The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is slated to open mental health clinics at Camp Foster on Okinawa and Camp Humphreys in South Korea. (AAFES)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Military families, veterans and Defense Department civilians in Japan and South Korea will soon have a new option for mental health care with the opening of nonprofit clinics on U.S. bases, according to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
AAFES plans to open Cohen Veterans Network mental health clinics in the fall at Camp Foster on Okinawa and Camp Humphreys in South Korea, according to a Monday news release. Additional clinics are planned for Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo and Osan Air Base in South Korea at later, unspecified dates.
“Taking care of military families is at the heart of the Exchange’s mission,” AAFES director Tom Shull said in the release. “The opening of these clinics in the Pacific Region brings convenient access to critical mental health care and expertise to military families stationed overseas.”
The clinics will operate separately from medical services for active-duty troops and will primarily serve military families, retirees, veterans and DOD civilians and retirees, AAFES spokesman Christopher Ward wrote in an email Wednesday. Planning for future locations and opening dates is ongoing, he said.
The Cohen Veterans Network is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2016 by philanthropist Steven Cohen to reduce barriers to mental health care for post-9/11 veterans, active-duty service members and their families. It operates clinics across the United States and now plans to expand its footprint in the Indo-Pacific.
The AAFES release said U.S.-licensed clinicians will provide treatment for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, anger, family and relationship issues, military transition challenges and children’s behavioral problems. Services will include individual, couples, family and group therapy, offered both in person and via telehealth.
The expansion comes as overseas military communities have raised concerns about access to mental health care, particularly for civilians. In December 2022, the Defense Health Agency limited DOD civilians in Japan to space-available appointments at military medical facilities and encouraged them to seek care from off-base providers, many of whom do not accept foreign health insurance.
A Government Accountability Office report released in April found that DOD civilians and families in Japan often struggle to find mental health providers who speak English or understand American culture. Japan also has fewer mental health workers per capita than the U.S., the report said, citing World Health Organization data.
AloJapan.com