Veterans Treatment Track Introduced in Missoula Courtroom

The Missoula Co-Occurring Treatment Court launched a Veterans Treatment Track Monday afternoon at the Missoula County Courthouse.  Present were Robin Korogi, Director of VA Montana Health Care System, Jean Curtiss, Chair, Missoula Board of County Commissioners and other Veterans and government representatives. A collaborative effort of the Montana Veterans Administration, Missoula Municipal, Justice and state District Courts, and local Veterans groups, the project is modeled after the first Veterans Court established by Judge Robert T. Russell in Buffalo, New York in 2008. The 2010 census reports more than 100,000 veterans in Montana, second in the nation per capita.

The Missoula planning group has been assisted by Paul Harman, the Montana representative of the national Veteran Justice Outreach Initiative. The purpose of the Veteran Justice Outreach Initiative (VJO) initiative is to avoid the unnecessary criminalization of mental illness and extended incarceration among Veterans by ensuring that eligible justice-involved Veterans have timely access to VHA mental health and substance abuse services when clinically indicated, and other VA services and benefits as appropriate.