Yokosuka, Japan: June 2017: The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) returns to Fleet Activities (FLEACT) Yokosuka following a collision with a merchant vessel. (Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Burghart)
By: FEDweek StaffOver 2,200 Sailors have received mental health assistance through a growing program designed to close gaps in care for Sailors and Marines involved in, or close to a non-combat incident, accident or suicide, according to Navy Public Affairs.
The program, Organizational Incident Operational Nexus (ORION), began as a pilot program through the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) following the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) collisions in 2017, and it was expanded in 2021.
Through the ORION program, outreach coordinators meet with Sailors and Marines at routine intervals for a year after an incident to see if they are getting care or want more.
The coordinator can help set up direct care at military treatment facilities or embedded mental health, purchased care through the TRICARE network, or care through Military One Source, Fleet and Family Support Services, Marine Corps Community Services, and Military and Family Life Counseling, the Navy said, adding that commanding officers can activate the program in response to non-combat incidents to help personnel cope.
“Tragic events don’t typically impact just one or two people, they can have a far-reaching impact and that is especially true in a military unit,” said U.S. Navy Surgeon General Rear Adm. Bruce Gillingham.
Since 2018, ORION coordinators have contacted 2,813 Sailors and Marines from 18 commands who were identified as at risk for psychological injury after exposure to a unit trauma, connecting 421 of them to the level of care requested – and they might not have otherwise.
The program “fills another gap for kind of operational stress, routine operational stressors and traumatic things that could happen in non-combat deployments or non-combat-related situations,” Adeline Ong, director of the Naval Center for Combat and Operational Stress Control, told US Naval Institute News recently.
“Again, it’s to keep it non-clinical, very friendly, very open and just to let them know this is voluntary. This is a tool to support you. And we’re here to help you navigate the system if you do want access or help connecting with a resource or mental health care,” she was quoted saying.
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