Veterans experience many issues that are specific to those who served, and to better help those who have made mistakes, the Veterans Treatment Court has made a huge impact, according to those involved with the court.
Judge Egan Walker of the Second Judicial District Court on Thursday held the most recent in-person graduation of the Veterans Treatment Court. The graduates received diplomas from the court and recognition from the offices of U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and U.S Representative Mark Amodei.
“We just wanted to congratulate and really let people know that came through the program that they’ve done an excellent job,” Brooke Howard, the Specialty Courts program manager, said. “They are clean and sober at this point and we want them to remain that way.”
The graduates are all veterans who served in different branches of the U.S. military and are guided by other veterans in the program who better understand their unique situations. The approach is based on rehabilitation instead of punishment and focuses on substance use counseling, vocational and academic referrals, and housing programs.
“Overall, we appreciate that they took their time to serve our country and so we’re here to also serve them and help them with supports as they return back to our communities for all the things that they did,” Howard said. “Through this process, it’s a community-based program, they get to have supports, they get to have housing, treatment, and our court staff that helped them through this time as they transitioned back to the community.”
The Veterans Treatment Court has been around since 2009 and focuses on non-violent veterans who suffer from substance abuse, mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
Each veteran who participates in the 12-month program must be referred, and once accepted must adhere to weekly hearings and check-ins. The program is tailored to each individual case and is offered to the veterans at no charge.
In addition to this veterans court, there are six other specialty courts that take a therapeutic approach. The region’s specialty courts started in 1995 with the creation of the Adult Drug Court.
According to Veterans Data Central, there are about 202,500 veterans living in Nevada of which more than 8% live in poverty. With more than 42,000 having some form of housing problems and more than 750 of them experiencing homelessness, this program helps veterans find housing as well as forms of employment.
