Mental Health Education Program for Service Members and their Families Unveils New Name and Enhancements

Military Pathways® offers anonymous mental health screenings year-round, by phone or online

Screening for Mental Health® (SMH), a leading provider of mental health screening programs, is launching a new online screening tool, and with it a new name for its military mental health program.   Military Pathways (formerly the Mental Health Self-Assessment Program® ) now includes a multitude of educational offerings for military members and their families. Created by SMH in 2006, the program is funded by the Department of Defense and is provided free to all service personnel in all branches, including the National Guard and Reserve.  This summer, Military Pathways will launch a new online self-assessment program that will feature innovative visuals allowing for increased usability and also provide users with more personalized referral information (preview the new online screening tool).

Military Pathways offers service personnel and their families the opportunity to take anonymous, mental health and alcohol use self-assessments online, via the phone, and through special events held at military installations across the world. The program is designed to help individuals identify their own symptoms and access assistance before a situation becomes serious. These free assessments, which are available online 24 hours a day, identify symptoms associated with mental health disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, generalized anxiety disorder, alcohol use, and bipolar disorder. The assessments also provide referral information to individuals, including services provided by TRICARE, Military OneSource, and Vet Centers.

In addition to the self-assessments, Military Pathways offers a variety of additional resources including: in-person event kits to help installations conduct health fair type activities, a Family Resiliency Kit designed to educate family members about coping with the stress of deployment, an SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program for schools serving military children in the U.S. and overseas, and A Different Kind of Courage DVD created to encourage help-seeking among service members and their families.

“Each day we witness the challenges military life presents to our service members and their families,” said Liz Sisto, Military Pathways Program Coordinator and wife of a former Marine. “While it is unfortunate that the stigma associated with mental health issues is still prevalent in our society, we owe it to our military families to provide them with resources to address all of their wounds – both physical and emotional – and remind them that facing personal struggles is a sign of courage.”

Visit Military Pathways online to learn more about the program or to register for any of these free materials.




© 2010 Screening for Mental Health, Inc.