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Saving the VA: A Social Worker's Perspective

By Aimee Potter

I am a social worker at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and a steward with AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees). I have had the privilege of working with veterans from all walks of life. Each day, I witness firsthand the VA's essential role in providing critical services to those who have served our country. From healthcare to housing assistance and mental health support to substance use recovery and treatment, the VA is a lifeline for millions of veterans who rely on its comprehensive care.

However, in recent years, challenges have threatened the VA's ability to fulfill its mission. Staffing shortages, increased demand for services, and evolving needs among veterans require ongoing commitment and adaptation. As someone who serves on the front lines, I see the impact of these challenges—not just in statistics or reports but in the lives of the veterans who depend on us.

One of the most pressing concerns is maintaining and strengthening the VA's ability to provide timely and high-quality care. Many veterans experience complex mental health needs, including PTSD, depression, and substance use disorders. The VA's integrated care model allows for a holistic approach, ensuring veterans receive both medical and psychosocial support. As social workers, we are an essential part of this system, helping veterans navigate these challenges by connecting them to the appropriate services and resources.

It is crucial that we continue to advocate for policies that support a strong VA system. Ensuring adequate funding, improving recruitment and retention of skilled professionals, and expanding access to services are necessary to uphold the VA's mission. Supporting the VA is not a partisan issue but a commitment to those who have sacrificed for our nation.

The path forward requires collaboration, innovation, and dedication. By prioritizing the well-being of veterans, we uphold the values of honor, service, and duty that they have embodied throughout their lives. As a social worker, I remain committed to advocating for a robust and effective VA—one that continues to serve those who have served us.

Now more than ever, we must come together to ensure the VA remains a cornerstone of support for veterans. Their needs are evolving, and we must evolve with them, ensuring that no veteran is left without the care and resources they deserve.

How can we be led by someone who calls themselves a leader and allows thousands of combat veterans to fall by the wayside and terminate their lifeline of employment? Doug Collins, VA Secretary, says he is looking at a reduction of force to help fulfill the core mission of the VA. How is this consistent with the VA's mission to serve our nation's heroes?

The VA secretary has stated that we aren't working efficiently. The Biden Administration increased our hiring of additional social workers, psychologists, and many other VA positions throughout this country to meet the needs of veterans and their families. We remain at a deficit, and this Administration's recommendation to cut additional positions on the backs of veterans and their families is simply unethical and cruel.

Following what the President has called for has proven to be messy, to say the least. This has been demonstrated throughout this Administration by the firing of thousands of Federal employees, creating total chaos among multiple departments and services. To support an additional cut in VA healthcare is criminal. The reason why we still have a backlog for Veteran services and benefits is the opposite of what this Administration is claiming.

We need more staff to fulfill this mission, not less. Our caseloads are high, and we have the most committed workforce, as evidenced by our multiple surveys of veterans and their families. How about considering the many lives saved by the committed workforce instead of firing them? According to the 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, "On average in 2021 and 2022, veterans receiving Veterans Health Administration (VHA) care were less likely to die by suicide than veterans outside of VHA care and the data also showed long-term reductions in suicide for veterans with VHA mental health diagnoses as well as decreases among additional subgroups of veterans in VHA care."

"Underscoring the importance of timely and responsive access to crisis care supports, data also showed decreased suicide outcomes for veterans in VHA care with Veterans Crisis Line contacts: The suicide rate in the first month following documented Veterans Crisis Line contact in 2021 was 22.5% lower than in 2019."

So why are we firing crisis line workers and saying they have no public-facing role in providing essential care for veterans and their families?

Veterans make up more than 30% of this workforce, so to stigmatize and blame the employees for the mishaps of this system is simply ridiculous.

This Administration continues to use the word efficiency. Secretary Collins claims employees don't do their jobs. He also claims he is protecting over 300,000 positions at the Veterans Administration. In fact, he is not protecting positions at all, as he supports the firing of mission-critical, front-facing positions, each of which impacts the way care is provided or whether care is provided at all.

This Administration has fired a slew of veterans/employees working with homeless veterans, as well as outreach teams working in the community. Part of the VA's mission has been to increase community connections and build collaborative engagement among the VA and outside resources. The VA has done a good job of expanding these relationships.

How is the best use of our money increasing the amount of money the government provides to the Department of Defense and stealing from the veterans who have protected this country for years? They have lost limbs and family members, and many don't sleep at night due to the trauma of war. So now, we punish them further and remove the vital services they are accessing by firing the very staff committed to serving them.

Over the past month, the VA has cut 2,400 positions, and VA Secretary Doug Collins said this week the department plans to slash more than 70,000 jobs, with these numbers as high as 84,000. The goal would reduce VA staffing to 2019 levels, three years before the historic PACT Act expanded benefits to more than a million veterans sickened by exposures to toxins.

Thousands of veterans have been fired and handed a blanket termination email for poor performance, including veterans who have received awards for their performance. When Secretary Collins was questioned about the indiscriminate treatment related to the terminations of thousands of veteran employees, he stated, "These were probationary employees." That doesn't matter. We all were once probationary employees, and we passed probation because of our work ethic and commitment to veterans. One current veteran employee stated, "At least in combat, I knew my mission. I was supported in it by my teammates by my leadership, and I had agency. I had a weapon. I could fight against a tangible enemy; now it's just an invisible cloud of dread."

Comparing the VA to the private sector is a bad argument. You are robbing veterans of the care that you promised them when they fought for this country.

This Secretary has no empathy or care for veterans. He went on national TV to say that veterans employed by the government have no employment preference in the Federal or private sector. This is not true. According to OPM (Office of Personnel Management):

"Since the time of the Civil War, veterans of the Armed Forces have been given some degree of preference in appointments to Federal jobs. Recognizing their sacrifice, Congress enacted laws to prevent veterans seeking Federal employment from being penalized for their time in military service. Veterans' preference recognizes the economic loss suffered by citizens who have served their country in uniform, restores veterans to a favorable competitive position for Government employment, and acknowledges the larger obligation owed to disabled veterans.

Veterans' preference in its present form comes from the Veterans' Preference Act of 1944, as amended, and is now codified in various provisions of Title 5, United States Code. By law, veterans who are disabled or served on active duty in the Armed Forces during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over others in hiring from competitive lists of eligibles and in retention during reductions in force." According to Secretary Collins, there is no Veterans Preference, and this Administration clearly does not follow their laws or obligations, as they continue to fire veterans without any regard for the time they served.

The mass firing of VA employees is a death sentence for countless veterans who rely on the VA for lifesaving care. Abandoning veterans during a critical time of accessing medical and mental health care is unnecessary suffering, and veterans will die.

When veterans die, the blood of their lives will be on the shoulders of this Administration.

Aimee Potter is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and AFGE steward.

Aimee Potter speaking at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, February 26, 2025.

Barry Romo at a Save the VA demo, May 18, 2018, Chicago.