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PACT Act Open House - June 16, 2023
The PACT Act expands and extends eligibility for VA health care for Veterans with toxic exposures from the Vietnam era, Gulf War era, and Post-9/11 era. San Francisco VA Health Care System will be hosting a PACT Act event this Friday, June 16th, 2023, at our Santa Rosa VA Clinic South from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. located at:
2285 Challenger Way
Santa Rosa, CA 95422
We will be assisting Veterans with health care enrollment, toxic exposure screenings, and claims support. If you can’t make this event, please talk with your provider about your deployment history and any exposure related health concerns you may have. Toxic exposure screenings are available. It is our honor to provide generations of Veterans – and their survivors – with the care and benefits they have earned.
For more information contact San Francisco VA Health Care System at 415-221-4810 or visit: The PACT Act and Your VA Benefits | Veterans Affairs
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If you aren’t currently enrolled in VA health care, we encourage you to apply so we can provide you with any care you may need now or in the future. Enrollment is free. And your care may be free as well.
Four easy ways to apply for VA health care:
Health Eligibility Center
2957 Clairmont Rd., Suite 200
Atlanta, GA 30329
Parie Wood is a Master of Social Work second-year intern at SFVAHCS from UC Berkeley and an award-winning folk-americana musician (named one of Sacramento’s Top 25 Creative People and Best New Artist by the Sacramento News and Review). She developed the ARTS Therapeutic Songwriting Group, an 8-week therapeutic songwriting group, under the direction of Julia St. George, LCSW, within the Addiction Recovery Treatment Services (ARTS), Drug and Alcohol Treatment Clinic (DAT). This expressive arts and process-oriented psychotherapy group has six Veterans who meet for an hour each week over video to study individual components of songwriting, practice storytelling through lyrics, workshop ideas, and encourage each other to explore.
Group members discuss the creative process by harnessing awareness through mindfulness, which gives way to creative ideas. Veterans encourage each other to get outside of their comfort zone, and develop the flexibility and confidence to share imperfect ideas. Participants are diverse both in experience and in craft, including two harmonica players, a beat maker and rapper, a saxophonist and keyboardist, a ukulele player, and three guitar players. Some members have written full songs and performed on stage, some joined the group expressly to challenge themselves and work on their social anxiety.
Examples like the ARTS Therapeutic Songwriting Group are just one of the many successful and creative approaches that SFVAHCS offers in the treatment of mental health and substance abuse disorders. If you are interested in learning more about the this program or others offered, we encourage you to contact your provider for more information.
“In my second year at UC Berkeley, I started interning in DAT with Julia St. George, knowing I wanted to work with Veterans and people with substance use disorders. I knew that I would be challenged as I continued to grow as a social worker and therapist, co-facilitating groups, conducting assessments, and learning the ins and outs of documentation. I did not realize that within two months of onboarding I would be singing a Bee Gees cover to many of my brand-new colleagues and several of the Veterans I work with. The ARTS Rocks Showcase allowed for 30 people to share a part of themselves through poetry, humor, crafts, and song and as a result of that bravery and emotional vulnerability, I noticed that almost immediately I started connecting with my Veterans on a deeper and more personal level.”
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