Combat veterans Juliet Taylor, Kim Hubers and Naomi Mathis share their experiences at Disabled American Veterans national convention in Phoenix on August 5, 2024. Since 2005, the Veterans Administration has seen a 154% increase in the number of women accessing mental health care. During the Disabled American Veterans national convention in Phoenix this week, the advocacy group called for more investments in mental health for women veterans.
When Naomi Mathis returned home from Iraq in 2003, she didn’t feel like she belonged in her own skin. The Air Force veteran was tormented by the sounds of gunfire and bombs and grieving the death of her friend and colleague, Staff Sgt. Patrick Griffin Jr., who was killed in a convoy. Diagnosed with PTSD, Mathis got by without therapy — until a terrifying experience after the birth of her son.
“My baby was laying there on the bed. I started having really bad thoughts — let’s just say that — and that scared me. It scared me into seeking help,” she said.
Mathis medically retired and, although she says the Air Force did her right, she felt abandoned without her military job.
“After everything I did, my blood — literally blood, sweat and tears, losing someone, going through all of that trauma — and here I am with nothing,” Mathis said.
She found a new mission as the assistant national legislative director with the Disabled American Veterans. Mathis worked closely on the DAV’s report examining women veterans’ mental health and shared findings at the convention.
“The risk of suicide death among women veterans with active substance use disorder is more than twice what it is for men,” she said. Army combat veteran Naomi Mathis (left) talks with a fellow veteran at the Disabled American Veterans convention in Phoenix on August 5, 2024. Juliet Taylor recalled drinking too much and feeling disconnected from her children after 11 years as an Army combat service member in Iraq before transitioning to the Connecticut Army National Guard. Taylor felt ashamed and didn’t know where to turn.“So I went to work and just crashed and burned at work, […]
In Phoenix, women veterans call for changes in VA mental health care to prevent suicides
