St. Cloud VA Adds 8 Additional Mental Health Workers

ST. CLOUD - The St. Cloud VA Health Care System is adding staff members.  They've hired six full-time and two part-time workers in their mental health department.

The new staff are part of the additional 1,600 new mental health professionals system-wide through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Since 2006, the St. Cloud VA has seen a 54 percent yearly increase in the number of Veterans seen in mental health.  Meanwhile, mental health staff has increased by 69 percent during that same period.

Last year nearly 10,000 veterans were treated at the St. Cloud VA for mental health issues.

In addition to adding more staff, in April the St. Cloud VA started construction of a new 19,000 square foot mental health building.