Bakersfield Vet Center
We provide individual readjustment counseling to help veterans make a healthy readjustment back to civilian life once they discharge from the military.
We understand the benefits found in including your family members during your transition from military to civilian life. We offer couples and family counseling to support you as you work toward meeting your goals.
Sometimes, when you experience a traumatic event — a car accident, an IED blast, military sexual trauma, or the death of a fellow Service member — that moment can continue to bother you weeks, months, and even years later.
That can mean reliving the event: constantly replaying it in your head. It can mean avoiding places or things that remind you of the experience. It can also mean nightmares, sleeplessness, or anxiety. You might feel numb or, conversely, feel hyperaware of your surroundings.
The symptoms and effects of posttraumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, can disrupt your everyday life. People with PTSD sometimes withdraw from their family members and friends. They can find it hard to concentrate, startle easily, and lose interest in things they used to care about. Some may try to dull their feelings by misusing alcohol or drugs.
If you think you might have PTSD, there are resources to help you recover. Even if your symptoms come and go — or surfaced months or years after the traumatic event — effective treatments are available. Call us at 661-323-8387 to explore and to learn about treatment options, self-help tools, and more.
Grief and Bereavement counseling is assistance and support to people with emotional and psychological stress after the death of a loved one. Bereavement counseling includes a broad range of transition services, including outreach, counseling, and referral services to family members.
Our Vet Center offers bereavement counseling to any family members of Armed Forces personnel who died in the service of their country. Also eligible are family members of Reservists and National Guardsmen who die while on duty.
Not only does the Vet Center provide counseling services, but we also offer the following fun and engaging recreational and creative activities for veterans:
- Dungeon and Dragons game night
- Pool/billiards
- Book club
- Relaxation and meditation,
- Guitar
- Art/drawing
Please give us a call for more information.
At the Bakersfield Vet Center, we offer individual and group counseling. We also provide referral services to appropriate resources in our community
Care at our center includes:
- One-on-one hour-long counseling sessions targeted at your individual needs
- Group counseling for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, Vietnam Veterans; Spouse/Significant Others, and more
Evidence-based therapies such as:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The Bakersfield Vet Center supports local veterans through partnerships with local universities, businesses, non-profit organizations, military installations, and National Guard Armories. We also provide referrals to Veteran Service Organizations in the community.
Are you a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one? Find support anytime day or night.
If these symptoms lead to thoughts of death or suicide, it’s important you talk to someone right away. The Veterans Crisis Line offers free, confidential support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- Call 1-800-273-8255 and Press 1
- Chat online
- Text 838255
Our counselors can provide professional guidance. Please call the Bakersfield Vet Center at 661-323-8387 for additional assistance.
The Bakersfield Vet Center can connect you to resources to assist with
- VA medical benefits
- Filing a military-related disability claim and other forms
- Understanding your VA education benefits
- Housing and home loans
- Education and referral for VA burial benefits
We can also connect you with State benefits assistance and local Veteran Service Organizations.
How we're different than a clinic (FAQs)
How we’re different than a clinic
What are Vet Centers?
Vet Centers are small, non-medical, counseling centers conveniently located in your community. They’re staffed by highly trained counselors and team members dedicated to seeing you through the challenges that come with managing life during and after the military.
Whether you come in for one-on-one counseling or to participate in a group session, at Vet Centers you can form social connections, try new things, and build a support system with people who understand you and want to help you succeed.
Who is eligible to receive services at Vet Centers?
Vet Center services are available to you at no cost, regardless of discharge character, and without you needing to be enrolled in VA health care or having a service-connected disability. If you’re a Veteran or service member, including members of the National Guard and Reserve, you can access our services if you:
- Served on active military duty in any combat theater or area of hostility
- Experienced military sexual trauma (regardless of gender or service era)
- Provided mortuary services or direct emergent medical care to treat the casualties of war while serving on active military duty
- Performed as a member of an unmanned aerial vehicle crew that provided direct support to operations in a combat theater or area of hostility
- Accessed care at a Vet Center prior to January 2, 2013, as a Vietnam-Era Veteran
- Served on active military duty in response to a national emergency or major disaster declared by the president, or under orders of the governor or chief executive of a state in response to a disaster or civil disorder in that state.
- Are a current or former member of the Coast Guard who participated in a drug interdiction operation, regardless of the location.
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Are a current member of the Reserve Components assigned to a military command in a drilling status, including active Reserves, who has a behavioral health condition or psychological trauma related to military service that adversely effects quality of life or adjustment to civilian life.
We encourage you to contact us, even if you’re unsure if you meet these criteria. If we can’t help you, we’ll find someone who will.
Our services are also available to family members when their participation would support the growth and goals of the Veteran or active-duty service member. If you consider them family, so do we. We also offer bereavement services to family members of Veterans who were receiving Vet Center services at the time of the Veteran’s death, and to the families of service members who died while serving on active duty.
Do I have to be enrolled in VA health care to access Vet Center services?
No. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA health care or have a service-connected disability.
What about my privacy?
Safe and confidential. Our records can’t be accessed by other VA offices, the DoD, military units, or other community networks and providers without your permission or unless required to avert a life-threatening situation. Here, you can be as open as you want—there’s absolutely no judgment.