April 3, 2023 • 24 mins
“Vet Center’s current motto includes the three Cs: connection, camaraderie, and community.” What are Vet Centers? How do they differ from VA hospitals and other VA services? E3 takes a deep dive into Vet Centers, looking at their origin, role, and unique approach to providing mental and behavioral health services to our nation’s veterans. This episode features Laura Felten, director of the Milwaukee Vet Center and former Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist.
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(00:00):
Vets Center's current motto includes the three C's,
(00:03):
Connection, Come, Rotary, and Community.
Those three C's focus on the power of building community and creating supports.
You're listening to the Justice for Vets podcast when thank you is not enough.
Hosted by retired Major General Butch Tate,
this podcast is made possible with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
(00:25):
Hi, this is Butch Tate, Chief Counsel for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals,
of which Justice for Vets is a division of our organization.
I'm pleased to welcome you to our podcast when thank you is not enough.
I hope you've tuned in earlier to get a sense of what we're all about.
(00:47):
What we're trying to do, of course, is talk about veteran trauma,
talk about how that trauma can sometimes lead a veteran down a path to intersecting with law enforcement,
may find that veteran in Veterans Treatment Court.
We'll talk a little bit about how those courts work,
but I think importantly we'll talk about the resources that are brought to bear as part of that court process
(01:13):
to help the veteran achieve his or her success, recovery, and start their next chapter of their life.
I am pleased today to welcome as our guest Ms. Laura Felton, who's the Director of the Milwaukee Vet Center.
Laura, let me welcome you to the program and thank you in advance for, first of all, your time,
(01:35):
but also your expertise in putting that expertise toward helping our veterans.
So welcome and thanks.
Thank you. Thank you.
Laura, as I mentioned, is the Director of the Milwaukee Vet Center.
But before I ask Laura what she does to support our veterans, either in the criminal justice system
or just in their desire to seek support and services,
(01:58):
I'd like you to take a moment, Laura, and tell us about the origin of the Vet Centers
and importantly their role within the VA infrastructure.
The Vet Centers were established in June of 1979 and we were established to support the significant number of
Vietnam-era veterans who were not accessing VA services at the same levels as Korean and World War II veterans.
(02:25):
So about four years later, or 1983-ish, Vet Centers became permanent within VA
and readjustment counseling was added as a new category of services for VA.
Vet Center's current motto includes the three C's, Connection, Comradering, and Community.
(02:45):
And those three C's focus on the power of building community and creating supports.
This is something that everyone needs to look at, those who are returning from deployment
or our servicemen and women who are serving with limited supports or in environments where they have experienced
(03:06):
events that people don't experience in civilian jobs.
Now, Laura, I know a little bit about you, but I want our listeners to know a little bit about you before we get into your specific duties there.
I know, for example, you were a VJO, Veterans Justice Outreach Officer, which, again,
(03:28):
I can't say enough good things about the role they play in our Veterans Treatment Corps,
but tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to seeking a position as a director there.
So when I first started at VA, it was back in 2015, and I started on the prison reentry side of things, actually.
(03:50):
So I was providing reentry services to veterans coming out of about 32 prisons within Wisconsin and upper peninsula of Michigan.
And within that service, which I really enjoyed doing that, working with veterans who were coming out of prison
(04:10):
and also veterans who had already been released from prison, I also picked up at two different occasions,
picked up two different Veterans Treatment Corps.
And those treatment courts were different, obviously, in the way that they were run.
And I really liked the way that I was able to interact with the veterans, the way that the veterans really,
(04:40):
I could see the changes in the way that those veterans were able to move through the system and
and feel like they had supports when maybe they didn't have those supports before.
So when that happened and I had been in that position for almost seven years,
I decided that maybe it was time to move up into some into a position where I had a little bit more of an ability to make
(05:07):
and effect change at a higher level.
So that was one of the reasons why I moved into this position.
We'll have a VJO on one of our future programs and get a chance to share their story,
what they do in support of the veterans.
But it is one of the best stories, one of the greatest successes of the VA that I have seen in certainly my tenure.
(05:32):
Very data specific question here.
How many vet centers are there nationwide?
There are about 300 nationwide, but we also have mobile vet centers and those can travel within the catchments of each vet center.
And I believe there are about 93 of those nationwide.
(05:52):
And how does a vet center differ from a VA hospital or VA healthcare facility?
So there's a couple of differences.
One of the main differences is our approach and the services that we offer.
So the approach that we have basically, and I can only speak from the aspect of the Milwaukee Vet Center because that's the only place that I have worked.
(06:22):
But I would say that we're not bound by the same policies that the main hospitals and clinics are bound by.
So we are able to have different treatment approaches and approaches to the way that we go about our treatment.
So for example, one of the biggest differences is we do not diagnose.
(06:46):
We treat the symptoms.
And that's one of the things that if you went to a hospital or a clinic, they are going to give you a diagnosis.
Whereas here, we're going to look at the symptoms that you're presenting to us with and we're going to treat the symptoms that you come to us with.
Is the information that you gain from a vet at your vet center confidential information much like, you know, medical information being privileged information?
(07:14):
It is.
When someone wants to come in and see you, a veteran wants to come in and see you, are they able to?
Is that sign up list go anywhere so people know, for example, who's visiting that center?
Much like the VA hospitals, we are bound by HIPAA.
We are confidential.
We are a mental health service, our behavioral health service, but we are just our own little, I guess you could say, floating island.
(07:43):
And that we are not connected to the main VA hospitals besides the fact that we are a resource.
And they are a resource to us.
So that's an important point that I'm not sure I appreciated beforehand.
Is it is your is your focus behavioral health, mental health, or are there other medical services that are provided there?
(08:04):
It is just behavioral health and mental health here.
You mentioned, you know, my dad was a Vietnam veteran, served two tours in Vietnam Combat Infantry and integrated, you know, just fine back into a peacetime environment.
But of course, not all of his colleagues from Vietnam did so, not only all of his federal veterans.
(08:30):
So you mentioned that initially these were stood up to to aim their support at Vietnam veterans.
Are you still seeing Vietnam veterans?
And sort of a second part of that question is what percentage would you say are Vietnam veterans and what are, let's say, post 9 11 veterans?
Well, to answer your first question, we do still see Vietnam veterans and we do see a lot of those still, actually.
(08:57):
We have a lot of different eligibility, so because ever since the beginning of our creation, we have evolved with our eligibility.
And as far as the percentage of Vietnam to post 9 11 veterans from Milwaukee, that center, I would say we probably see more post 9 11 veterans currently.
(09:24):
How big is your staff?
Currently, we have seven staff members and we have one that's been processed and being hired.
So we will have eight when we are fully staffed.
And are they all trained therapists or clinicians or sort of what's their background?
So as I'm a veteran sitting and listening to this and thinking, OK, sounds like this might be something I want to do.
(09:46):
It's going to be, you know, confidential, the fact that I come there.
My records are going to be protected as as other medical information is protected.
But like, who am I seeing when I walk in the door?
Tell me, let's let's do this.
Let's tell me the process as I come through your door and then tell me that the type of one of your employees that I'm going to see.
Well, for Milwaukee Vet Center, the process is that we start with a referral and we have referral forms or the veteran can self refer themselves.
(10:16):
Veteran can walk right in our door and say that they want to be seen if they want and they can fill out our referral form or they can fill out our intake paperwork, whichever they prefer.
Once they get the referral form into us, if this is coming from a professional, then it comes to me and I do all the intakes for our center here.
(10:42):
Once I do the intakes, I tell the veterans and the intakes are usually about an hour depending on the veteran and how how much they want to talk.
Once I get through that process, I tell the veteran that it's going to be maybe a week or two, depending on holiday there and also the ability to staff with my staff members and assign.
(11:06):
But I also take into consideration their preferences. So if the veteran is saying that they are working for shift and they need an appointment that is after five,
I will put them with a staff member who's going to be here and has appointments that go until 6.30 and take that into consideration.
(11:28):
I do also have requests for if I have a veteran who has experienced military sexual trauma and they only want to talk to a female, we take that into consideration as well.
So I do have different requests. I even have some requests to only speak with a combat veteran. So we do entertain all those.
(11:51):
Do I get to my intake happen as soon as I come to the center? If I come today, am I going to be part of that intake process today or is there a lag time?
If you came today and my schedule was open, then we could get you in today.
But if you came today and maybe I was in with another veteran, our office manager would look at my schedule and she could get you into my schedule because she has full access to my schedule.
(12:23):
And so once I get through the intake and you'd mentioned a week or two, which again, I think is extraordinarily fast given the demands for behavioral health counseling.
But in a week or two, I get an appointment and who am I going to see when I walk in? What sort of professional background do they have that I can expect?
(12:43):
So here we have, I'm a licensed clinical social worker. We have another licensed clinical social worker. We have a licensed professional counselor.
But certainly all the right professional background to address this particular need for the veteran.
(13:04):
Let me ask you a related question to that. If I come in and I've got other challenges, let's say I've got housing, I've got employment challenges.
Of course, in the arena we're talking about now, intersecting with law enforcement.
If I have those other needs, do you serve as a clearinghouse for those or how do you handle someone who's got those sort of co-occurring needs?
(13:28):
I'm glad you brought that up because we also have what we call a veteran outreach program specialist, also known as a BOPS.
And he is able to take on those requests.
So if we get someone who comes in and is going to be needing to follow this ability claim or someone who wants to do budgeting or get their resume worked out, we can send them over to him and he can help them with that.
(13:58):
And if he can't help them, then he will get them connected to the resource that can help them with that.
That's a great to hear because as you know, one of the challenges is someone coming in with an immediate need and being told, well, if you go to this website and click on these 40 links, then you'll get referred to another website that lets you click on more links.
(14:22):
And you can see the frustration.
But the warm handoff, the human interaction here, I applaud you for that because it's critical to getting everybody a sense that, OK, this organization cares that I get headed in the right direction.
I hope you have time for me to ask you three more things here.
Let's start with your last show up at all with the local VSOs, the big six and other organizations in your community.
(14:50):
Are you connected with them?
Do they know about you?
So we are connected with all of the county veteran service officers here.
Our catchment area contains nine counties, so we are connected to all of those counties.
(15:11):
And the VOPs that I was talking about a few seconds ago, he maintains contact with them.
The other thing is that we have what we call CAPS or Community Access Points.
And those are usually in each of those offices where our counselors, when we have, because we cover such a large area and some of our veterans cannot travel those distances because maybe they don't have a driver's license, maybe they don't have a vehicle.
(15:41):
We have our counselors who can go to those areas and who do go to those areas and will be in those in those CAPS for certain time periods.
Some of them are weekly, some of them are monthly.
It really depends on the amount of time, the amount of the population in that area.
(16:02):
So that way we can maintain the ability to reach out to our veterans and they don't have to travel the distance to us.
Which is really important, we just all assume that everybody's got a car and if not that then we can get public transportation.
But you and I both know there are some underserved remote areas, which leads me to, I want to be truthful to you, I told you I had three areas.
(16:25):
I already asked you one.
How do I hear about you and how do I especially hear about the mobile vet centers?
Where do I get that information?
For our mobile vet center, our VOP strives that mobile vet center is basically a big RV that on the site of it, it's wrapped and it says vet center and it's got our vet center call center number on it.
(16:49):
And so he goes to events and he has driven that vet center all over the place.
And basically it's out at those events and that's how we have some veterans come to us because they've never heard of us and that's how he gets those veterans to have awareness about us.
We do have community partners who haven't heard about us and then they see that big mobile vet center and it's very patriotic and they are like, can we get in on this?
(17:16):
And we are definitely willing to have more community partners, partner with anyone that we can partner with to get the word out there and to get our veterans.
Because sometimes we don't know where all of our veterans are and I know that there's areas where we need to do better at.
So that's just one of the ways that we get to do better.
(17:37):
Yeah, and I'm glad to hear you mentioned the community partners because in my view, veterans treatment courts, that there is simply no better example of the coming together of government, of community and of the courts.
And it's that community piece.
That's what got me hooked.
You know, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you, that's what got me hooked into the veterans treatment court discussions and work is going to the
(18:03):
veterans treatment court in Buffalo, just to see what it's all about.
And all of a sudden I see the community just there and they're volunteering their services and the local housing office, the local transportation.
And I know you see this time and again, so we've got to build that community support to provide those ancillary services that vets might need.
(18:24):
Because what we all want to do is not necessarily one stop shopping.
That might be a little unrealistic, but really close to that.
So pretty soon we're moving and removing barriers to that veterans success.
So if you let me ask you one more question, although I got to be honest, given what you do, I could go on forever, but I'm not sure our listeners or especially you have other things to do.
(18:48):
So let me let me ask you this last piece.
As we see in veteran treatment court, it's important that we reach the veteran, but also the veterans family members.
Does the vet center provide services to family members or if not services, at least support?
And what sort of support and services do you provide?
(19:11):
We do have couples counseling and we do have family counseling, but the veteran owns the chart.
So it's a little bit different than anywhere you've probably ever seen in that the chart will always be under the veterans name.
It does not matter what services being held and the veteran always has to walk through the door first.
(19:33):
The other thing is that so if it's for couples counseling, the counseling has to be related to the veterans readjustment.
So if the veteran and most of the time we see this with communication or readjusting back to a household that may have changed because maybe there has been the birth of a child or something since they have deployed and come back.
(19:56):
A lot of times that is the couples come in and we tend to that, but it has to be related to the readjustment piece.
We don't see a whole lot of family counseling, but we see more couples counseling is what I would say.
And then the other piece would be bereavement counseling.
We see or grief counseling.
(20:18):
We see a lot of that and I would say that's more for our Gold Star families.
Families who have lost a service member while still serving, whatever happened to the service member on active duty, the family is connected to us and we will serve them for bereavement counseling.
Usually that's done for maybe eight, 10 months, whatever amount of time they need to get through their grief.
(20:47):
And finally, and maybe that maybe I fibbed, maybe this is the fourth question, but bear with me.
How do I find if I have a vet center nearby?
Do I is it on the VA website or where can I go to figure out, okay, I'm at home, I'm listening to this podcast, Tate hasn't put me to sleep yet.
I like listening to Ms. Laura.
(21:09):
So how do I find if there's one nearby?
What do I do?
So you can go online and you can Google whatever your city is that name plus vet center or whatever the biggest city is near you that name plus vet center.
And you're probably going to find something and then you can call that up.
Otherwise, you can look up under the a dot gov and there is a search option under there that will has the option to look for a vet center.
(21:39):
And it will give you the radius from your location to that.
If I'll push a little bit here enough, if my dad were still alive and I told him just Google it, you'd say, I don't have one of those machines.
So I'm 75 years old and, you know, I've heard about these things, but I'm not me.
I don't know, although I might look 75, I'm not.
(22:00):
How else can I mean?
How else can I find that?
Because the VSO is, for example, if I go down to the to the American Legion, they've got to know how to get a hold of y'all.
Is that fair, fair comment?
That would be fair.
The other thing that would be fair to would be if you if somebody wanted to call up the local VA, the local VA should know where the closest vet center is.
(22:22):
Great.
Listen, we are pleased to have had you as part of our podcast episode today.
I thank you for first of all, letting me interrupt your day.
I thank you for the information you provided us.
And also, I'm glad we made the connection because one thing I have found about this space, this Veterans Treatment Court space is there's a lot of sharing people in here all aimed at making the circumstances in the life of our veterans better.
(22:50):
And so you and I have made that connection now.
I've never been to a vet center.
I guarantee you my next trip, I'll figure out how to do that.
And I also want to connect with the dude that's driving the bus because I can't think of a better way to get the word out than to take the service to those who need the service.
So on behalf of all of our listeners, on behalf of Justice for Vets and NADCP, we want to thank Laura Feltin, the director of the Milwaukee Vet Center for being with us today.
(23:18):
And Laura, as I do with all my guests, the final word is yours.
If you'd like to add anything to the end of this.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
It's been a pleasure to be on your podcast.
And I always have a pleasure talking about the veterans.
I just want to let you know too that some people are kind of on the fence about coming.
(23:39):
And I'll let you know that one of the biggest things about us is that we are about community.
And so part of our community starts with us and our our facilities.
They're small for a reason.
And we welcome everyone in sometimes we have veterans that just come here for the community piece.
They want a cup of coffee and they want to talk.
(24:00):
And so it's not just for like, you know, the I'm coming here for an appointment.
We do have the occasional veteran that comes here just for coffee and to talk.
And that is fine, too.
You never know what conversation is going to be opened by simply offering that cup of coffee.
So what a great way to end our this episode.
(24:22):
Laura, once again, thank you.
You you do the VA proud.
We appreciate it.
Vets Center's current motto includes the three C's,
(00:03):
Connection, Come, Rotary, and Community.
Those three C's focus on the power of building community and creating supports.
You're listening to the Justice for Vets podcast when thank you is not enough.
Hosted by retired Major General Butch Tate,
this podcast is made possible with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
(00:25):
Hi, this is Butch Tate, Chief Counsel for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals,
of which Justice for Vets is a division of our organization.
I'm pleased to welcome you to our podcast when thank you is not enough.
I hope you've tuned in earlier to get a sense of what we're all about.
(00:47):
What we're trying to do, of course, is talk about veteran trauma,
talk about how that trauma can sometimes lead a veteran down a path to intersecting with law enforcement,
may find that veteran in Veterans Treatment Court.
We'll talk a little bit about how those courts work,
but I think importantly we'll talk about the resources that are brought to bear as part of that court process
(01:13):
to help the veteran achieve his or her success, recovery, and start their next chapter of their life.
I am pleased today to welcome as our guest Ms. Laura Felton, who's the Director of the Milwaukee Vet Center.
Laura, let me welcome you to the program and thank you in advance for, first of all, your time,
(01:35):
but also your expertise in putting that expertise toward helping our veterans.
So welcome and thanks.
Thank you. Thank you.
Laura, as I mentioned, is the Director of the Milwaukee Vet Center.
But before I ask Laura what she does to support our veterans, either in the criminal justice system
or just in their desire to seek support and services,
(01:58):
I'd like you to take a moment, Laura, and tell us about the origin of the Vet Centers
and importantly their role within the VA infrastructure.
The Vet Centers were established in June of 1979 and we were established to support the significant number of
Vietnam-era veterans who were not accessing VA services at the same levels as Korean and World War II veterans.
(02:25):
So about four years later, or 1983-ish, Vet Centers became permanent within VA
and readjustment counseling was added as a new category of services for VA.
Vet Center's current motto includes the three C's, Connection, Comradering, and Community.
(02:45):
And those three C's focus on the power of building community and creating supports.
This is something that everyone needs to look at, those who are returning from deployment
or our servicemen and women who are serving with limited supports or in environments where they have experienced
(03:06):
events that people don't experience in civilian jobs.
Now, Laura, I know a little bit about you, but I want our listeners to know a little bit about you before we get into your specific duties there.
I know, for example, you were a VJO, Veterans Justice Outreach Officer, which, again,
(03:28):
I can't say enough good things about the role they play in our Veterans Treatment Corps,
but tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to seeking a position as a director there.
So when I first started at VA, it was back in 2015, and I started on the prison reentry side of things, actually.
(03:50):
So I was providing reentry services to veterans coming out of about 32 prisons within Wisconsin and upper peninsula of Michigan.
And within that service, which I really enjoyed doing that, working with veterans who were coming out of prison
(04:10):
and also veterans who had already been released from prison, I also picked up at two different occasions,
picked up two different Veterans Treatment Corps.
And those treatment courts were different, obviously, in the way that they were run.
And I really liked the way that I was able to interact with the veterans, the way that the veterans really,
(04:40):
I could see the changes in the way that those veterans were able to move through the system and
and feel like they had supports when maybe they didn't have those supports before.
So when that happened and I had been in that position for almost seven years,
I decided that maybe it was time to move up into some into a position where I had a little bit more of an ability to make
(05:07):
and effect change at a higher level.
So that was one of the reasons why I moved into this position.
We'll have a VJO on one of our future programs and get a chance to share their story,
what they do in support of the veterans.
But it is one of the best stories, one of the greatest successes of the VA that I have seen in certainly my tenure.
(05:32):
Very data specific question here.
How many vet centers are there nationwide?
There are about 300 nationwide, but we also have mobile vet centers and those can travel within the catchments of each vet center.
And I believe there are about 93 of those nationwide.
(05:52):
And how does a vet center differ from a VA hospital or VA healthcare facility?
So there's a couple of differences.
One of the main differences is our approach and the services that we offer.
So the approach that we have basically, and I can only speak from the aspect of the Milwaukee Vet Center because that's the only place that I have worked.
(06:22):
But I would say that we're not bound by the same policies that the main hospitals and clinics are bound by.
So we are able to have different treatment approaches and approaches to the way that we go about our treatment.
So for example, one of the biggest differences is we do not diagnose.
(06:46):
We treat the symptoms.
And that's one of the things that if you went to a hospital or a clinic, they are going to give you a diagnosis.
Whereas here, we're going to look at the symptoms that you're presenting to us with and we're going to treat the symptoms that you come to us with.
Is the information that you gain from a vet at your vet center confidential information much like, you know, medical information being privileged information?
(07:14):
It is.
When someone wants to come in and see you, a veteran wants to come in and see you, are they able to?
Is that sign up list go anywhere so people know, for example, who's visiting that center?
Much like the VA hospitals, we are bound by HIPAA.
We are confidential.
We are a mental health service, our behavioral health service, but we are just our own little, I guess you could say, floating island.
(07:43):
And that we are not connected to the main VA hospitals besides the fact that we are a resource.
And they are a resource to us.
So that's an important point that I'm not sure I appreciated beforehand.
Is it is your is your focus behavioral health, mental health, or are there other medical services that are provided there?
(08:04):
It is just behavioral health and mental health here.
You mentioned, you know, my dad was a Vietnam veteran, served two tours in Vietnam Combat Infantry and integrated, you know, just fine back into a peacetime environment.
But of course, not all of his colleagues from Vietnam did so, not only all of his federal veterans.
(08:30):
So you mentioned that initially these were stood up to to aim their support at Vietnam veterans.
Are you still seeing Vietnam veterans?
And sort of a second part of that question is what percentage would you say are Vietnam veterans and what are, let's say, post 9 11 veterans?
Well, to answer your first question, we do still see Vietnam veterans and we do see a lot of those still, actually.
(08:57):
We have a lot of different eligibility, so because ever since the beginning of our creation, we have evolved with our eligibility.
And as far as the percentage of Vietnam to post 9 11 veterans from Milwaukee, that center, I would say we probably see more post 9 11 veterans currently.
(09:24):
How big is your staff?
Currently, we have seven staff members and we have one that's been processed and being hired.
So we will have eight when we are fully staffed.
And are they all trained therapists or clinicians or sort of what's their background?
So as I'm a veteran sitting and listening to this and thinking, OK, sounds like this might be something I want to do.
(09:46):
It's going to be, you know, confidential, the fact that I come there.
My records are going to be protected as as other medical information is protected.
But like, who am I seeing when I walk in the door?
Tell me, let's let's do this.
Let's tell me the process as I come through your door and then tell me that the type of one of your employees that I'm going to see.
Well, for Milwaukee Vet Center, the process is that we start with a referral and we have referral forms or the veteran can self refer themselves.
(10:16):
Veteran can walk right in our door and say that they want to be seen if they want and they can fill out our referral form or they can fill out our intake paperwork, whichever they prefer.
Once they get the referral form into us, if this is coming from a professional, then it comes to me and I do all the intakes for our center here.
(10:42):
Once I do the intakes, I tell the veterans and the intakes are usually about an hour depending on the veteran and how how much they want to talk.
Once I get through that process, I tell the veteran that it's going to be maybe a week or two, depending on holiday there and also the ability to staff with my staff members and assign.
(11:06):
But I also take into consideration their preferences. So if the veteran is saying that they are working for shift and they need an appointment that is after five,
I will put them with a staff member who's going to be here and has appointments that go until 6.30 and take that into consideration.
(11:28):
I do also have requests for if I have a veteran who has experienced military sexual trauma and they only want to talk to a female, we take that into consideration as well.
So I do have different requests. I even have some requests to only speak with a combat veteran. So we do entertain all those.
(11:51):
Do I get to my intake happen as soon as I come to the center? If I come today, am I going to be part of that intake process today or is there a lag time?
If you came today and my schedule was open, then we could get you in today.
But if you came today and maybe I was in with another veteran, our office manager would look at my schedule and she could get you into my schedule because she has full access to my schedule.
(12:23):
And so once I get through the intake and you'd mentioned a week or two, which again, I think is extraordinarily fast given the demands for behavioral health counseling.
But in a week or two, I get an appointment and who am I going to see when I walk in? What sort of professional background do they have that I can expect?
(12:43):
So here we have, I'm a licensed clinical social worker. We have another licensed clinical social worker. We have a licensed professional counselor.
But certainly all the right professional background to address this particular need for the veteran.
(13:04):
Let me ask you a related question to that. If I come in and I've got other challenges, let's say I've got housing, I've got employment challenges.
Of course, in the arena we're talking about now, intersecting with law enforcement.
If I have those other needs, do you serve as a clearinghouse for those or how do you handle someone who's got those sort of co-occurring needs?
(13:28):
I'm glad you brought that up because we also have what we call a veteran outreach program specialist, also known as a BOPS.
And he is able to take on those requests.
So if we get someone who comes in and is going to be needing to follow this ability claim or someone who wants to do budgeting or get their resume worked out, we can send them over to him and he can help them with that.
(13:58):
And if he can't help them, then he will get them connected to the resource that can help them with that.
That's a great to hear because as you know, one of the challenges is someone coming in with an immediate need and being told, well, if you go to this website and click on these 40 links, then you'll get referred to another website that lets you click on more links.
(14:22):
And you can see the frustration.
But the warm handoff, the human interaction here, I applaud you for that because it's critical to getting everybody a sense that, OK, this organization cares that I get headed in the right direction.
I hope you have time for me to ask you three more things here.
Let's start with your last show up at all with the local VSOs, the big six and other organizations in your community.
(14:50):
Are you connected with them?
Do they know about you?
So we are connected with all of the county veteran service officers here.
Our catchment area contains nine counties, so we are connected to all of those counties.
(15:11):
And the VOPs that I was talking about a few seconds ago, he maintains contact with them.
The other thing is that we have what we call CAPS or Community Access Points.
And those are usually in each of those offices where our counselors, when we have, because we cover such a large area and some of our veterans cannot travel those distances because maybe they don't have a driver's license, maybe they don't have a vehicle.
(15:41):
We have our counselors who can go to those areas and who do go to those areas and will be in those in those CAPS for certain time periods.
Some of them are weekly, some of them are monthly.
It really depends on the amount of time, the amount of the population in that area.
(16:02):
So that way we can maintain the ability to reach out to our veterans and they don't have to travel the distance to us.
Which is really important, we just all assume that everybody's got a car and if not that then we can get public transportation.
But you and I both know there are some underserved remote areas, which leads me to, I want to be truthful to you, I told you I had three areas.
(16:25):
I already asked you one.
How do I hear about you and how do I especially hear about the mobile vet centers?
Where do I get that information?
For our mobile vet center, our VOP strives that mobile vet center is basically a big RV that on the site of it, it's wrapped and it says vet center and it's got our vet center call center number on it.
(16:49):
And so he goes to events and he has driven that vet center all over the place.
And basically it's out at those events and that's how we have some veterans come to us because they've never heard of us and that's how he gets those veterans to have awareness about us.
We do have community partners who haven't heard about us and then they see that big mobile vet center and it's very patriotic and they are like, can we get in on this?
(17:16):
And we are definitely willing to have more community partners, partner with anyone that we can partner with to get the word out there and to get our veterans.
Because sometimes we don't know where all of our veterans are and I know that there's areas where we need to do better at.
So that's just one of the ways that we get to do better.
(17:37):
Yeah, and I'm glad to hear you mentioned the community partners because in my view, veterans treatment courts, that there is simply no better example of the coming together of government, of community and of the courts.
And it's that community piece.
That's what got me hooked.
You know, you didn't ask, but I'm going to tell you, that's what got me hooked into the veterans treatment court discussions and work is going to the
(18:03):
veterans treatment court in Buffalo, just to see what it's all about.
And all of a sudden I see the community just there and they're volunteering their services and the local housing office, the local transportation.
And I know you see this time and again, so we've got to build that community support to provide those ancillary services that vets might need.
(18:24):
Because what we all want to do is not necessarily one stop shopping.
That might be a little unrealistic, but really close to that.
So pretty soon we're moving and removing barriers to that veterans success.
So if you let me ask you one more question, although I got to be honest, given what you do, I could go on forever, but I'm not sure our listeners or especially you have other things to do.
(18:48):
So let me let me ask you this last piece.
As we see in veteran treatment court, it's important that we reach the veteran, but also the veterans family members.
Does the vet center provide services to family members or if not services, at least support?
And what sort of support and services do you provide?
(19:11):
We do have couples counseling and we do have family counseling, but the veteran owns the chart.
So it's a little bit different than anywhere you've probably ever seen in that the chart will always be under the veterans name.
It does not matter what services being held and the veteran always has to walk through the door first.
(19:33):
The other thing is that so if it's for couples counseling, the counseling has to be related to the veterans readjustment.
So if the veteran and most of the time we see this with communication or readjusting back to a household that may have changed because maybe there has been the birth of a child or something since they have deployed and come back.
(19:56):
A lot of times that is the couples come in and we tend to that, but it has to be related to the readjustment piece.
We don't see a whole lot of family counseling, but we see more couples counseling is what I would say.
And then the other piece would be bereavement counseling.
We see or grief counseling.
(20:18):
We see a lot of that and I would say that's more for our Gold Star families.
Families who have lost a service member while still serving, whatever happened to the service member on active duty, the family is connected to us and we will serve them for bereavement counseling.
Usually that's done for maybe eight, 10 months, whatever amount of time they need to get through their grief.
(20:47):
And finally, and maybe that maybe I fibbed, maybe this is the fourth question, but bear with me.
How do I find if I have a vet center nearby?
Do I is it on the VA website or where can I go to figure out, okay, I'm at home, I'm listening to this podcast, Tate hasn't put me to sleep yet.
I like listening to Ms. Laura.
(21:09):
So how do I find if there's one nearby?
What do I do?
So you can go online and you can Google whatever your city is that name plus vet center or whatever the biggest city is near you that name plus vet center.
And you're probably going to find something and then you can call that up.
Otherwise, you can look up under the a dot gov and there is a search option under there that will has the option to look for a vet center.
(21:39):
And it will give you the radius from your location to that.
If I'll push a little bit here enough, if my dad were still alive and I told him just Google it, you'd say, I don't have one of those machines.
So I'm 75 years old and, you know, I've heard about these things, but I'm not me.
I don't know, although I might look 75, I'm not.
(22:00):
How else can I mean?
How else can I find that?
Because the VSO is, for example, if I go down to the to the American Legion, they've got to know how to get a hold of y'all.
Is that fair, fair comment?
That would be fair.
The other thing that would be fair to would be if you if somebody wanted to call up the local VA, the local VA should know where the closest vet center is.
(22:22):
Great.
Listen, we are pleased to have had you as part of our podcast episode today.
I thank you for first of all, letting me interrupt your day.
I thank you for the information you provided us.
And also, I'm glad we made the connection because one thing I have found about this space, this Veterans Treatment Court space is there's a lot of sharing people in here all aimed at making the circumstances in the life of our veterans better.
(22:50):
And so you and I have made that connection now.
I've never been to a vet center.
I guarantee you my next trip, I'll figure out how to do that.
And I also want to connect with the dude that's driving the bus because I can't think of a better way to get the word out than to take the service to those who need the service.
So on behalf of all of our listeners, on behalf of Justice for Vets and NADCP, we want to thank Laura Feltin, the director of the Milwaukee Vet Center for being with us today.
(23:18):
And Laura, as I do with all my guests, the final word is yours.
If you'd like to add anything to the end of this.
Well, thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
It's been a pleasure to be on your podcast.
And I always have a pleasure talking about the veterans.
I just want to let you know too that some people are kind of on the fence about coming.
(23:39):
And I'll let you know that one of the biggest things about us is that we are about community.
And so part of our community starts with us and our our facilities.
They're small for a reason.
And we welcome everyone in sometimes we have veterans that just come here for the community piece.
They want a cup of coffee and they want to talk.
(24:00):
And so it's not just for like, you know, the I'm coming here for an appointment.
We do have the occasional veteran that comes here just for coffee and to talk.
And that is fine, too.
You never know what conversation is going to be opened by simply offering that cup of coffee.
So what a great way to end our this episode.
(24:22):
Laura, once again, thank you.
You you do the VA proud.
We appreciate it.
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