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Veterans Treatment Court is a program aimed at helping veterans who enter the criminal justice system as a result of their experiences during service. <\/p>\n
On Saturday, the program based out of San Luis Obispo County celebrated its 10-year anniversary. The program began back in 2012, starting off with a few founders that shared the same idea and passion to help veterans. <\/p>\n
Starting in Buffalo, New York, the Veterans Treatment Court program has grown nationally focusing on veterans. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they go through a program like Veterans Treatment Court nationally, the percentage of being charged with an additional crime later drops somewhere between 80%- 90% to 10%- 15%,” said Bill Crewe, Central Coast Veterans Helping Veterans president. <\/p>\n
In San Luis Obispo County, the first court session was back on June 14th<\/sup>, 2013. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have two kinds of programs within veterans court, we have Veterans Treatment Court right now we have six individuals, we see two to four graduate every year. We have [the] military diversion, those numbers are a little higher and those are for first time misdemeanor offenses,” said Breanne Salmon, SLO County behavioral health clinician. <\/p>\n The Veterans Treatment Court is an intensive two-year program that includes meetings with counselors, being tested for alcohol and drugs, and also meetings with mentors.<\/p>\n The local nonprofit Veterans Helping Veterans is one of the main supporters of the treatment court providing mentors and funding.<\/p>\n \u201cI attended funeral services for a young man who was an Army Ranger veteran. He had two deployments to Iraq, and he committed suicide. That very same day I volunteered to be a mentor with the Veterans Treatment Court,” said Michael Patrick, who serves as a mentor. <\/p>\n Patrick has been a mentor since 2014 and said mentors with the same experiences who can empathize with the veterans are key.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a mentor, you have to be able to drink a lot of coffee you spend weekly visits with the veteran. We act as the pressure relief valve on the system of therapy that is in place,” said Patrick. <\/p>\n At the end of the day, those playing a role in the program said it\u2019s a chance to give back to our veterans. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a comment the judge always says. Adoption and Veterans Treatment Court graduations are the best days in court and I am happy I get to be part of one of those programs,” said Salmon. <\/p>\n Veterans Treatment Court said they have been able to help a couple of hundred veterans stay out of jail and prevent crime from recurring through the program. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n