UCLA's Operation Mend Put Last Nail In Disabled Combat Veteran's Coffin

These liars would get zero stars if possible because they played with my life,  literally, promising a decision on entry into the program ¨in two weeks¨. I heard nothing for three weeks, so I called and talked to Cherie, the person supposedly organizing and submitting my case for review.

When Cherie answered the phone, she sounded surprised and dumbfounded by my request for an update, then said ¨Oh, yeah, here it is on my desk, I'll submit it this afternoon. It seemed to me that possibly, very possibly, she hadn't done a damn thing in three weeks even though she knew very well that I wanted to die, was still very suicidal after a suicide attempt one month earlier.

I am a disabled combat veteran and retired officer with PTSD and many other disabilities. My life has been spiraling down for several years and for numerous reasons, so my suicide attempt on December 9th, 2024 was a culmination of years of stress ending in a precipitous event caused by evil and malignant people, and I use that term loosely, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Veterans Affairs (VA). I will leave it at that.

UCLA Operation Mend offered me hope, great hope, that possibly I might be healed, feel semi-normal after four long years of suffering, but that glimmer of hope was slowly washed away, culminating after eight long weeks with ¨sorry, we won't help you, call 911¨. I am serious as a heart attack, so feel free to check out my website and YouTube channel if interested in more background.

Long story short, after two months of giving me hope, they tossed me aside like a bum in the gutter without even as much as a ¨sorry¨. That is Operation Mend in a nutshell.

ZERO INTEGRITY EQUALS ZERO BOMBS FOR UCLA'S OPERATION MEND, A PROGRAM THAT TRIES TO KILL VETERANS, NOT SAVE US ... TREAD LIGHTLY AND TRUST NOBODY AT UCLA'S OPERATION MEND

Here's my final message to them:

I can neither wait for nor work with an organization that has such little respect for disabled veterans.

We were told eight weeks ago that UCLA's decision process would take two weeks. I told them very clearly at that time that I have been in a crisis since December 7th with a suicide attempt on December 9th, yet there is zero sense of urgency at UCLA and two months later I am being told that nothing will happen for a few more months. Really?

Who is the grantor for Operation Mend? Board of Directors? Do they know how disabled combat veterans are being treated at UCLA?

I am sick and tired of being disrespected and ignored by every so-called veteran's organization in our country because it seems as though nobody cares if I live or die. I continue to be disrespected time after time after time and I am done.

Is this the way a program for the most broken humans in the world should be run? It seems as though UCLA either doesn't have a clue how to treat us or simply doesn't care about America's disabled veterans.

My wife could have gone to Italy to take care of her sick mother and I could have flown to the USA, like I will have to do now, and get the help I so desperately need TWO MONTHS AGO at a US emergency room if Cherie would have been honest, explaining the process much more clearly from the start. We have been sitting on our thumbs, waiting for a decision that still has not come after two months and I have been suicidal the entire time, but nobody at UCLA sems to care as I continue to get sicker and sicker. Our emails requesting updates have gone unanswered.

I have lost what little trust or confidence I had in UCLA to save my life. I don't actually expect anything to be done about my concerns because, like all bureaucracies, UCLA could obviously care less about people, individual patients, and is more concerned about policies, processes, and protecting your own employees than helping patients.

You obviously have no intention of helping me any time soon, so withdraw me from consideration for Operation Mend. I give up, you win, happy? I'll be dead soon and you will pay.

Read Chris S.'s review of UCLA Operation Mend on Yelp

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Title: UCLA's Operation Mend Put Last Nail In Disabled Combat Veteran's Coffin

Key Words: ptsd, anxiety, UCLA, Operation Mend, veteran, vet, negligence, Mend,VA, depression, hospital, psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive, behavioral, therapy, CBT, CombatCounselor, mindfulness, anxiety, depression

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Reply To The VA Regarding The Hiring (Or Not) of Licensed Professional Counselors

I posted a tweet on Twitter (see below) about the sad state of affairs at the VA and their unwillingness to hire Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) even though OVER 8,000 VETS COMMIT SUICIDE EACH YEAR AND THE VA DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH CLINICIANS TO HELP PREVENT THOSE UNNECESSARY DEATHS.

I received a response from the VA, finally, and am posting my response sent to them via email today ...

In reference to my tweet and your reply:

CombatCounselor@CombatCounselor @vacareers Retired military officer, combat/disabled #Vet, expert in#CBT for #PTSD, 30+ years experience ... UNQUALIFIED TO WORK FOR VA? - 26 Aug VA Careers@vacareers  Follow @CombatCounselor Thank you for your service. Send your CV Re:Twitter toVHAAdvertising@va.gov and we can take a look. 08:03 PM - 26 Aug 14

I am not currently looking for full-time work due to an upcoming commitment (October 2014-February 2015), but am providing my resume as requested. 

The issue seems more to be the fact that, even though the VA has been mandated by Congress to hire Licensed Professional Counselor’s (LPC) and has reportedly had great difficulty hiring the many clinicians required to serve the many Vets unable to access care for several years, LPCs have been ignored. I have searched USA Jobs on numerous occasions, but have yet to see more than a handful of LPC slots a VA facilities nationwide and none in my area. The VA is missing out on hiring well trained, experienced, professionals by bowing to the demands of the professional associations protecting the “status quo” and the careers of psychologists and Licensed Clinical Social Workers, many of whom have inferior clinical skills to many LPCs. 

Veterans in the VA system and elsewhere need well trained, professional help with their depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues AND THEY ARE NOT CURRENTLY RECIEIVING THAT CARE! 22 Vets a day commit suicide and the VA cannot stand by and let another 8,030 Veterans die in the next year because you refuse to hire LPCs, particularly those with military backgrounds. 

I don’t expect the VA to ever hire me, even if I were looking for work currently, because it has been proven that retaliation against whistleblowers and others who tell the truth about the sad state of affairs at the VA is the norm, not the exception. I hope and pray that changes soon and that the VA puts the welfare of Veterans above those of the shortsighted gatekeepers insistent on maintaining the status quo instead of giving Vets the care the so desperately need and deserve after serving their country and PROTECTING YOUR FREEDOMS. 

You can read my article, The Stigma Killing American Heroes, published last year in De Oppresso Liber magazine on my blog, http://www.combatcounselor.com/2014/07/the-stigma-killing-american-heroes.html, where this email will also be posted. A copy will also be sent to my Congresswoman and Senator. 

Thank you for getting back to me. 

Sincerely, 

Chris Sorrentino 

LtCol, USAF (Ret) 

a.k.a. CombatCounselor 

MS, LPC, NCC

Do Vets and the VA a favor and CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, telling them to "insist that the VA hire Licensed Professional Counselors and curtail the thousands of needless Veteran suicides each and every year!"

Key Words: VA, veterans, administration, affairs, department, government, whistleblower, retaliation, suicide, veterans, vet, vets, death, depression, PTSD, anxiety, die, dead, mental, health, stigma, CombatCounselor

IS GETTING HELP A CAREER KILLER?...IT IS NOW!

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
AIR FORCE TIMES
OCTOBER 5TH, 2012

I have written to Air Force Times on numerous occasions and feel like I am wasting my time, so this will likely be my last contact. My primary concerns have related to military and Veteran mental health issues and the stigmas associated with seeking and receiving treatment as well as what a PTSD diagnosis can do to a military career.

I am a retired lieutenant colonel, veteran of four combat operations, disabled veteran, and licensed professional counselor (since 1991), specializing in the treatment of anxiety (e.g. PTSD) and depression with active duty and Vets. I am also executive director of the non-profit Help4VetsPTSD, Inc., a relatively young organization dedicated to helping active duty and Veterans with PTSD. I also consult with a DoD contractor providing short-term, solution-focused counseling to active duty military, Guard and Reserve personnel, and their families.

I have experienced the stigma firsthand, both while on active duty and as a clinician, before and after retirement. I thought your publication was on the right track in helping to eliminate the stigmas, until I read "IS GETTING HELP A CAREER KILLER?" (Kristin Davis) in your October 8, 2012 issue.

In a little more than one page, you managed to hinder any progress we have made in recent years and highlighted WHY AIRMEN (AND OTHERS) NEED TO BE AFRAID, VERY AFRAID, OF SEEKING MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT, OR WORSE, TALKING ABOUT IT! I find it hard to believe that anybody with any common sense reviewed or edited that piece before publication. If there was not a negative stigma before...THERE IS SURE TO BE ONE NOW! What were you people thinking?

I am appaled by the lack of judgement in publishing such a piece and believe the reasons for NOT PUBLISHING THE ARTICLE in question are too numerous and obvious to mention.

For those who do not have the opportunity to read it, Ms. Davis reported on an Air Force NCO (non-commisioned officer) who sought help and educated other airmen, telling them about his battle with alcohol (which he is currently winning by the way) and other mental health issues. His supervisor, an obvious Neanderthal and ignorant moron, killed this gentleman's career by making statements about his alcoholism ON HIS ENLISTED PERFORMANCE REPORT (EPR) and marking him down, both career ending behaviors. The NCO in question, a master sergeant (E-7), appealed his "referral" EPR to his superiors and the Inspector General, and was turned away!

Everyone in the Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines have heard plenty of horror stories like this one and now they have one more...a page and a half's worth in Air Force Times!

We do not need to hear more horror stories while 19 military and Veterans each day commit suicide...that is correct...19 each day! As long as these stigmas are perpetuated in the media, young heroes, our military and veteran men and women, will continue to die. For the first time in recorded history, MORE PEOPLE ARE DYING OF SUICIDE IN THE MILITARY THAN ARE DYING IN COMBAT!

The space taken up by that garbage could have been better utilized by providing accurate information about the stigma(s), what the implications of the stigma(s) are (e.g. suicides), and proposals on what we can do about it. We need a positive discussion started in this country, educating the public, our elected officials, and military leaders, about the problems in military and veteran mental health treatment and figure out a way to fix them...SOON!

Air Force/Military Times has at least one "supposed" expert on staff, Bret Moore (Kevlar for the Mind), who should have, at least, reviewed the article before publication. Hopefully, he would have recommended squashing the story before it went to print, but based on some of his work, I am not confident that would have happened either.

On a similar note, Robert Dorr's (a long time writer for Air Force Times who gets about one-third of a page EVERY week - Why? I don't know) comments last week on the American-Indian gentleman being "wrong" in his perception, that some nose art depicting Native-Americans in the Air Force is offensive, is ludicrous and insensitive. A perception cannot be wrong and the young man has a right to stand up for his heritage and beliefs! What is wrong is printing garbage like that Mr. Dorr regularly spews onto the page, like black and white vomit, and the Davis article in question this week on career killing...WRONG Air Force Times...shame on you Ms. Ianotta! Becky Ianotta is Managing Editor, Air Force Times.

CombatCounselor...OUT!