The Psychological Health Center of Excellence offers information and psychological health readiness resources for military mental health providers. 

Barriers to Care

Despite the benefits of seeking mental health care, approximately 60-70 percent of military personnel who experience mental health problems do not seek mental health services. This underutilization may be ascribed to many types of barriers to care. Through PHCoE, the Department of Defense strives to better understand the barriers to care that service members face regarding mental health diagnoses and treatment. Seeking care early can help address mental health conditions before they worsen and is therefore an important component of readiness. 

Combat and Operational Stress Control 

Service members experience a variety of physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reactions, adverse consequences, or psychological injuries following exposure to stressful or traumatic events in combat or military operations. In order to enhance readiness and mission performance; increase individual and unit resilience; conserve fighting strength; and prevent or minimize adverse effects of combat stress on service members physical, psychological, behavioral, and social health, DOD requires that each service implement combat and operational stress control policies and programs. PHCoE is tasked with overseeing the COSC mission. This section provides an overview of the natural and expected reactions to combat and operational stressors and describes efforts to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of COSC policies and programs.