Give an Hour(TM) Partners with American Red Cross and Calls All Mental Health Professionals in Texas to Volunteer Their Services

Give an Hour(TM) Partners with American Red Cross and Calls All Mental Health
Professionals in Texas to Volunteer Their Services

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the wake of the Fort Hood
tragedy, Give an Hour(TM) is issuing a call to action to all mental health
professionals in Texas to join the Give an Hour(TM) network.

Give an Hour(TM) is a national nonprofit organization providing free
counseling and other mental health services to active duty service members,
members of the National Guard and Reserve forces, and veterans of Iraq and
Afghanistan who have separated or retired from any branch of military service.
In addition to these military personnel and their spouses and children, Give
an Hour(TM) is also offering free services to parents, siblings, and unmarried
partners who are not entitled to receive mental health benefits through the
military or VA.

Currently, there are 300 licensed mental health professionals volunteering
their time on the Give an Hour(TM) network in Texas. Nationwide, the network
has more than 4,500 providers.

"Given the size of the military community in Texas and the losses Texas had
already suffered in terms of lives lost and otherwise altered as a result of
the wars, we had already been working on launching a statewide initiative in
Texas," says Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen, founder and president of Give an
Hour(TM). "It is clear after the Fort Hood tragedy that the need for our
services will be greater than ever and that we must immediately mobilize the
mental health community to deal with the aftermath."

In addition to providing direct counseling services, Give an Hour(TM) will be
partnering with other organizations, including the USO and Blue Star Families,
to ensure that the needs of Texas's military families are continually met.

Give an Hour(TM) is also ready to provide mental health consultants to other
veterans service organizations, first-responders, congregations, and schools.

Licensed mental health professionals wishing to join the Give an Hour(TM)
network can visit www.giveanhour.org to register. Give an Hour(TM) asks that
providers agree to give a minimum of one hour a week for a year.

Anyone eligible to receive services should visit www.giveanhour.org and use
the Provider Search to locate a provider in his or her area.

About Give an Hour(TM)

Give an Hour(TM) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), founded in September 2005 by Dr.
Barbara Van Dahlen, a psychologist in the Washington, D.C., area. The
organization's mission is to develop national networks of volunteers capable
of responding to both acute and chronic conditions that arise within our
society. Currently, Give an Hour(TM) is dedicated to meeting the mental health
needs of the troops and families affected by the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Give an Hour(TM) has more than 4,500 providers across the
nation--in all 50 states, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico--and continues to
recruit volunteer mental health professionals to its network. To learn more,
visit www.giveanhour.org.

SOURCE Give an Hour

Lauren Itzkowitz, +1-301-960-4082, litzkowitz@giveanhour.org, or Sylvia
Bowersox, +1-571-263-3601, sbowersox@giveanhour.org