Rep. Sheri Biggs, a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, is pushing the Trump administration to expand veterans’ access to faith-based mental health care.
The South Carolina Republican recently wrote a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, asking the agency to evaluate and implement faith-based mental health resources. Ms. Biggs, who holds a degree in Christian ministries, said these resources could help veterans facing trauma, moral injury and other “invisible wounds.”
She suggested using online platforms such as Pray.com, a Christian website for daily prayer and faith-based audio content. Its mental health content includes Bible teachings, meditations and prayer through its app.
“Veterans need more than another prescription. They need healing that acknowledges the spiritual wounds of service and points them toward the hope only God can provide,” Ms. Biggs, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, said in a statement. “Faith‑based tools are already helping restore peace and purpose, and the VA should act now to make these options accessible to the veterans who need them most.”
She was joined by over a dozen other Republican members of Congress in signing the letter, urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to “move beyond conventional care models and embrace proven, spiritually grounded alternatives.”
This approach, they said, combined with the expansion of Veterans Affairs chaplaincy services and an integrated care office, would give veterans more avenues to find help.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs is in a unique position to address this crisis as the mental health services it provides must address the unique moral and existential issues with which veterans, especially combat veterans, must deal as they transition from the combat and high-threat heavy experiences of our armed forces over the last 25 years,” the letter said.
For Michael Lynn, a co-founder of Pray.com, the mental health crisis for veterans has become deeply personal. After attending a Navy SEAL retirement ceremony for a friend, two SEALs he met died by suicide within a year.
“That experience made it impossible for me to look away. I knew we had to do more to support him and the countless veterans who face this crisis every day,” Mr. Lynn said in an email to The Washington Times. “That conviction led us to engage policymakers in Washington and to work closely with the VA, where we found meaningful support among veterans and leaders, including Representative Sheri Biggs.”
Pray.com’s work ensures that veterans have access to resources that are both spiritually grounded and clinically tested, he said.
Their research has found that using Pray.com’s resources leads to 74% reduction in stress levels, 69% decrease in anxiety symptoms and 94% improvement in sleep quality.
The House Appropriations Military Construction and Veterans Affairs annual appropriations reports have requested that the agency evaluate the effectiveness of faith-based support in its 2025 and 2026 fiscal year committee reports.
The agency has a designated Center for Faith and other religious resources, such as partnerships with faith leaders.
Other letters include one signed by over 20 Veterans Service Organizations, including the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Independence Fund, and another signed by more than 20 state-based Family Policy Councils.
The VA reportedly plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month. Veterans Health Administration managers have been told to identify thousands of cancelable openings.
The agency has already seen the loss of almost 30,000 employees this year amid reorganization efforts.
