To better address the mental health needs of active duty and retired military members, Cumberland Hall cut the ribbon on its new Patriot Support Unit on Wednesday.
Cumberland Hall, founded in Hopkinsville in 1987, provides psychiatric and addiction recovery services. Being right down the road from Fort Campbell, the facility already provides care to patients with military service connections, but the Patriot Support Unit will offer more specialized treatments for those individuals.
Cumberland Hall Chief Medical Officer Walter Wilson says service members pick up the call to defend their country every day, and taking on that duty comes with a toll on the body and the mind. Wilson says it’s time for staff at Cumberland Hall to pick up that call and expand their services for those in need.
Lieutenant Colonel Justin Orton serves as the director of Behavioral Health Sciences on Fort Campbell and is familiar with the toll that comes with military service. He says 20% of veterans returning from conflicts experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and since 2001, over 30,000 retired or current service members have committed suicide.
Orton says the Patriot Support Unit will provide services such as therapies for trauma, dual diagnoses treatments for co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, programs focused on relapse recovery and on-site support groups.
Wilson says it’s an honor to open the unit to provide specialized care for those who make sacrifices to defend their country. He says they also have nurse practitioners on staff who are in the Army reserves who have an idea of what service members go through.
Cumberland Hall is located at 270 Walton Way, and more information about the facility is available at cumberlandhallhospital.com.