Veteran Health Indiana – Bloomington VA Clinic

The Bloomington VA Clinic is an outpatient clinic that provides substance abuse treatment for veterans and their families. You’ll find them located in Bloomington, Indiana. This organization also has a wide range of health services available to help clients achieve overall wellness. The services provided to help with treating drug and alcohol addiction include medication assisted treatment (MAT) and group therapy.

It’s important to note that patients need to have been assigned to the Bloomington Mental Health Clinic in order to receive health care services. Clients can speak with their primary care team to see if they can get a referral.

Blooming VA Clinic provides both outpatient and inpatient services. At the residential facility, assistance is provided to veterans not only dealing with substance abuse but other issues such as homelessness and unemployment. Veterans can also drop by to receive assistance with cardiology, prosthetics, X-rays and other issues.

Evidence based treatments are utilized to help with recovery. Some of the therapeutic approaches used include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), contingency management and motivational interviewing (MI). CBT is designed to help veterans have more balanced thoughts to manage their urges to use substances.

Motivational interviewing is used to strengthen a veteran’s personal motivations to change their behavior. The therapist gets clients to consider the reasons they want to make a change and what possible benefits would come from that change.

I like that Bloomington VA Clinic has multiple medication options for veterans to determine which option might be best for treating their withdrawal symptoms. For opioid use disorders, the clinic has methadone, Suboxone, and injectable naltrexone available to use during detox. There are also multiple medication options available for alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder.