Medicare & Mental Health Benefits
Medicare covers mental health care services to help people with conditions like depression, anxiety, and alcohol use. For most mental health services like counseling or psychotherapy, you p ay 20% of the Medicare approved amount after the Part B deductible is met.
Follow the links below for more information.
Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy And Kinesiotherapy
Physical therapy, occupational therapy and kinesiotherapy can help restore movement and function if you have been disabled by injury or disease.
Contact information
Referral required?Yes
Walk-ins accepted?No
If youre living with or recovering from an injury, illness, or chronic condition that limits your mobility and independence, we can help. Our physical, occupational, and movement therapists combine therapeutic exercise, counseling, education, and training to help you improve your health and quality of life. Our services include:
- Pain relief and joint mobilization
- Movement and exercise therapies to improve your strength, endurance, balance, and coordination
- Mobility assessment and training with wheelchairs, scooters, and walking devices
- Life skills training and activities to help you maintain the highest level of independence and functionality
- Aquatic therapy to manage chronic pain
- Evaluation and treatment for a wide range of medical, orthopedic, psychosocial, and neurological conditions
Dissemination And Training Division And Staff
The Dissemination and Training Division in Palo Alto, CA focuses on increasing use of evidence-based treatments and using digital technologies to expand access to care for PTSD. The Division conducts training and implementation science projects to promote use of effective PTSD treatments. The Division develops widely-used mobile mental health apps, conducts research on online and mobile interventions, and trains VA staff in use of digital mental health tools.
Read about the Center’s education initiatives and research programs taking place across all Divisions.
National Center faculty is active in training programs at both the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels. See Positions Available for internship and fellowship opportunities that are offered at each Division site.
Contact Information for Dissemination and Training DivisionNational Center for PTSDVA Palo Alto Health Care SystemNCPTSD – 334
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Va Palo Alto Health Care System: Womens Trauma Recovery Program
Service Area: LocalMenlo Park, California
The WTRP is an intensive residential program with a strong emphasis on enhancing interpersonal functioning through psycho-education and skill building classes. Classes focus on the development of coping skills, such as emotion regulation, relapse prevention, anxiety management and effective communication. Residents practice these skills with one another and out in the community on weekend passes. They work together to problem-solve, learn effective coping strategies to better manage their symptoms, and utilize each other for support. Community members have opportunities to make observations and provide each other with feedback that can assist residents in making important changes and improving their quality of life.
Women are admitted to the program via a rolling admissions process so that there are always senior community members available to support newer members. Each resident is assigned to a big sister who serves to answer questions, offer support, and provide relevant information about the program, which is particularly helpful in the early stages of a newer members treatment. The length of stay in the WTRP varies in accordance with each individuals needs, but typically lasts approximately 60 days shorter lengths of stay may be recommended. Longer lengths of stay generally are associated with participation in a Cognitive Processing Therapy Group.
Hours of Operation: Monday Friday, 8:00AM 4:30PM
Palo Alto Va Medical Center
Our Menlo Park campus provides primary care and specialty health services, including addiction and substance abuse treatment, mental health care, post-traumatic stress disorder , physical and occupational therapy, suicide prevention, and more. Below, youll find our address and hours, parking and transportation information, and the other health services we offer at our Menlo Park facility.
Mental health care:
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Specialized Intensive Ptsd Programs
SIPPs provide PTSD treatment services in an inpatient or residential setting. Length of stay varies across programs and is based on the needs of the Veteran. SIPPs include:
- Evaluation and Brief PTSD Treatment Units
- PTSD Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Programs and PTSD Domiciliary Programs
- Specialized Inpatient PTSD Units
- Women’s Trauma Recovery Programs
Although the programs may have different names, the intensive PTSD programs include evaluation, case management in 24-hour therapeutic settings, and psychotherapy treatment that is individualized to meet the needs of the Veteran and to help Veterans return to healthy living in the community.
Services Available For Female Veterans And Service Members
The following resources are currently available for female service members and veterans. This list is not inclusive and expects to continue growing over-time. If you are aware of a resource that is not currently listed please, feel free to let us know by using our Online Contact Form.
Military Sexual Trauma while still in the military
The Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office is responsible for oversight of the Department of Defenses sexual assault policy. SAPRO works hand-in-hand with the Services and the civilian community to develop and implement innovative prevention and response programs.
General services for women veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs – Center for Women VeteransThe centers mission is to monitor and coordinate VAs administration of health care and benefits services, and programs for women Veterans serve as an advocate for a cultural transformation in recognizing the service and contributions of women Veterans and women in the military and raise awareness of the responsibility to treat women Veterans with dignity and respect.
VA Women Veterans-Women Veterans Health Care At each VA Medical Center nationwide, a Women Veterans Program Manager is designated to assist women Veterans. She can help coordinate all the services the veteran may need, from primary care to medical services to Mental Health and Sexual Abuse Counseling.
Services for homeless women veterans
NOTE: Programs vary widely. For example:
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Ptsd Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program
**NOTE: The PTSD-RRTP is currently closed due to construction.**
The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program is a highly-structured six-week treatment setting for combat-related PTSD. We provide a variety of group-based, trauma-focused therapies to help male and female Veterans recover from PTSD in a supported environment. All Veterans attend voluntarily. No one can be forced to attend or remain on the PTSD-RRTP.
Residential Setting
The PTSD-RRTP offers 23 beds and occupies the 3rd floor of Building 8. The facility is NOT a locked unit. Nursing staff are available 24 hours.
You are assigned a double occupancy room, each room having its own bathroom. Wi-Fi is available. Our common living areas feature TVs, computers, recreational equipment, and a work-out room.
Meals and snacks will be provided on the unit. You are expected to keep your personal areas clean and do your own laundry.
Therapeutic Interventions for PTSD are Empirically-based, recovery focused, and include:
- Cognitive Processing Therapy
- Moral Injury, Grief, and Spirituality
To be accepted for admission into the PTSD-RRTP, you must:
Referral Process
Veterans should speak with their current provider for a referral to the PTSD-RRTP. The provider can then submit a consult. Referrals are accepted from any VA in the country.
Nership With Veterans Facility Puts Former Soldiers On The Road To Recovery
Campus bike donation program gives a lift to local veterans who are in treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Gilbert Ramirez, readjustment counselor for the Mens Trauma Recovery Program, which is offered by the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, picked up bicycles donated on White Plaza last month.
Those who donated their bikes last month during the annual student move-out process will rest assured that a number of the bikes they donated have gone to good causes. What they may not know is how some of those bicycles are currently being used.
A donation event held on White Plaza in June featured a special partnership with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, which uses some of those donated bicycles to help patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder . The White Plaza donation event was part of the Bicycle Donation and Rehabilitation program, and organizers hope it will be an ongoing partnership to reduce and overcome PTSD by cycling.
The collaboration is the result of efforts of Gilbert Ramirez, readjustment counselor for the Men’s Trauma Recovery Program at the Veterans Affairs facility in Menlo Park, and Ariadne Scott, bicycle program coordinator at Stanford’s Parking and Transportation Services.
Nathan Gorin, an Army sergeant from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, knows well the benefits cycling has provided him during his time in the Men’s Trauma Recovery Program.
Scott said she was eager to follow through with the plan that Helmke had helped launch.
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That Label That We Give Ourselves Of Not Being Normalthat Stigma Doesnt Allow Us To Accept Who We Are
The next day, Early checked into the Menlo Park PTSD residential rehabilitation program, the same one where Ontiveros had stayed for five months. Ontiveros visited him there, and encouraged him to stick with the program early on when he wanted to drop out.
It sucks every time you sit there and say, I need help, Early said. I fought the program for 50 days thinking, This is bogus, none of this applies to me. On day 51, the light bulb turned on and stayed on. Early stayed in the program for 115 days. He was released in June.
Things dont get completely better, but every day life gets easier to cope with from the tools I learned while at the Menlo Park VA, Early said. That was a big realization for me. I never would have made it through the program without Erik.
Ontiveros said he told Early what he tells all his vets, what he learned the hard way.
That label that we give ourselves of not being normal that stigma doesnt allow us to accept who we are. I tell them we have been in a situation that only 1 percent of the rest of the population has been in. What we have seen, the rest never do. Its who we are.
Peer Support Program Helps Veterans Combat Ptsd
On a stifling hot morning in April 2008 in the Kirkuk Province of Iraq, specialist Jayson Early left his military base and headed to a nearby Iraqi police station on his first field assignment.
During the subsequent 14 months he served in the country, Early worked both as a military policeman, training Iraqi police forces, and as a gunner manning the turret atop a Humvee. But for this assignment, he was sent on an innocuous-sounding public affairs errand to photograph a burned-out truck parked at the police station.
I was 19 years old, he said. Hes now a father of two and living where he grew up, in the small town of Hughson, near Modesto, in Californias Central Valley. I walk up to the truck with my camera thinking there is nothing there. Then he looked inside.
There were body parts, coagulated blood, hair all over, he said, pausing. I just wasnt expecting it. An Iraqi family had been executed in the vehicle, presumably by insurgents. Early had gone through intense military training to prepare for moments like these. He blocked any emotions. He followed orders, clicked the camera and moved on. It wasnt until years later that he realized just how permanently those images, and many more like them, had burned into his brain.
For years, he pushed away family and friends who tried to help. I coped by drinking large, copious amounts, he said. Id have trouble sleeping. Id get angry and just drink that away.
Timothy Archibald
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What Services Are Offered
Each PTSD program offers education, evaluation, and treatment. Program services include:
- One-to-one mental health assessment and testing
- One-to-one psychotherapy and family therapy
- Group therapy or groups for Veterans of specific conflicts or specific traumas
The VA provides treatments shown by research to be effective in treating Veterans. To learn about these treatments, see our Treatment Basics page. Not all VA’s offer the same programs, and some specialty programs require a referral. Your doctor can help you decide which program is best for you.
In This Article
Rehabilitation And Extended Care
We provide medical care and rehabilitation services to Veterans in our Community Living Center and in their homes. Services include home-based primary care, medical foster home support, and hospice and palliative care.
We provide long-term care to help you and your family when youre dealing with a disability, chronic illness, terminal illness, or serious health issues related to aging. Our long-term health care services include:
- 24/7 nursing and medical care
- Physical therapy
- Help with daily tasks like bathing, dressing, making meals, and taking medicine
- Pain management and palliative care to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for people with serious illnesses
- Hospice care to provide comfort and compassionate care for people in the last phases of an incurable illness
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Available At These Locations
- Relapse prevention
- Coping techniques
Please note: The pools and fitness facilities at VA Palo Alto and Menlo Park are now open for clinic appointments and self-directed use. Due to social distancing requirements, self-directed users are required to reserve time to use these facilities, prior to visiting. To inquire about hours and new procedures, please call , Palo Alto ext. 65531, or Menlo Park ext. 22841.
Who Is Covered For Va Care
VA services are provided to all Veterans who:
- Completed active military service in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard
- Were discharged under other than dishonorable conditions
- Were National Guard members or Reservists who have completed a federal deployment to a combat zone
At times, the VA has special agreements to provide care to Active Duty Service members and family.
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Va Palo Alto Healthcare System
VA Palo Alto Health Care System – Menlo Park Division is a teaching chain of inpatient and outpatient facilities, providing a full range of patient care services with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research. Comprehensive health care is provided in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, dentistry, g…
Their mission at VAPAHCS is to honor America’s Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being, they do it by being the benchmark of excellence and value in health care.
The VA provides Military Sexual Trauma counseling and treatment in a free and confidential manner. The treatment is for both male and female veterans for mental and physical conditions. Military Sexual Trauma is the term used to refer to sexual assault or sexual harassment that occurred while the Veteran was in the military.
Weve Shown That Theres More Of A Bonding With The Peer Support Specialists Than With Psychologists Or Psychiatrists
It just moved me that I am from people who have had their lives torn apart because of traumatic incidents, she says. Now, as a doctor and a scientist, I have this platform. Doesnt it make sense that I use it to help others torn apart by trauma?
Peer support as treatment for individuals with PTSD isnt a new concept, Jain said. But there has been little published in the scientific literature to support it as evidence-based care. She has set out to help change that, to add to the body of evidence that would encourage the use of peer support nationwide. The goal is to eventually test the effectiveness of the Peer Support Program in a controlled study, she said.
The very thing that alienates these vets from society is their ticket to peer counseling, said David Spiegel, MD, professor and associate chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and an expert on PTSD. They feel they dont fit. The very thing that makes them feel excluded on the outside is an instant bond and connection with other vets. Thats a powerful thing.
The importance of being understood
After about a month of support group sessions led by Ontiveros, Early said he began to realize that he wasnt the only veteran struggling to deal with civilian life, which helped break down his own barriers to the possibility of getting additional psychiatric help.
And Ontiveros understood what it was like for Early when, one night in March, he finally hit bottom.
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Mental Health And Substance Abuse:
A combined mental health and substance abuse rehab has the staff and resources available to handle individuals with both mental health and substance abuse issues. It can be challenging to determine where a specific symptom stems from , so mental health and substance abuse professionals are helpful in detangling symptoms and keeping treatment on track.
I Didnt Talk The First Few Sessions I Was Still In That Denial Phase
This is where Ontiveros, a fellow veteran who had been through similar experiences and received help for his own PTSD, stepped in. Ontiveros has 10 years experience as a Marine with three deployments to Iraq. He had been through treatment and was four years in recovery when Early joined his support group. Ontiveros knows how hard it can be for a veteran to ask for help.
A lot of these vets dont know theres anything like this kind of support out there, Ontiveros said. They just sit alone in their garage drinking beer. I know what thats like. I used to just sit at home drinking. I wouldnt get off the couch. Id go days without shaving, without taking a shower.
Ontiveros, 33, went from being a combat vet to a stay-at-home dad virtually overnight. He left the Marines in 2009 and returned to the United States for the birth of his first child. Back home, he began experiencing unexpected flashbacks, anxiety, guilt. He found he missed the Marines intensely. In 2010, he admitted himself into the psychiatric ward at the Palo Alto VA for depression, PTSD and alcohol abuse, then attended the PTSD residential rehabilitation program at the Menlo Park VA for five months. When he got out, he worked as a volunteer with other veterans still in the program as part of his own therapy. Thats where Jain found him, trained him and hired him.
Validation
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