Local Veterans Outreach Center Information!
What is the Vet Center?
We are the people in the VA who welcome home war veterans with honor by providing quality readjustment counseling in a caring manner. Vet Centers understand and appreciate Veterans’ war experiences while assisting them and their family members toward a successful post-war adjustment in or near their community.
The Vet Center Program was established by Congress in 1979 out of the recognition that a significant number of Vietnam era veterans were still experiencing readjustment problems. Vet Centers are community based and part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In April 1991, in response to the Persian Gulf War, Congress extended the eligibility to veterans who served during other periods of armed hostilities after the Vietnam era. Those other periods are identified as Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Kosovo/Bosnia. In October 1996, Congress extended the eligibility to include WWII and Korean War combat veterans. The goal of the Vet Center program is to provide a broad range of counseling, outreach, and referral services to eligible veterans in order to help them make a satisfying post-war readjustment to civilian life. On April 1, 2003 the Secretary of Veterans Affairs extended eligibility for Vet Center services to veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and on June 25, 2003 Vet Center eligibility was extended to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and subsequent operations within the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The family members of all these veterans are eligible for Vet Center services as well. On August 5, 2003 VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi authorized Vet Centers to furnish bereavement counseling services to surviving parents, spouses, children and siblings of service members who die of any cause while on active duty, to include federally activated Reserve and National Guard personnel.
The majority of the staff members at Vet Centers all over the country are veterans themselves. Currently, the staff of the Vet Center in Columbus includes two OIF veterans, an Air Force veteran and a Beirut era veteran. We also have an intern (who works mostly from the Ohio State University campus) who is also an OIF veteran. We provide services for veterans who served in a combat theater, for those who are the family members of fallen service members and those veterans who experienced sexual harassment/sexual trauma at any time during their military service.
Veterans who come to the Vet Center have various life concerns including readjustment related to military-to-civilian transition, stress and anxiety, feelings of sadness and/or isolation, family-related difficulties, drug and alcohol problems and any other matter of concern to the veteran’s readjustment. We serve as guides, ones with a perspective unique to military veterans, that help veterans focus on making a smooth transition to the civilian life.
We understand, and most of all, we care.
Please call 614-257-5550 to contact the Vet Center staff
Or visit: http://www.columbus.va.gov/vet_center.asp
30 Spruce St.
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 257-5550
Fax: (614) 257-5551