H.R. 2878 — Daniel J. Harvey, Jr. and Adam Lambert Improving Servicemember Transition to Reduce Veteran Suicide Act

This section amends the Department of Defense's Transition Assistance Program (TAP)—a mandatory pre-separation counseling program for transitioning service members—to require information on mental health services and topics including post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, suicide risk factors (e.g., adverse childhood experiences and unemployment), substance abuse resources, loss of community support systems, isolation, and separation-related stressors. It further amends the Department of Veterans Affairs' Solid Start Program—which contacts recently separated veterans to connect them to benefits—to require assisting eligible veterans with enrollment in VA health care under 38 U.S.C. §1705(a) and educating them on mental health and counseling services available through the Veterans Health Administration. Finally, it requires the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to jointly submit to the armed services and veterans' affairs committees of Congress, not later than one year after enactment, a report on the information and materials developed pursuant to these amendments.