New center opens for local veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs recently opened a new veterans center in Kalispell.

The Kalispell Vet Center at 690 North Meridian Ave. joins centers in Missoula and Great Falls to provide outreach and readjustment counseling services to Western Montana’s nearly 40,000 combat veterans.

The new center is part a community-based program operated by the VA that provides free counseling services to veterans who served in a combat theater, their families, and survivors of sexual trauma that occurred while serving in the military.

Counseling services include individual, group, bereavement and marriage and family therapy. With more than 100,000 veterans throughout the state, Montana continues to have one of the highest per capita levels of military service in the country.

The Kalispell center staff includes a clinical psychologist, a marriage and family therapist, and an office manager. Plans also include adding a social worker.

The center is currently working with the Montana National Guard to create a support group for spouses of deployed Guard and Reserve military members. Other projects include working with community organizers to provide weekend retreats for combat veterans, spouses and caregivers.

Outreach services also are being developed for eligible veterans in Eureka, Polson and Libby.

For more information, call 257-7308.