NVF
http://www.nvf.org/?q=

Congress questions VA mental health spending - -
(February 2007 issue of nePsy.com, Official Website of New England Psychologists), By Nan Shnitzler

"Congress established the Vet Center program in 1979 to help Vietnam veterans with problems readjusting to civilian life. There are now 209 community-based vet centers in the U.S. that provide a broad range of counseling, outreach and referral services. The key to Vet Center effectiveness is peer counseling; most staffers are veterans themselves."

"Sen. John Kerry (D) of Massachusetts says the GAO report shows the money was 'misused.' Still, he is pushing to increase funding for the Vet Center program, which he says is the most efficient and appropriate way to address the surge of veterans returning from war with mental health issues. Vet Centers are not part of VA healthcare network and enjoy separate management and funding."

http://www.masspsy.com/leading/0702_ne_congress.html

Congressional Research Service - The Library of Congress

CRS Report for Congress
Veterans' Health Care Issues in the 109th Congress
Updated October 26, 2006

(See Page 23 of the PDF file which is Page CRS 19 of the CRS report.)
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32961.pdf 

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Vet Centers

The department has emphasized that it has enhanced its outreach efforts through the Vet Center program. This program was originally established by Congress in 1979 to meet the readjustment needs of veterans returning from the Vietnam War.32 From their inception, Vet Centers were designed to be community-based, non-medical facilities that offered easy access to care for Vietnam veterans who were experiencing difficulty in resuming a normal life.

Today, VHA's Vet Center program consists of 207 community-based centers
located across the country, and in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. VHA plans to open two new Vet Centers in 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia, and Phoenix, Arizona, bringing the total number of centers to 209. All combat veterans are eligible for Vet Center readjustment counseling services.33 The Vet Center program also provides bereavement counseling services to family members of those servicemembers killed while on active duty. In addition, the Vet Centers provide counseling to veterans who have experienced sexual trauma while on active duty.

In FY2005, Vet Centers hired and trained up to 50 new outreach workers from among the ranks of recently separated OIF and OEF veterans at targeted Vet Centers, and planned to hire another 50 outreach staff in FY2006. Vet Center outreach is primarily for the purpose of providing information that will facilitate a seamless transition and the early provision of VA services to newly returning veterans and 34 their family members upon separation from the military. These positions are being located on or near active military out-processing stations, as well as National Guard and Reserve facilities. New veteran hires are providing briefing services to transitioning servicemen and women regarding military-related readjustment needs, as well as the complete spectrum of VA services and benefits available to them and their family members.

Furthermore, on April 30, 2004, the Army, at the direction of the Acting Secretary of the Army, introduced the Disabled Soldier Support System (DS3), and later renamed it the U.S. Army Wounded Warrior (AW2), to serve as a program advocate for severely disabled soldiers and their families. AW2 is available to all active and Reserve component soldiers who have been classified as a Special Category as a result of war-related injuries or illness incurred after September 10, 2001, and who have been awarded an Army disability rating of 30% or greater.34

Twenty-five years later, following the grass-roots popularity of the program, eligibility for Vet Center readjustment counseling services has expanded to include all combat veterans. The Vet Center program also provides bereavement counseling services to family members of those soldiers killed while on active duty in service to their country. In addition, the Vet Centers are used to provide counseling to veterans who experienced sexual trauma while on active duty.

The program has grown to 207 Vet Centers nationwide located in all 50 states, and in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia and Guam. There are 33 Vet Centers in the Readjustment Counseling Services' Northeast Region, which encompasses the following eight states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Last year the Under Secretary for Health approved an additional 50 staff positions for the Vet Center Program to provide outreach and assistance specifically to returning OEF/OIF returnees. The northeast region received eight positions from this nationwide allotment and filled the positions with OEF/OIF veterans within 90 days. This fiscal year the region received another seven positions and we have filled - or are interviewing OEF/OIF veterans for - these newly created positions.

As part of the program's outreach campaign, Vet Center clinicians began providing educational and outreach information to the families of deployed Global War on Terrorism soldiers about potential readjustment issues and VA services soon after the first National Guard and Reserve units were deployed almost two years ago. Part of this outreach effort was to inform National Guard leaders of Vet Center services to facilitate early contact and a smooth transition for returning veterans.

http://www.va.gov/OCA/testimony/hvac/seo/050919TB.asp

VIETNAM VETERANS IN MIDDLE OF DISPUTE
New York Times, By Scott Highman. Published: January 23, 1983
(a).."contract plan was authorized by Congress in 1979, along with the Vet Center program, which has been very successful, according to Bob Frank, assistant director of the V.A.'s Readjustment Counseling Service in Washington. The centers, he said, are staffed and supervised directly by the V.A. and provide counseling services through 137 ''storefront'' locations nationwide to Vietnam veterans suffering from the delayed stress syndrome. Contract-holding agencies, however, are privately owned and operated counseling centers intended to augment the Vet Center program when veterans cannot get to a center, when the center's treatment does not suit the veteran's needs, or when a center's caseload becomes too large."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=990CE1D81138F930A15752C0A965948260

Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
We Care About Vietnam Vets
The Vietnam Veteran's Adjustment Problem

"As a result of fighting in an unpopular war and coming home to an indifferent society, many Vietnam vets were faced with an adjustment problem. This problem, also known as the delayed stress syndrome can be manifested in a number of symptoms from intense feelings of alienation, alcoholism and drug dependence to an inability to nurture interpersonal relationships and to cope with the routine problems encountered in daily life.

Evidence suggests that these veterans do not generally present themselves at VA clinics for evaluation or treatment. Also, many veterans are reluctant to seek counseling for fear of being labeled "mentally ill". In light of this, Congress enacted the Veterans Health Care Amendments of 1979 (PL 96-22) which established the Department of Veterans Affairs sponsored Vietnam Vet Centers. These Vet Centers employ professionals trained to deal with the delay stress syndrome."

http://www.jwv.org/programs/patriotic/vietnam_veterans/we_care_about_vietnam_vets