Specialized Treatment for Veterans

Providing mental health treatment for our nation’s veterans as a participating provider in the VA Community Care Network (CCN)
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At Lifeskills, we have the expertise and experience to treat severe trauma/post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder using cognitive processing therapy (CPT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), seeking safety, and other evidence-based modalities.
Lifeskills is proud to be PsychArmor Certified as a Veteran Ready Healthcare Organization and is committed to providing expert-led mental health and addiction services to military veterans and their families.

What We Treat

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Sexual Trauma

Anxiety Disorders

Depressive Disorders

Dual-Diagnosis / Substance Use Disorder

How We Treat

As the foundation of our evidence-based practices, Lifeskills offers Clinical Pathways, each led by a doctoral-level or licensed clinician with additional national certifications in their area of expertise, including a Substance Use Disorder Pathway and a Trauma Treatment Pathway.

Veteran-Specific Treatment

As part of our Specialized Treatment for Veterans, we treat severe trauma/post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder.

At Lifeskills, we provide a respectful, dignified, and supportive milieu in which each individual’s strengths are used for healing. Based on each client’s diagnosis and specific needs, treatment is tailored appropriately and may include:
We help each client process their traumas using cognitive processing therapy (CPT), seeking safety, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and exposure and ritual prevention (ExRP) therapy. Substance use disorder treatment includes cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT), chemical dependency dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and 12-step recovery or SMART recovery. For those with traumatic brain injuries, psychosis, or alcohol-related processing issues, we offer cognitive remediation therapy (CRT).

Experiential activities also play a vital role in treatment and include beach trips, fishing, rock climbing, kayaking, equine work, and team building.

Locations and Levels of Care

We offer a true continuum of care with a multidisciplinary treatment team approach. Our clinicians provide the highest quality of clinical care at the detoxification, residential treatment, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient levels of care. Lifeskills clients can live at Osceola Village, one of our transitional living residences, while attending the partial hospitalization program (PHP) and the intensive outpatient program (IOP).

Clinically Excellent Veterans Treatment Team

As the Medical Director, Dr. Daniel Bober oversees the Clinical Pathways. Tailored programming for the Veterans Treatment Pathway is supported by Dr. Despina Karfis and Florance Davidson, LCSW, as well as a dozen other licensed doctoral and master’s level clinicians with multiple certifications in their areas of expertise.

Daniel Bober, DO

Medical Director

As the Lifeskills Medical Director, quintuple-Board Certified Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober oversees the Clinical Pathways. Dr. Bober served as a mental health policy fellow in the U.S. Senate through the American Psychiatric Association, allowing him to work with Congress to impact mental health policy, particularly for veterans and active-duty service members.

Despina Karfis, PsyD, CCTP
DBT-Intensively Trained

Primary Therapist
Dr. Despina Karfis, a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP) who’s intensively trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is committed to treating Veterans as part of our Specialized Treatment for Veterans. She is also trained in exposure and ritual prevention (ExRP) therapy and has been working with clients with mental health disorders and substance dependency for over twenty years.

Florance Davidson, LCSW

Primary Therapist & Veteran Liaison

Dr. Florance Davidson, a licensed clinician, and Marine Corps Veteran, is passionate about providing a non-judgmental, safe space to the veteran clients she serves. She is trained in Solution Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and has her certification in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Florance works with her clients to build an alliance of trust and understanding aimed at helping them achieve their goals and work towards attaining a better quality of life.

“This place saved my life. Being surrounded by supportive people 24/7 allowed me to see my worth and understand that hope is possible. I miss the supportive staff and peers I met along this journey. Time flies here if you’re willing to get the help you need and deserve.”
- Grateful Veteran and Lifeskills Alumnus

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Lifeskills is dually licensed to treat veterans with a primary mental health diagnosis for complex psychiatric disorders, and any primary substance use disorder diagnoses as a participating provider in the VA Community Care Network. Our NPI number is 1891122396 and our Tax ID number is 65-1005595. Call us today at 954-953-1742 or complete our contact form. and our Admissions Team can guide you through the process.
To get started, contact our Admissions Team at 954-953-1742 and provide the contact information for each member of your VA team (therapist, social worker, and/or psychiatrist). We can connect with them to let them know that you’ve reached out for help. You may also ask your team at the VA to reach out to the Admissions Counselor you are working with to help facilitate the process.
Yes, Lifeskills offers a trauma-specific clinical pathway. We offer several different types of trauma-based therapies, which are provided by extensively trained master’s and doctoral level clinicians.
We communicate with the VA for authorizations, medications, and progress, but only with each client’s written consent. Each client chooses what information is shared.

If you want to learn more

About our Specialized Treatment for Veterans, our compassionate team at Lifeskills is here to help. Give us a call at 954-953-1742 or complete our contact form.
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