Goodwill & SRQ Vets Expand Access to Mental Health Counseling for Veterans
The Goodwill Benefit, Resources, and Veterans Education program, also known as BRAVE, launched in 2016. Thanks to a partnership with the Women’s Resource Center of Manatee and Sarasota (WRC), the organization was able to provide free mental health care to local veterans one day a week. Now, with funding provided by SRQ VETS, The Goodwill BRAVE program is available to veterans on a daily basis.
Starting in October of 2016, local veterans worked once a week on Wednesdays with a counselor from the Women’s Resource Center and Goodwill Veterans Services Program team. During this time, veterans spent time with therapy dogs and participated in group therapy sessions with a counselor and fellow veterans and family members. Now, with the funding help provided by SRQ Vets, veterans may also participate in individual sessions with counselors by appointment on a daily basis.
SRQ Vets is an organization dedicated to working with local veterans in need. The organization was founded in 2015 by U.S. Marine Corp veteran Bill Sterbinsky, alongside a team of fellow local vets. SRQ Vets works with the Veterans Court, the Veterans FIlmmaking Academy, Operation Rubix, transportation agencies, and home modification companies to provide veterans with the care they need. In 2017, Sterbinsky was named one of Goodwill Manasota’s 2017 Community Ambassadors of the year.
“We were very impressed with the goal of and services available through the BRAVE program, but knew very well that one evening per week was not going to cover the extensive need for counseling of veterans in our area,” Sterbinsky said in the Experience Goodwill press release. “Our mission is to take resources donated or raised locally and reinvest in our local veteran community to directly help vets in need, or donate to partner local veteran organizations that will specifically use those resources to help our local veterans. We are thrilled to be able to make an investment in the BRAVE program and help area veterans have access to counseling each and every day.”
At Operation Rubix, we are thrilled about this news. If you are a local veteran or family member and are in need of mental health services, reach out to our organization at info@operationrubix.org or call us at 941-330-4240
to connect with a program.
