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Mental health care

VA Southern Nevada health care operates a comprehensive behavioral health program. We are a regional center of excellence for Veteran-focused behavioral health care. Ask a care coordinator about treatment options suited to your unique needs.

Connect with a care coordinator

The following staff can be reached by calling:

Phone: 702-791-9062

Pamela Finder PsyD

PTSD Program Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Matthew Sorenson LCSW

Intimate Partner Violence Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Alexandria Moorer PsyD

ADTP, ADTP MAT, Program Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Nicole Anders PsyD

Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Benjamin Loew PhD, LCSW

Couples and Family Services Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Elizabeth Briggs PsyD

PCBH Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

James Nicolson PA

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Kristi Earl M.Ed, CRC

VHA-Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VHA-VRS) Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Laura Otrambo RN

Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center Program Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Lucy Lan MD

Chief, Interventional Medicine - Esketamine/Spravato Clinic

VA Southern Nevada health care

Lisa Duke PhD

Neuropsychology

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Stefanie Doolin LCSW

Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program (IPVAP) Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

James Taylor LCSW

VITAL Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Amy Jack LCSW

Supervisory Peer Specialist

VA Southern Nevada health care

Warren Zysman LCSW, CASAC

Las Vegas Residential Recovery and Renewal Center (LVR3) Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Brian Potts PsyD.

Chief of Psychology, Behavioral Health Services

VA Southern Nevada health care

Care we provide at VA Southern Nevada health care

The Behavioral Health Department offers both inpatient and outpatient services, including telehealth appointments. We provide consultation, evaluation, and treatment for a variety of issues impacting emotional well-being. Our services include:

  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Services for Veterans who are homeless
  • Treatment for addictive disorders, including residential rehabilitation treatment programs
  • Transition and care management for returning Veterans (OIF/OEF/OND)

Confidentiality

Mental health services are confidential. We will not talk to anyone about information you share unless you give written consent. Under federal law, a few exceptions to this rule exist. If you have questions, please ask your mental health provider.

Please note, while all attempts to reach you during normal business hours will be made, we may not be able to reach you on the same day. For any urgent issues please call the Veterans Crisis Line at

Veterans Crisis Line: 988, ext. select 1.

Couples and Family Services

The Couples and Family Services team is made of licensed clinicians and trainees who focus on treating relationship difficulties with a spouse, partner, family member, or other loved one.

These services are evidenced-based and time-limited: our goal is to help you develop the necessary knowledge and tools to independently maintain happiness in your close relationships.

Couples and Family Services Program Coordinator:

Benjamin Loew, Ph.D., ABPP 

Couple and Family Psychology

Couples and Family Services Program Manager

Program Coordinator

Phone: 702-754-4639

To speak with a VA provider about violence in an intimate relationship, call:

Phone: 702-290-3601

Couples and Family Services clinic are offered at the following 3 VA clinics in the Las Vegas valley:

Traditional Therapies

Couples Therapy

  • Helps a couple develop a shared understanding of stuck points in the relationship, and tools for effective communication, emotional connection, and acceptance of key differences in the relationship.
  • Class is typically 10-20 1-hour sessions.

Family Therapy

  • Similar goals/approach as the couples therapy model described above.
  • Open to Veterans and loved ones (parents, siblings, adolescent children, other relatives, friends)
  • Often completed in less than 10 sessions

Classes

  • Couples Communication Skills
    • Focuses on tools for communicating safely and constructively, and maintaining positive connections
    • 7 weekly 1-hour sessions
    • Souses/partners welcomed
    • Offering quarterly, Mondays at noon, using VA Video Connect

Parenting Skills

  • Focuses on tools to foster positive child behavior and positive parent-child relationships
  • 6 weekly, 1 hour sessions
  • Adult co-parent are welcomed
  • Offering quarterly, Mondays at noon, using VA Video Connect

PTSD 101

  • A 2-hour class on PTSD symptoms, treatments, support, and communication strategies.
  • Open to the loved ones of those with PTSD
  • Offered quarterly, at 10:00 a.m. on a Friday morning, using VA Video Connect.

Other Therapy Services

Systems Therapy for PTSD

  • Helps a couple or family understand PTSD and its relationship impacts, improve communication, change negative beliefs about PTSD and relationships, and increase activities and closeness to reduce avoidance
  • Open to Veterans and an adult loved one when one or both have significant PTSD symptoms
  • Not appropriate for couples strongly considering separation or divorce, or for individuals currently engaged in individual therapy for PTSD
  • Approximately 20 sessions

Systems Therapy with serious Psychiatric Illness

  • Helps a couple or family understand a Veteran’s diagnosis, treatment, and symptom management strategies, and to improve communication and problem-solving skills
  • Open to Veterans with diagnosis such as bipolar disorder or severe depression, and an adult loved one

To request services a VA Behavioral Health provider must place a couples/Family Services referral. Ask a VA provider for a Behavioral Health referral if one does not already exist.

There are apps and online resources available for more information:

Veteran Training  parenting class

https://www.veterantraining.va.gov/parenting

Veteran Parenting Toolkits (booklets):

https://Ouhsc.edu/VetParenting

PTSD Family Support course:

https://ptsd.va.gov/apps/CRAFTPTSD

National Center for PTSD family page:

https://ptsd.va.gov/family

Outside Services

The Las Vegas Vet Center

Phone: 702-791-9170

Henderson Vet Center

Phone: 702-791-9100

Vet Centers also offer couples and family services.

Coaching Into Care

Phone: 702-791-9100

A confidential VA telephone service that provides education and support to Veterans’ loved ones. Services include guidance on motivating a Veteran to seek assistance for readjusting to civilian life.

Warren Zysman LCSW, CASAC

Las Vegas Residential Recovery and Renewal Center (LVR3) Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Layne Goble PhD

Psychology Training Director

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Leandrea Caver PhD

DBT Coordinator

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Meredith Avedon PsyD

Workplace Violence Prevention Program (WVPP) Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Sandra Lawrence-Clarke PhD

Behavioral Medicine Psychology Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone:

Christina Ryan

MHICM and RANGE Program Manager

VA Southern Nevada health care

Phone: