First Meeting Horrible. Any Advice?

[Pete53]

You should ask for a meeting. Are you looking for Voc Rehab to send you to Law School. If so it has been done before. If you get turned down you only have 30 days to appeal.

[pcake]

UPDATE

When I first spoke with the supervisor at the Voc Rehab office, he told me just to reapply to the program instead of appealing. That's exactly what I did. However, I just received a letter from my counselor saying that I did not need to reapply and she is scheduling an appointment to discuss the decision that another counselor made regarding the denial of Voc Rehab.

I filled out a request for an administrative review, but the person in charge of handling this process is conveniently on leave and there appears to be no one else handling this while he is out. I sent a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of my complete and entire file from Voc Rehab and received and update saying my request has been redirected to the privacy officer at the Oakland regional office. I have left voicemails but he still has not returned my calls. I mailed a signed release of information to the office hoping they will send me my file. All of my requests to my counselor, the other counselor I spoke with, and the supervisor have all gone completely ignored. I took me walking into the office to even get them to give me a printout on how to send a FOIA request.

In the mean time, I went and got a letter from my personal therapist saying my service-connected disabilities continue to hinder my ability to find/secure employment despite having completed a bachelors degree, and I have a letter from my VA psychiatrist saying the exact same thing pretty much.

At this point, I don't trust my counselor enough to send these letters to her. I'm planning on going to my appointment with her on July 30 and seeing what happens. If she won't accept me to the program, I'm going to appeal and attach the letters with my appeal.

I feel like this Voc Rehab office in Sacramento CA is making me jump through hoops and giving me a lot of misinformation. I'll keep everyone updated as to what happens.

[Vync]

You should ask for a meeting. Are you looking for Voc Rehab to send you to Law School. If so it has been done before. If you get turned down you only have 30 days to appeal.

I'm not a Voc Rehab expert, but did try it about 8 or 10 years ago. The part about obtain or keep employment was BS. I was told that because I was employed, they could not help me. I was just trying to get a degree to help my employer have more reasons to keep me. VR advised me to withdraw my application because I could always come back and request it again later, otherwise the appeal period would start after the rejection. Like pcake, I did not trust my counselor either. If they recommend this, I would do some research and find out if it is really true. I wish I new then what I know now.

[carlos_v]

I got approved to get my masters degree. The thing with Vocational rehab is that you need to convince them that school will benefit you, not because you will earn more money but because it will make your symptoms, such as PTSD, better. For example, if a person came back with PTSD and had a job that will only make PTSD worse then he or she would need to explain that it is very important to seek an alternative in order to get better. Concentrate more on providing evidence on why your current situation would improve upon getting the degree you are seeking to have. It worked for me, I concentrated in explaining why my current job was making my symptoms worse and how it would tremendously benefit me if I was able to find another job without sacrificing why I made at the time. I have a family so I also let the counselor know that I could not afford to make less. Also try to seek help from the DAV, they can write letters on your behalf and trust me they always answer them in a timely manner. Good luck.

[pcake]

UPDATE

I had an appointment with my counselor last week. An intern was allowed to be present during the meeting. My real counselor actually turned out to be very considerate and understanding. We set up another meeting in 2 weeks and she told me not to worry about being accepted to the program. She said she would take care it and overturn the decision made by the previous counselor since she is the head counselor that makes the final decisions. She mentioned that many counselors fail to take into consider one of the basic principles of the program - to meet the veterans skills, interests, and aptitudes. She informed me that nearly all of the new counselors are being trained simply to put disabled veterans into the first job they can find. She told me that she has sent several veterans to law school - one of whom she found employment for and then sent him to law school as well.

The intern, however, spent the entire time trying to refute everything my counselor was saying. She kept bringing up the fact that I have a bachelors degree and should have no problem finding work without the program. This intern spent the entire one-hour meeting trying to find every reason possible to deny me to the program. She seemed to have an obvious bias for some reason. I was surprised to hear my counselor actually defend me and tell her that placing me in the first job they could find would be below my skills, interests, and aptitude. Needless to say I requested that the intern not be present in any future meeting because she obviously does not have my best interest in mind.

However, it is a little suspicious that they seem to be dragging this on. Every time I mentioned that I was going to appeal they told me I had every right to, but then told me just to reapply instead, and now I still don't know what is going on or what to do really. I hope my counselor is being honest because she really did sound sincere in the face-to-face meeting, but I am still skeptical. I just hope this isn't wasting time when I should be appealing.

[FormerMember]

Never reapply. That kills the original request. You would have to start all over. Always go for an Administrative Review. This is done in DC by the VA Central Office. They take a completely different tack and usually grant. If not, it goes to appeal via a Form 9. My ILP request is at the BVA now.

[iceturkee]

Welcome aboard and sorry to hear of your issues bud. I have multiple degrees of higher learning, but in my case I had to quit school when I was working on my Doctorate. I was not able to focus or be around people anymore. Now the VA does have a bad habit of looking at us with Degrees and assuming that if we are smart, then we must not be Disabled and are Miraculously cured. Just keep going in there and get your point across. Good luck and God Bless

actually the va thought the opposite when awarding me IU. they surmised i was too smart to be retrained. that, coupled with the fact, i am a retired reporter.