By  David J. McIntyre, TriWest Healthcare Alliance

They wear our nation’s uniform in defense of our freedoms—and in turn, it’s our responsibility as fellow Americans to provide assistance and resources to the military members and their families who sacrifice so much in service to our great country whenever and wherever we can.

TriWest Healthcare Alliance has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the USO, partnering in a variety of venues and initiatives to help support service members. And that’s why we are particularly honored to share the USO’s goal of caring for the emotional well-being of our nation’s military members and families—and through our ongoing partnership, we intend to help break down the stigma that seeking out behavioral health services carries in the military’s culture.

Teaming up with the USO last year, we were able to jointly establish a behavioral health pilot in October at four USO Centers, equipping USO staff and volunteers with a collection of resources—DVDs, handouts, web resources and an educational module.

These resources provide USO staff and volunteers with tools on how to best help service members and their spouses during a potential time of need, assisting in our goal of doing whatever we can to stem the alarming rise in the amount of suicides, relationship problems and substance abuse our nation’s military is facing.

We are incredibly proud that the behavioral-health initiative recently expanded to 17 additional USO Centers in the Western United States, bringing added resources to thousands more military members and their families during their time of potential need. Learn more about the added sites here. Resources include information on 24/7/365 video and chat resources to talk about stress, viewable video demonstrations and more.

It’s with great excitement that we are able—together—to assist more of our military members and families through the behavioral-health initiative and its expansion. But even more so, we are privileged and honored to be able to stand in support of our Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and spouses who have given so much. Thank you for your service to your country.

David J. McIntyre, Jr., is a member of the USO Board and is President and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which partners with the Department of Defense to do “Whatever It Takes” to support the healthcare needs of 2.7 million members of America’s military family. A Phoenix-based corporation, TriWest provides access to cost-effective, high-quality health care in the 21-state TRICARE West Region. Follow TriWest on Twitter and Facebook, or visit www.triwest.com for more information.