Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act of 2025
The Fighting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Act of 2025 would require the U.S. Attorney General, acting through the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), to prepare and submit to Congress a report with at least one proposed program to make state-of-the-art treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and acute stress disorder available to public safety officers and public safety telecommunicators (including 911 dispatchers). The bill emphasizes access to evidence-based, trauma-informed care, plus peer support, counseling services, and family supports, with attention to confidentiality protections. It also calls for guidance on how such a program could be administered nationwide (across federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local levels, including telehealth possibilities), along with draft legislative language to authorize the program and an estimate of annual funding needs. A 150-day deadline from enactment applies for the Attorney General to deliver the report, after consulting relevant stakeholders. Key context in the bill’s findings highlights the high stressors faced by public safety personnel, higher lifetime rates of behavioral health conditions among this group, and the suicide risk that motivates pursuing broader access to treatment and preventive care. The proposal builds on prior findings from the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017 and aims to address gaps in capacity and access identified by that report.
Key Points
- 1- Target beneficiaries: public safety officers (e.g., police, firefighters, etc.) and public safety telecommunicators (911 operators), including Tribal public safety officers.
- 2- Mandatory report: within 150 days of enactment, the Attorney General must submit to Congress a report detailing at least one proposed DOJ-administered program to provide state-of-the-art, trauma-informed treatment and preventive care for job-related PTSD/acute stress disorder.
- 3- Program components: access to evidence-based trauma-informed care, peer support, counseling services, and family supports designed to treat or prevent PTSD/acute stress disorder.
- 4- Confidentiality: the draft report must include proposed grant conditions to ensure confidentiality for public safety personnel seeking care or services.
- 5- Implementation and funding: the report should outline how the program could be efficiently administered nationwide (including in-person and telehealth), provide draft legislative language to authorize the program, and estimate the annual funding needed to administer each proposed program.
- 6- Stakeholder engagement: development of the report must involve consultation with federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local agencies as well as non-governmental organizations and groups representing public safety personnel and their families.