Welcome to this month’s email of The
Connection - Army Reserve Family Program Update. This month we will cover Readjustment
Counseling Services being offered by Vet Centers and
information about the new Pentagon channel.
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Readjustment
Counseling Available to
Veterans
and Their Dependents
Readjustment counseling is
provided at 206 community-based Vet Centers located in all 50 states, the
District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands, and
is designed to help combat veterans in their readjustment to civilian
life. Vet Center
staff provide group, individual, and family counseling plus a wide range
of other services to include medical referral, homeless veteran services,
employment services, VA benefit referral, and the brokering of non-VA
services.
Eligible veterans include
those who served on active duty in a combat theater during World War II,
the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, or the campaigns in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and
the Global War on Terror. Veterans
who served in the active military during the Vietnam Era, but not in the Republic of Vietnam, are
also eligible, provided they requested services at a Vet Center
before 1
January 2004. Vet
Centers also provide bereavement counseling to the families of military
personnel killed in action and sexual trauma counseling to veterans who
suffered sexual trauma while on active duty.
Readjustment difficulties can
include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or any other problems that
affect functioning within the family, work, school or other areas of
everyday life. For additional
information, contact the nearest Vet Center,
listed in the federal government section of telephone directories, or
visit the Internet at http://www.va.gov/rcs. Click on Vet Center Directory and then
click on your location.
For VA benefits eligibility,
contact a VA benefits office at 1.800.827.1000 from any location in the United
States. Assistance is also available through
Telecommunication Device for the Deaf (TDD) at 1.800.829.4833.
This information is found in
the Department of Veterans Affairs “Federal Benefits for Veterans and
Dependents” (2004 Edition). You can
download the 123-page booklet to find out about benefits and programs
available to veterans and their dependents by visiting the Internet at http://www1.va.gov/opa/vadocs/fedben.pdf. You can also visit the Internet at http://www.va.gov for links to sections on
compensation and pension benefits, health care benefits, burial and
memorial benefits, home loan guarantees, and other information.
