Health care
Vet Centers: free confidential counseling
Free, confidential counseling for veterans, service members and families. No VA health care enrollment needed.
What it is
A Vet Center is a community-based place, separate from a VA hospital, where you can get readjustment counseling at no cost. VA says services are confidential and that many staff are veterans. Vet Centers do not require VA health care enrollment.
Who qualifies
VA's eligibility page lists, among others:
- Anyone who served on active duty in a combat theater or area of hostility
- Anyone who experienced military sexual trauma, in any service era
- Those who provided mortuary or emergency medical care to war casualties, and unmanned aerial vehicle crews supporting combat operations
- Reserve Component members with military-related behavioral health needs
- Those responding to presidential emergencies or disasters on active duty, and Coast Guard members in drug interdiction operations
Read the full list on VA's eligibility page below. If you are not sure, call and ask.
What it gives you, free
- Individual and group counseling (PTSD, depression, military sexual trauma)
- Family and marriage counseling when the family's part supports the veteran or service member's goals
- Bereavement counseling for families of those who died in service, including by suicide
- Screening and referral for issues such as brain injury and depression, substance abuse assessment and referral, employment assessment and referral, and help understanding VA benefits
Services are free. Vet Centers also keep evening and non-traditional hours, and there are Mobile Vet Centers for far-away communities.
Vet Centers
How to get it, step by step
- Call the Vet Center call center at 1-877-927-8387, any time, or use the Vet Center finder to find the one nearest you.
- Tell them what you served in and what you need help with.
- They will confirm eligibility and schedule your first visit.
1Call the Vet Center call center at 1-877-927-8387, any time, or use the Vet Center finder to find the one nearest you.
2Tell them what you served in and what you need help with.
3They will confirm eligibility and schedule your first visit.
Where to call and where to go
Phone
- Vet Center call center, 24/7, free and confidential: 1-877-927-8387. Source: vetcenter.va.gov
- Veterans Crisis Line, 24/7, free: 988, then press 1. Text 838255. TTY 1-800-799-4889. Source: veteranscrisisline.net
- VA main information line (MyVA411), 24/7: 1-800-698-2411 (TTY 711). Source: Helpful VA phone numbers
Official pages