Wichita Vet Center
We’re here to help. We can provide counseling and support and if needed, connect you to the Substance Use Disorder Clinic (SUDC) Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, Building 5 A, in Wichita. You can also reach the SUDC by phone at 316-685-2221, ext. 58020 or 316-685-2221, ext. 57885.
We understand the benefits of including family members in treatment. We have a marriage and family counselor who specializes in helping familyies function at their best. All of our counselors are trained in helping families.
We offer the following types of counseling:
- Individual
- Couples
- Spouses
- Children
- Family
- Significant others
We're committed to functioning as a focal point where Veterans, service members, and community partners can connect and engage.
We support local Veterans and service members through partnerships with local universities, businesses, military installations, local law enforcement, and National Guard Armories. We also provide referrals to Veteran Service Organizations in the community.
Please call 316-265-0889 if you or your organization is interested in learning more about all the ways to partner with us.
We sponsor and host recreational and social events to help Veterans meet and connect. A few examples include our Vietnam Veteran ceremony, cook-offs, and movie night. Veterans can meet with representatives from Kansas Commission on Veterans' Affairs here at the Vet Center. We can also connect you to other Veteran Service Organizations in the community.
We offer bereavement counseling to family members who experienced the death of a loved one while on active duty, including members of the Reserve and the National Guard, regardless of the time of death. We also offer services to family members of a Veteran or service member who was receiving Vet Center services at the time of their death.
There is no cost for counseling. Contact us at 316-265-0889.
We offer individual, group, family, and couples counseling services for a variety of mental health concerns.
Our evidence-based practices include, but are not limited to:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Motivational Interviewing (MI)
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
- Brainspotting
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
We’re also able to connect you with local resources for additional support (as needed) to meet your readjustment goals.
Contact us at 316-265-0889 and ask to speak with someone about MST-related counseling. You can ask to speak with a provider of a specific gender if that would make you feel more comfortable. We can also connect you with the local VA Medical Center MST coordinator if needed.
If you’re feeling on edge and on guard, having trouble with sleep or motivation, or just feeling unlike yourself following a major event or critical incident, we can help. We’ll teach you tools to manage your symptoms to get back on track. Asking for help takes courage and we provide a private, comfortable setting with expert counselors to help you take that next step. Our counselors are specifically trained in helping individuals heal from trauma.
We commonly address the following concerns:
- Anxiety and stress reactions
- Depression and lack of motivation
- Sleep difficulties, nightmares, including sleep problems caused by shift work
- Anger, aggressive behavior, and reckless behaviors
- Difficulties adjusting to civilian life following a deployment or activation
We offer treatments such as these:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
- Brainspotting
We recognize that completing military service can come with a variety of new challenges. Navigating the VA system and other benefits alone can be overwhelming. We can help connect you to VA and community resources that will support you in achieving your goals.
We can provide basic information about:
- Enrollment in VA health care benefits
- Filing a military-related disability claim
- Connection to employment opportunities
- VA education benefits
- Connection to local, state, and federal benefits and services
- Connection to local Veterans Service Officer (VSO) for claims/benefits support
- Connection to Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs
- VA burial benefits
We can also connect you to other Veteran Service Organizations in the community. Should you need additional information about another topic, please reach out to us so that we can support you in your transition from military service.
The Vet Center along with the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center and community resources help Veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless due to financial hardship, unemployment, addiction, depression, or personal transition.
Even if you don’t qualify for VA health care, you may qualify for non-VA resources in our community. Please contact us for additional information at 316-265-0889 for VA or community referrals.
Please contact us for additional information at 316-265-0889 for VA or community referrals. We can connect you to resources to help you apply and manage your VA benefits and services, including:
- Health care
- Disability
- Pension
- Service member benefits
- Family member benefits
- Careers and employment
- Housing assistance
- Life insurance
- Education and training
- Records
- Burials and memorials
Additional community services we can connect you with are:
We offer support and community referrals, including referral to the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center’s Intimate Partner Violence Coordinator 316-685-2221, ext. 58043.
We offer therapeutic groups and activities including:
- Yoga
- Mindfulness
- Meditation
- Creative expression
- Painting
- Drawing
- Creative writing
Give us a call for more information or to join our therapeutic activities or groups.
We’re dedicated to meeting your needs. For questions, please call us at 316-265-0889. We can help connect you with the Women Health Program Manager at our local VA Hospital.
You may also reach out to the Women Veterans Call Center for more information regarding your health care at 855-829-6636.
We want to make counseling convenient for you. We use virtual platforms such as WebEx and VA Video Connect. You can join individual or group counseling by grabbing your smartphone or laptop, having an internet connection, and finding a private location.
Our top priority is preventing suicide among all Veterans and service members—including those who do not and may never, seek care within the VA health care system. As a Veteran, you can play a role in fulfilling this mission, and we can equip you with tools to build networks of support among community-based organizations, Veterans Service Organizations, health care providers, and other members of your community that strengthen protective factors for Veterans.
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.