two
years.
(3)The Secretary may not pay a reporting fee
under section 3684(c) of this title to an institution of higher learning with
at least 100 veterans enrolled at such institution unless a mental and
behavioral health professional of such institution receives training provided
by the Secretary under paragraph (1).
(c)Not later than October 1 of each even-numbered year, the
Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress a report on mental and
behavioral health professionals. Each such report shall include the
following:
(1)The number of
institutions of higher learning that employ a mental and behavioral health
professional who has received training under subsection (b).
(2)The number of
veterans who have died by suicide while enrolled in an institution of higher
learning.
(3)The number of
calls received by the hotline.
(d)In
this section:
(1)The term
mental and behavioral health professional means a licensed
psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or licenced counselor employed by an
institution of higher learning.
(2)The term
institution of higher learning has the meaning given that term in
section 3452(f) of this title.
(3)The term
hotline means the toll-free telephone number established under
subsection
(a).
.
(b)Subsection (c) of section 3684 of such title is amended
by striking The Secretary
and inserting Subject to
section 3697B(b)(3) of this title, the Secretary
.
(c)The table of
sections at the beginning of chapter 36 of title 38, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
3697B. Assistance and training for mental
and behavioral health
professionals.
.
(d)Section 3697B of title 38, United States Code, as added by
subsection (a), shall take effect on the date that is one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act.