Staff Writer
A woman re-entering civilian life after years of military service often has to deal with issues that make it difficult to cope with life. The Long Beach U.S. Veterans Initiative center located at Villages at Cabrillo now has a program specifically designed to address those issues. It’s called the Women Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (WHVRP), and its purpose is to reach out to female veterans with the comprehensive services that they need in order to be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle and have stable housing.
“We are finding that the needs and issues of female veterans are different than the needs and issues of male veterans,” said Jaclyn Paxton, WHVRP jobs developer. “The Veterans Administration has realized this and has established women’s clinics and other programs specifically designed to address the needs of female veterans.”
Paxton, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999 to 2007, noted that in recent years the awareness of military sexual trauma (MST) has greatly increased, and often that is a part of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by many combat veterans. Paxton defined sexual trauma as unwanted physical contact, sexual assault, and rape. “The PTSD and MST can lay dormant for a long while until something triggers it,” Paxton said. She explained that when either or both of those conditions surfaces in a woman’s emotions, she may have an extremely difficult time dealing with even the minor everyday challenges of life.
La Trice McBride, WHVRP career counselor, elaborated. “Many women veterans don’t even realize that they are suffering with PTSD and/or MST,” she said. “They are in denial. As women, we tend to stuff traumatic experiences inside of us and just hope that they will go away, but eventually the pain just boils over.”
McBride spent 12 years in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged as a disabled veteran in 1997. “When I was in the Army, I was used to the military paying all my bills,” she said. “That included housing, food, and utilities, but when I was discharged and I had to start paying those bills myself, I experienced culture shock.”
She added that for some female veterans, just the shock of re-entering civilian life feels like too much to handle. When that is added to PTSD or MST, coping with life can seem like an impossible task. “My job is to build up the self-confidence of female veterans, guide them in a career that is suited for them, and teach them that they can overcome obstacles,” she said.
McBride stressed that work performance required by the military far exceeds work performance required by civilian employers. “The female veterans have to tap into that and communicate that to employers,” she said. “They need to know how to use the skills and the work ethic they learned in the military to get a civilian job and keep that job. They need to show an employer that they are honest, dependable, hard-working and willing to do what the boss says.”
Paxton added that when assisting female veterans, the WHVRP can help with transportation to and from work, clothing needs, haircuts and makeup. “As a job developer, I will meet with them to discuss their job skills and find out what kind of a job they would like to have,” Paxton noted. “After that, we might work up a résumé, arrange for the woman to get vocational training, or talk to a career counselor, depending on her specific needs.”
Paxton stressed that if U.S. Veterans Initiative does not have the resource or program necessary to meet a female veteran’s needs, the organization will refer the woman to the agency that has that resource or program. “We are a one-stop resource center so that the female veteran does not have to take it upon herself to search for the agency or organization that will be able to meet her specific needs,” Paxton explained. “All a female veteran has to do is come to us. If we can’t help her, we will find the organization that can help her.”
Paxton noted that trying to find affordable housing, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, counseling and/or vocational training can seem impossible to a woman dealing with PTSD or MST, but U.S. Veterans Initiative greatly simplifies the process by finding the program best suited to meet a female veteran’s needs.
“We do provide things like transitional housing, counseling and other supportive services,” Paxton said. “We give the women a stable environment to help them get back on their feet. Once they are built back up, they can regain their independence and go out and achieve the goals they have set for themselves.”
Paxton said that female veterans who need the help U.S. Vets provides can just show up or they can phone prior to going to the center. “We do outreach through the V.A. hospitals, women’s shelters and other places where female veterans might go for assistance,” she said. “We try to get our name out there as much as we can.”
In Long Beach, U.S. Veterans Initiative is located at 2001 River Ave. For more information, go to usvetsinc.org or call (562) 388-7800.
This article is part of a Signal Tribune series detailing some of the local U.S. Veterans Initiative programs.
