[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4282 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4282

   To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a training 
session and a counseling session in suicide prevention and lethal means 
tailored to veterans who served in the Armed Forces after September 11, 
                     2001, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 11, 2019

Ms. Underwood introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop a training 
session and a counseling session in suicide prevention and lethal means 
tailored to veterans who served in the Armed Forces after September 11, 
                     2001, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TRAINING AND COUNSELING IN 
              SUICIDE PREVENTION AND LETHAL MEANS.

    (a) Training Session.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
develop a suicide prevention and lethal means training session tailored 
to veterans who served in the Armed Forces any time after September 11, 
2001. Such training shall--
            (1) be provided to all primary care practitioners of the 
        Department of Veterans Affairs, and to other Department 
        employees, as directed by the Secretary, by not later than 270 
        days after the date of the enactment of this Act and at least 
        once every five years thereafter;
            (2) be integrated into the whole health initiative of the 
        Department; and
            (3) be updated at least once every two years.
    (b) Counseling Session.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 360 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop a 
        suicide prevention and lethal means counseling session tailored 
        to veterans who served in the Armed Forces any time after 
        September 11, 2001. Such counseling shall--
                    (A) be provided by primary care practitioners of 
                the Department to--
                            (i) all veterans enrolled in the patient 
                        enrollment system under section 1705 of title 
                        38, United States Code, who served in the Armed 
                        Forces after September 11, 2001; and
                            (ii) other veterans, as determined by the 
                        Secretary;
                    (B) be provided during the veterans' first primary 
                care appointment following development of the 
                counseling session and subsequently as clinically 
                appropriate; and
                    (C) be integrated into the whole health initiative 
                of the Department.
            (2) Lethal means counseling.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``lethal means counseling'' means counseling designed to--
                    (A) assess whether a person at risk for suicide has 
                access to lethal means; and
                    (B) work with such person and the family and 
                support system of such person to limit the access of 
                the person to lethal means until the person is no 
                longer at elevated risk of suicide.
    (c) Consultation.--In developing the training and counseling 
sessions required by this section, the Secretary shall consult with the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of 
Health, public and private institutions of higher education, educators, 
experts in suicide assessment, treatment, and management, and affected 
professional associations.
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