Wasilla Vet Center
Recreational, Whole-Health, and Peer Groups at the Vet Center
Role-Playing Table-Top, Card Games, and Board Gaming Groups at the Vet Center:
- Fridays 1:30 p.m. to 4:30pm & 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Outdoor Group:
- Walking Group at the Menard Memorial Sports Center on Wednesdays 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
During Summer hours the group walks outside on the loop around the Sports Center and in the Winter or inclement weather, the group walks on the track inside the Sports Center.
Yoga:
- Wednesdays 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.** PLEASE CALL AHEAD TO CONFIRM AVAILABILITY **at the Wasilla Vet Center (Except 3rd Wednesday-See Below)
- Through the Veterans Yoga Project, staff from the Vet Center participate in yoga with Veterans, active duty service members, and family members at Yoga Om on Sundays from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Please RSVP via Yoga Om's Wellness Living App: Yoga Om | Come As You Are | Mat-Su Valley Hot Yoga, Aerials, BUTI Yoga, Barre, Yin (yogaomalaska.com) or email Erica Glass at erica.glass@veteransyogaproject.org
Peer Support Group:
- Wounded Warrior Peer Support Group meets at the Wasilla Vet Center on the 3rd Wednesday of every month 6 :00 p.m. to 8:00pm
For help with or questions about Veterans benefits and claims:
A Community Contact from the Veterans Benefits Administration, is available in the Vet Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Use VERA - Home (force.com) to schedule an in-person, telephone, or video appointment.
There is also a Veterans Service Officer on-site from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
For help with employment, we offer:
Job Club with the Alaska VHA Vocational Rehabilitation Services team on Tuesdays from 11:00 a.m. to noon.
The Wasilla Vet Center has licensed social workers and counselors who provide couples counseling to support healthy relationship goals and family readjustment after military life and deployments.
We offer conjoint counseling for Veterans with their spouses or significant others.
Wasilla Vet Center offers counseling and other support, such as:
- Bereavement counseling for families after the death of an active duty service member
- Grief counseling for families of Vet Center clients who pass away
- Grief counseling for families or caregivers of Veterans who die while in a VA facility
- Community referrals for bereavement counseling for adolescents
We serve all who served. We can help all eligible Veterans with counseling, therapy, support, case management, and referral services to meet specific needs.
We also work closely with LGBTQIA+ service providers at the Alaska VA Healthcare System and other community partners, and we can make a direct referrals. For additional information- VA Alaska Health Care | Veterans Affairs
The Wasilla Vet Center proudly welcomes eligible female active duty service members and Veterans. We offer services in a sensitive and safe environment for counseling, therapy, support, and referral services to meet unique needs.
We also work closely with the Women Veterans Health Program Manager and service providers at the Alaska VA Healthcare System and can make a direct referrals. For more information - VA Alaska Health Care | Veterans Affairs
Individual therapy and counseling are offered for a wide array of mental health concerns ranging from adjustment problems, transitioning to civilian life, returning from deployment, depressive symptoms, anxiety, managing stress, relationship difficulties, and sleep problems, to MST and PTSD.
Specialty services are offered in a respectful manner to all BIPoC and LGBTQIA+ Veterans and family members.
At the Wasilla Vet Center we offer the following specialized treatment modalities:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
- Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I)
- Image Rehearsal Therapy (IRT)
At the Wasilla Vet Center, we provide long-term supportive care to help Veterans and service members overcome underlying issues.
We refer Veterans and service members struggling with addiction to the Alaska VA Healthcare System and other community partners for primary addiction treatment, detoxification, stabilization.
If you need immediate assistance, call: National Call Center for Homeless Veterans - VA Homeless Programs
For more information- VA Alaska Health Care | Veterans Affairs
The Wasilla Vet Center has counselors who utilize a trauma-informed care approach to provide therapy and supportive services to MST survivors.
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.