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: 702-791-9062
Alexandria Moorer PsyD
ADTP, ADTP MAT, Program Coordinator
VA Southern Nevada health care
Phone: 702-791-9062
Nicole Anders PsyD
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Coordinator
VA Southern Nevada health care
Phone: 702-791-9029
Benjamin Loew PhD, LCSW
Couples and Family Services Program Manager
VA Southern Nevada health care
Phone: 702-791-9062
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 LCSW
PRRC Program Manager
VA Southern Nevada health care
Lucy Lan MD
Chief, Interventional Medicine - Esketamine/Spravato Clinic
VA Southern Nevada health care
Stefanie Doolin LCSW
Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Program (IPVAP) Coordinator
VA Southern Nevada health care
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: 702-791-9062
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:
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: 702-791-9062
Meredith Avedon PsyD
Workplace Violence Prevention Program (WVPP) Manager
VA Southern Nevada health care
Phone: 702-791-9062
Sandra Lawrence-Clarke PhD
Behavioral Medicine Psychology Program Manager
VA Southern Nevada health care
Phone: 702-791-9062