Keyword: Collaboration NVF Partners with the Soldiers Project

The NVF is pleased to be collaborating with the Sol­diers Project, a non-profit that provides free counseling to Post 9/11 veterans and their loved ones. It’s a natural match. Our Lifeline for Vets callers range from requests for information to complex situations that call for therapy. It’s a great resource for our counselors to offer Post 9/11 vets.

Soldiers Project therapists are fully licensed mental health professionals who volunteer their services. Cli­ents are seen in private offices, not in a clinic. Best, it takes the time it takes; meaning that once treatment begins, it continues as long as necessary.

Our partnership sprang from another collaborative, the Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative, a network of public, private and government agencies that serve the veteran population. At a monthly LA Collaborative meet­ing, NVF Women Veteran Outreach Coordinator Leaphy Khim started a conversation with Natasha Medina of the Soldiers Project. That conversation turned into a dialog that grew into a partnership between the two organizations.

In addition to being able to refer veterans to the Sol­diers Project for therapy, the two organizations are sharing interns, a win/win solution for everybody.

Khim finds that meeting other providers at the LA Col­laborative is one of the most productive parts. This isn’t the first time she’s come back with a new resource for the NVF, or a new angle to help one of the women vets she’s working with.

NVF President Shad Meshad has long chafed at how so many organizations are territory-bound, describing the social work scene as consisting of silos. That appears to be changing.