According to the VA, 14 percent of veterans struggle with substance abuse.
Audrey Collins is executive officer of the Department of Specialty Courts with the Administrative Office of the Courts. She said the goal of her organization’s Veteran Drug Court Program is to give people comprehensive support and make positive life changes.
“The most successful time they've probably had in their professional and adult life was when they were in the military. They had structure and accountability. They had a common mission and a connectedness together and they were able to, really in many cases, excel in that work,” Collins said. “But when they came home and they didn't have that structure or that accountability or a way to deal with life anymore, people didn't necessarily understand their experiences.”
Collins said the Veteran Drug Court focuses on individual care, allowing prescription drug results- like anti-psychotics - to show up in drug tests of veterans who need it. The program also alters the language and practices used in regular drug courts to make the structure resemble the military.
Collins said the programs take on some of the hardest cases.
“We do high risk high need individuals. These are the folks who must need these circumstances: the ones that would be most likely to back out there involved in drugs, just making a mess a mess in their community, home, and jobs, we turn those lives back around,” Collins said.
Collins said a large part of the veteran drug court program involves assigning the participant a volunteer peer mentor who is also a veteran. These peer mentors show other struggling vets that life after service can still be lived clean, sober, stable, and healthy.
Only seven counties in the commonwealth currently have a Veterans Drug Court, the closest being in Floyd and Lawrence counties.