VA Offers Women's Veterans Group in Hudson Valley

From Veterans Affairs Hudson Valley:

VA Hudson Valley Health Care System is restarting a group for women who have experienced war-zone trauma beginning May 5.

The group will meet Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Mental Health Clinic conference room, Bldg. 12, at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Montrose campus, 2094 Albany Post Road, Montrose, NY 10548. The meetings are free of charge for those eligible for VA health care.

Women Veterans interested in attending must first call Dr. Yael Margolin-Rice, Clinical Psychologist, for an interview. No “walk ins” will be accepted; candidates must be interviewed first.

“We are offering a group for women who were deployed to a war-zone in a combat or combat-support capacity and have been adversely affected by their experiences,” Dr. Margolin-Rice said.

Dr. Margolin-Rice added the group is not necessarily for women affected by military sexual trauma (MST). “This is not specifically an MST group although some of the participants may also have experienced some form of sexual harassment and/or sexual assault during their deployments,” she said.

For information on MST, call Melissa Halligan, Ph.D, -- who leads an MST group at the Castle Point campus – at 845-831-2000, ext. 4639.

For more information or to be screened for the May 5 group, call Dr. Margolin-Rice at 914-737-4400 ext. 2283.