Goals of the Veterans Court Program

  1. Promote sobriety, recovery, and stability for veterans in need by providing substance abuse and mental health treatment coupled with and/or academic and vocational skill-building services.
  2. Provide early identification of eligible program participants in an effort to compel individuals’ problem recognition and confront denial, while at the same time accelerating the treatment process for eligible offenders by expediting the admission process.
  3. Engage in community education and partnership efforts to develop shared understanding and foster a spirit of commitment and collaboration with the Veterans Administration, treatment providers, volunteer mentors, the criminal justice system, and other organizations.
  4. Address the needs of adult, alcohol and substance-abusing veteran offenders by establishing a non-adversarial adult veteran’s court program in Shelby County.
  5. Increase the safety to the public and encourage participants to remain substance free and/or in recovery from mental illness, and crime free, while reducing the recidivism rate and eliminating the cost of confinement, therefore providing relief to the criminal justice system.
  6. Develop and implement a Mentor component to enhance treatment compliance and completion.