Give an Hour(TM)'s Volunteer Mental Health Professionals Provide Nearly $1.7 Million in Services to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, Families, and C...( WASHINGTON Sept. 8 -- Gi...),Health

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Give an Hour(TM), a national nonprofit organization providing free mental health services to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their loved ones, announces results of its August 2009 survey and reports a 16 percent increase in services rendered since its last survey in May 2009.

Give an Hour(TM) periodically surveys its volunteer providers to assess its impact and effectiveness and to determine how programs and services can be adapted to best meet the needs of this population.

The August 2009 survey found:

• 16,895 total hours have been donated in mental health services, not including volunteer hours spent on operations
• 5,965 hours were given in direct, face-to-face counseling
• 1,060 hours were given in phone counseling
• 7,308 hours were given in education and outreach
• 2,562 hours were given in additional ways, such as community events
  

Using a nationwide average of $100 per hour for mental health services, Give an Hour(TM) providers have donated $1,689,500 since Give an Hour(TM) began providing these critical services in July 2007.

Give an Hour(TM) has more than 4,400 licensed mental health professionals on its network, in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Give an Hour(TM) aims to recruit 40,000, or 10 percent, of the nation's 400,000 mental health professionals to this cause.

"We continue to be extremely grateful to our generous providers," says Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an Hour(TM). "I'm so pleased that so many of my colleagues in the mental health community recognize the importance of this issue and are stepping up to address it -- by offering free counseling and education to this very deserving population."

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