Palm Beach Vet Center
We can provide screenings for substance use for you, as well as referrals to local Veteran-focused resources. We can connect you with both VA and community organizations.
If you need additional support with substance use, we encourage you to contact the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center's Substance Use Clinic at 561-422-8234.
We have a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) on-site to offer family and couples counseling.
We also offer spouse and significant other groups.
We have strong connections to the City of Greenacres, Palm Beach, and other local municipalities, as well as to the Veterans and service members who live here.
Our Veterans Outreach Program Specialist meets with the Palm Beach Veterans Coalition and attends numerous community outreach events each year. We also work to expand our partnerships to help Veterans and service members find the resources they need. Please call us if you would like to learn more.
Bereavement counseling (also sometimes called “grief counseling”) provides assistance and support for people going through 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 at no cost.
If you’re the surviving spouse, child, or parent of a service member who died while serving our country or a family member of a Veteran who was receiving Vet Center services at the time of the Veteran’s death, we're here to offer bereavement counseling to you.
We offer individual and group counseling.
Our specialty care includes the following groups:
- Era-specific groups (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq)
- Female Veteran groups
- Veteran book club and creative art classes
- Peer-support groups to educate all Veterans and service members on VA benefits and initiatives that are available
- Tai-chi classes
- Stroll for well-being stress reduction sessions
The most effective treatment method is the one that works best for you and moves you to a place of healing and personal growth. We provide the following treatments:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Grief counseling
Nobody joins the military with thoughts that they’ll be sexually harassed, sexually abused, objectified, or made to feel less than human. The sense of betrayal at the hands of your “military family” is traumatic. Left untreated, it can affect your ability to thrive.
The most effective treatment is one that suits you best. We offer treatment modalities such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which will help you to process memories of your trauma and confront the emotions that come from those memories.
We have both male and female counselors trained to help you overcome the trauma of MST.
Note: If you're uncomfortable identifying as someone who has experienced MST, call us, and we can schedule you without asking for additional personal information.
Trauma can happen to anyone at any time. Whether it’s related to combat, sexual assault, or other life-threatening experiences, trauma can reemerge in difficult ways. The human brain will not allow these memories to go unaddressed no matter how hard we try to stuff them down or push them aside.
These memories, and the emotions that come with them, will often come out in the form of anxiety, depression, or outright anger. You don’t have to suffer alone. All of our counselors are trained to help you overcome the memories and emotions associated with your traumatic event(s).
The most effective treatment method is the one that works best for you and moves you to a place of healing and personal growth. We provide the following treatments:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Mindfulness-focused individual or group counseling
Play a video to learn more about Cognitive Processing Therapy
Play a video to learn more about Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD
We offer peer support groups that provide education and connection to help in your transition from deployment or leaving the military. These peer groups can help with the following:
- VA benefits and initiatives
- Connection to resources in the community
- Employment assistance
- State and local Veterans Service Officers in your community
Supporting you in your transition from military service to civilian life is what we do best. We're available to help you find your footing after your military service.
If you prefer, you can also text the Veterans Crisis Line at 838255.
Our counselors and outreach specialists are ready to help connect you to community resources.
This may include assisting you with connections for these topics:
- Veteran housing
- Assistance for homeless Veterans
- Employment assistance
- Veteran rehabilitation and education (VR&E)
- Local food pantries or low-cost food distribution centers
- State and local Veterans Service Officers or Veteran-centric 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.