Talk Back: Vet Centers

Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to all veterans who served in any combat zone. Services are also available for their family members for military related issues. Veterans have earned these benefits through their service and all are provided at no cost to the veteran or family.

I work for the Vet Center program and have begun working with AcademyWomen on developing part of the their e-mentoring project. I am very glad that AcademyWomen has begun a dialogue concerning how to reach out to women veterans. As an army combat zone veteran myself and from working with women veterans for 16 years, I can tell you that women are one of the toughest groups of veterans to outreach. There is a belief held by many of us that by asking for assistance, we are admitting weakness (which we all know is not true). This is a difficult barrier to overcome, but what has impressed me greatly is the movement towards networking and connecting with one another that women academy grads have made. It is powerful knowing that everyone has struggles and that asking for help and developing networks is OK...

An important part of readjusting back into society from a combat zone is to connect to a support network...Vet Centers provide assistance to those who have served in a combat zone and/or who have experienced sexual trauma (assaults/harassment) while on active duty. We are small community based centers that are welcoming to both men and women. Our staffs consist of both male and female veterans. We fall under Veterans Affairs (VA), but are not part of the VA Medical Centers (VAMC). Some have commented that women have difficulty accessing care at the VAMCs. Vet Centers often serve as liaisons to help women veterans navigate the system. We do a lot of advocating! Also, each VAMC has a women’s program coordinator whose function it is to cut through any red tape or to address any issues that a woman vet is experiencing. (This is an excellent resource.)

When a vet first contacts us, we see him/her individually to determine what services are required. We provide individual and group therapy (bringing vets together from the same combat zones to discuss their experiences and their readjustment). Many Vet Centers have groups specifically for women veterans. We also provide couples and family therapy as needed. We often have activities that bring veterans in the community together to connect and network. We are a free service (vets have already earned this) and are highly confidential (a major concern for many). A vet’s information will not be disclosed without written permission unless harm to self or others is a concern. We keep our records on-site and none are computerized.

In conversations with the marvelous staff at the VA Women’s Clinic, they speak of the concerns that some women vets have of confidentiality, related to their being seen at the clinic by other veterans. The staff make recommendations to women to contact the Vet Centers because for many women the milieu of the Vet Center is a better fit.

It has been my experience that many veterans are not aware of the Vet Centers, and that it takes multiple explanations for most vets to understand the relationship of the different parts of the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA). For those vets who, for various reasons, were unsuccessful in connecting into the medical center system in an effective manner — at the Vet Center we are able to help address and eliminate the obstacles that were present before. We also help connect vets to State resources. In addition to offering direct services, Vet Centers can offer individualized support to veterans as they go through the process of accessing other benefits (i.e. healthcare, employment/training/school, disability, etc.). There are a significant number of veterans who seem to need this “extra help in getting the help,” without which it seems they would have not received and stayed connected to the benefits they already earned in service to this nation.

Vets can either call or drop in for an appointment. We have a website www.va.gov/rcs/ that lists the locations of all the vet centers in the U.S. and a toll free number 800-905-4675 that can be called from anywhere in the nation for an appointment to be made immediately at the nearest vet center.

Amy Marcotte is a former combat veteran and is now a Team Leader at the Sanford Vet Center in Southern Maine.

Maria Cerniauskas-Upton is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with the Hartford Vet Center in Wethersfield, CT.