ABSTRACT
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, several Veterans Service Centers operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) deployed mental health disaster workers to the New York City area to provide crisis counseling to VA clients and staff who lived and worked in or near lower Manhattan. They counseled professional colleagues at the Manhattan Vet Center and at two other centers across the Hudson River in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey. One of the volunteer disaster workers, a staff psychologist from the Philadelphia Vet Center, went to Jersey City and reported later:
Vet Center staff watched as people jumped from the upper floors and the World Trade Center buildings collapsed. Vet Center employees were so close they could see men’s ties and women’s dresses blow up as they fell. They could hear the sounds and smell the fire and smoke from the disaster. They were all clearly traumatized by the horrific events they witnessed. (Kingsley, 2002, p.44)
As part of the VA’s national disaster response team, Vet Centers have responded to other public tragedies, including earthquakes, plane crashes, urban riots, hurricanes, and the Oklahoma City
bombing. Their expertise derives from nearly a quarter-century of learning how to recognize and treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in combat veterans.
