Stearns County Looking for Volunteer Veterans for Treatment Court

ST. CLOUD -- Stearn's County's Veterans Treatment Court is looking for help. The program is in need of more veterans from the area who would like to serve as a volunteer mentor.

Stearns County Veteran Service Officer Cory Vaske says the program began about five years ago here in the Seventh Judicial District.

There are veterans that come back from service, they experience sometimes mental health issues, and sometimes chemical dependency issues related to that.  A treatment process is more beneficial to address those issues as opposed to the traditional court system.

The team includes judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, mental health professionals, probation agents, law enforcement, the VA, and others.

Everyone who goes through the program has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced.

They have about 19 participants in the program right now and only three volunteer mentors. Their goal is to have one volunteer for every participant. The commitment is about a half-hour to an hour each week.

For more information contact Caroline Field at (320) 470-0858.