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Our Vet Center counselors are here to help you with safe and effective counseling approaches that respect and build on your strengths and resilience. We can also help you access other VA treatment programs for military sexual trauma. 

Bereavement counseling is available for family members after the death of an active duty Service Member or for family members/caregivers of a Veteran who was in counseling and also receiving hospice or similar care. Services are confidential and free.

Vet Center staff understand that the psychological effects of stress and trauma can have an impact on a person's family relationships. Our counselors have a number of approaches to help strengthen family relationships when Veterans and Service Members are recovering from their military experiences. 

Our current counseling approaches include:

• Gottman Method.
• Solution Focused Counseling.
• Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy.
• Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy for PTSD.

Vet Center counseling records are kept separate from the VA healthcare system medical records. Counseling services can be as brief or as long as needed.

Mindfully Moving Yoga Group

Mindfully Moving Yoga is a sensory enhanced form of yoga with props (chair) to assist in making yoga available for every body type and ability. Yoga and meditation practice helps to improve our overall wellness by taking time out to deepen our breath and move our bodies in ways that increase flexibility, strength, balance and emotional resilience.  Beginners to yoga are welcome.

Singing Bowls Relaxation Group

When we relax with the sounds of Tibetan singing bowls or the gong, our concentration improves and our emotional tensions and blockages are eased. The sound with its vibrations can ease mental or emotional pain (low self-esteem, worries, fear, anger, anxiety, depression, insomnia). Tibetan singing bowls are used for deep relaxation and muscle regeneration, to relieve pain in the joints, muscles and shoulders, to ease pain related to sciatica, the digestive system, headaches and migraine or spine injuries, to improve circulation, release tensions or blockages, to open the energy flow, eliminate the toxins from the body. Tibetan singing bowls and their unique tones are used to stabilize blood pressure, to ease asthma related issues, to renew the functioning of the adrenal gland, to open and stabilize the meridians and to improve the synaptic responses in our brain.

These recreation groups are facilitated by the following licensed therapists: 

Robin Briceño, RYT

Registered Music Therapist

Registered Yoga Instructor & Expressive Arts Therapist

Certified Accessible Yoga Instructor

Certified Warriors At Ease Yoga & Meditation Instructor

Certified Hatha & AIReal Yoga TM

And

Gillian Hinton McDonald, LCSW

Director of the Ventura Vet Center

At the Chatsworth 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:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
• Integrated Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT)
• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Trauma Resource Model (TRM)
• Gottmann Method

• Couples and Family counseling offers a variety of treatment options to best meet the couple’s or family’s need including Integrative Behavioral Couples Therapy.