Derek Blumke

Derek is the Founder of Student Veterans of America. In 2019, Derek detailed his personal struggle with antidepressants, and the negative effects that they had on him. Since then he has written and passed resolutions through the VFW and American Legion Nationally, calling on Congress to investigate the role of antidepressants in causing the Veteran suicide epidemic. He broke the story that suicide rates for Veterans at the VHA are 32% higher than for Veterans who do not use the VA, and that 18-34 year-old Vets have experienced a 5x increase in actual suicides who used the VHA — contrary to VA’s public reporting. He has written his personal story of withdrawal from psychiatric drugs and published his story of four years of treatment at the VA. He is an editor with Mad and America and the co-founder of Walk There.