Contributing to the future of mental health
“It’s the right thing to do. If it’s going to help one person, it’s worth it. It’s worth my time, it’s worth everything.”
Joseph Gurin enlisted in the Army in 1983. His service as an infantryman, and later a special forces weapons sergeant, took him to Fort Campbell, Fort Brag, Korea and several places oversees. He got out in 1992, a Gulf War Veteran, and made a new home for himself in Minnesota. While his service is thirty years in his rearview mirror, he continues to show up for his comrades.
Gurin is one of more than one million Veterans who are part of the Million Veteran Program (MVP), the VA’s largest research effort. The goal of the program is to help find new ways to detect, prevent and treat health conditions that matter to Veterans.
On a recent visit to the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Gurin shared why he chose to be one of the one-million. “It’s the right thing to do. If it’s going to help one person, it’s worth it. It’s worth my time, its worth everything.”
But the purpose of his visit on this abnormally warm Friday afternoon for a Minnesota February isn’t for any old regular appointment, he’s come to contribute more. He is one of more than 80 area MVP members who has volunteered to be part of expanded research into mental health and substance abuse.
The Minneapolis VA is host to a program for a new MVP Mental Health Survey aimed at collecting detailed information to better understand and improve the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental health and/or substance use conditions for Veterans. Research findings may help answer questions like “Why does one treatment work well for some Veterans but not for others?”; “Why are some Veterans at a greater risk of developing an illness?”; or “How can we prevent certain diseases in the first place?”
“It challenged my memory on occasion moderately,” Gurin said after completing the hour-long mental health survey. The goal is for at least 50,000 Veterans with mental health or substance use conditions to participate nationwide.
“It's really important for me and for every other Veteran. It’s also important for every healthcare person that helps us,” he said. “And it's also more important, extremely important for our families that have to deal with us.”
Gurin catches his breath and looks up to the corner of the room before continuing. “The families get to see us at our worst. They get to see us when we are in pain, when we can’t handle it and they get to feel the brunt of the pain when we explode. And if that can go away, or it can be treated, or just tempered in such a way where people can have somewhat normal and productive lives it’d be so important. So important.”
The MVP Mental Health Survey is currently being piloted at several VA facilities including the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and will be made available in more locations in the future. If a Veteran is interested in joining MVP and/or completing the Mental Health Survey, call the MVP Info Center at 866-441-6075 and mention the Mental Health Survey to schedule a visit.