As a retired Marine, combat veteran, and former VA VET Center counselor, I have been involved in an ongoing advocacy campaign to protect quality mental health care for veterans and the welfare of their counselors at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), due to harmful and misguided clinical productivity policies which were implemented by VA management.
During this process, I sustained huge legal expenses for defending myself against toxic retaliation tactics used by VA officials in attempts to silence me during this ongoing crusade. Subsequently, Whistleblowers of America (https://lnkd.in/e6brRmX8) established a GoFundMe site to recover the legal costs I have sustained. More details are provided on the site.
Your contribution and encouragement of others to do the same would be greatly appreciated, since we are still short of the funding goal. It will help to recoup these expenses and also allow me to continue this crusade to ensure the VA complies with legislation the U.S. Congress passed and signed into law as a result of my efforts to hold the VA accountable to restore and preserve the health and well-being of both veterans and the clinicians who serve them (H.R. 7776, Section 5126, Pages 819-825: Improvement of VET Centers at the Department of Veterans Affairs). Ultimately, this will benefit our nation’s veterans and their counselors in the VA Health Care System who need and deserve our help and support.
Donations can be made at the following link: https://gofund.me/8573b27f
With Gratitude,
Ted Blickwedel, LICSW, MSW, M.Ed.
LtCol, USMC, Retired
Former VA VET Center Counselor
#VAadvocacy #VeteranAdvocacy #VAcounselors #VeteransMentalHealth #mentalhealthcare #VeteransAffairs #VAaccountability #whistleblowers #veterans #VFW #DAV #VVA
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