Some of the services VOC offers include: employment and job training, residential support for homeless, legal services and counseling, educational and financial counseling, substance abuse counseling and referrals, and peer-to-peer counseling.

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People have been "re-traumatized" by the oil disaster, she says, which is why her agency recently launched a peer-to-peer counseling program to train and empower community members so they can reach out to their own and de-stigmatize the need for mental health services.

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