^lortlanh COhseruer
Page 8
November 9, 2011
A Court for At-Risk and Suffering Vets
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others are ju st very lonely," he
said. W ilbur likens m ilitary c u l­
ture to any o th er type o f culture
w here an individual m ay feel
shock after transitioning back to
an unfam iliar life. W hen spouses,
fam ily, and kids m ay fail to speak
the sam e language as them , other
veterans understand.
"It ta k e s a v e te ran to h e lp a
v e te ra n ," said W ilb u r, a V ie t­
nam vet.
H ugh C asey, a senior peer
Over/ieod power lines are
closer than you think.”
m entor and veteran m arine, fills
the void fo r veterans that b e­
com e tangled in the ju stic e sys­
tem and hopes that a fellow vet­
eran w ould do the sam e for him.
"Young wom en and m en have
their w orld ahead, but they are
plagued by various dem ons—
PTSD, com bat experience, or sub­
stance abuse," said Casey. "H ope­
fully a m entor can be a guide post
that a veteran can turn to."
It can be o v erw h elm in g for
veterans to stand before the ju d g e
and all the various m em bers o f
the court. E specially w hen au ­
thority fig u res stress them out,
C asey ex p lain s. H aving a c o n ­
cern ed veteran standing by his
side, as one w o u ld d uring w ar-
calm ed dow n. M any p eo p le do
not realize P T S D is a p erm an en t
condition, and veterans w ith such
m ental issues can be easily trig ­
g ered in stressful situations.
Though peer mentors like Casey
are neither qualified counselors nor
therapists, sometimes it takes just a
phone call or a conversation over
coffee for a veteran to unload what­
ever is on their mind.
“ B eing a m en to r is ch alle n g ­
in g ,” said C asey. “ It’s a learning
ex p erien ce ev ery d ay , but in the
end, y o u ’re ju st a fellow veteran
h elp in g a veteran going through
a hard tim e.”
C asey m entors L arry Phelps,
w ho is in treatm ent for the traum a
he w itn essed in V ietnam . H e is
Therapeutic courts, like the Clark
County Veterans Court, give incarcerated
veterans or those at-risk and suffering
mental illnesses a second chance at life. For
former soldiers, it is often the support of
veteran peer mentors that can gear them
towards recovery.
Look up before you go up.
Most accidents involving electricity happen by coming in contact with overhead power
lines. Any time you're working outside on your ro of or with long or tall objects such as
ladders, gutters, pool skimmers, o r irrigation pipes, be aware o f w hat’s above you.
Even momentary contact with an overhead line can prove instantly fatal. For more safety
information, visit p a c ific p o w e r.n e t
©2011 Pa
PACIFIC P O W E R
tim e, is m ore com forting, he said. m oving from his seclu d ed hom e
C a se y ’s m ission is to help to in the m o u n tain s clo ser to the
keep veterans on track so that city, w here his d ay s are spent
each individual can successfully follow ing his treatm en t plan.
w alk aw ay from the court on his
He atten d s a rev iew service
ow n. P eer m entors act as a su p ­ at the co u rt ev ery W ed n esd ay
port system , not ju st in court an d su b s ta n c e a b u se c la ss e s
dealings, but in life too.
th ro u g h o u t the w eek. H e talks
They pick up the pieces where w ith his m en to r at least four
m om and dad left off. Young tim es a w eek. He finds the m en ­
veterans m ay not know how to fill tor p ro g ram “ very su p p o rtiv e,”
out a jo b application or how to and has m ore u n d erstan d in g o f
conduct them selves in an inter­ P T S D and how to cope w ith his
view. Veteran m entors try to give sym ptom s.
them a toolbox o f skills to cope
Phelps believes the tim es have
with the abrupt change o f being a changed. V eterans today are re­
so lid erin w arto aciv ilian inpeace. ceiving better attention than he
Casey often receives phone calls did. He is glad to see people w el­
in the middle night, early in the morn­ com ing recent veterans hom e.
ing, or any other time a veteran may
H ow ever, as a life-long victim
be in crisis and calling him for em o­ o f PT S D , his q u alm s about w ar
tional support.
rem ain u n changed. “ W hat are
A n Iraq veteran, fo r exam ple, w e d o in g o v er there in the first
called C asey as he w as su ffer­ p lace,” said Phelps. “W hy has
ing an em otional problem . A fe l­ o u r g o v ern m en t chosen to put
low veteran from his unit had o u r p eo p le at risk ?”
taken his ow n life, and he said he
T he C lark C o u n ty V eterans
w ould be unable to attend the C ourt is seeking h o n o rab ly d is­
E ast C o ast service. D ue to the c h a rg e d v e te ra n s to be p e e r
nature o f the d eath, the v ic tim ’s m entors from each branch o f
fam ily had d ecid ed to keep the th e a rm e d f o rc e s , m e n a n d
funeral private and brief.
w om en, and vets from all eras.
"I’m stressing out, I w ant to
If you are in terested in the
go, and I need closure," C asey v e te ra n s m e n to rin g p ro g ra m ,
recalls the veteran saying. T his c o n ta ct M ik e W ilb u r, a U .S.
individual had lost several m en in A rm y V ietnam vet at 360-241-
his u nit to suicide b ecau se o f the 3448 o r S h a u n a M c C lo sk e y ,
‘hells k itc h e n ’ they had gone T h e ra p e u tic S p e c ia lty C o u rts
through in Iraq.
C o o rd in ato r at 3 6 0 -3 9 7 -2 4 3 1 ,
A fter a long talk, the veteran shauna. mccloskey@clark, wa.gov.