An upcoming seminar in Huntsville will address the effectiveness of veterans treatment courts and the overall behavioral health of veterans.

“Veterans Treatment Courts: No Veteran Left Behind” is a daylong conference set for Friday, Feb. 9, in the Charger Union Theater on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The event is being sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, University of Alabama School of Social Work and UAH’s Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.

The goal of veterans treatment courts is to provide veterans the tools needed to ensure success. Veterans can have problems readjusting to civilian life after long deployments. It may also take longer for them to recover from physical or emotional injuries, like post-traumatic stress syndrome.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 7–8 percent of the U.S. population will have PTSD at some point in their lives. The number for veterans is much higher, however. For example:

• Between 11–20 percent of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom have PTSD in a given year;

• About 12 percent of Gulf War veterans have PTSD in a given year; and

• About 15 percent of Vietnam veterans were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s, the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS). It is estimated that about 30 percent of Vietnam veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.

According to the group Justice for Vets, one in six veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom suffer from a substance use issue. Research continues to draw a link between substance use and combat-related mental illnesses like PTSD.

What are veterans treatment courts?

Judge Robert Russell of Buffalo, New York, who is credited with starting the first veterans treatment court in the nation, will provide the morning keynote address.

“The VTC is something every judicial circuit should have,” United States Attorney Jay E. Town said. “It gives our veterans not just a holistic system to get their honor back but vests them with the truth that they never lost it in the first place.”

According to Justice for Vets, the veterans treatment court model requires regular court appearances, as well as mandatory attendance at treatment sessions and frequent and random testing for drug and alcohol use. The group says veterans respond favorably to the structured environment, but a few will struggle. Those are the veterans who need a veterans treatment court program the most, the group says.

“Without this structure, these veterans will reoffend and remain in the criminal justice system,” according to Justice for Vets. “The veterans treatment court is able to ensure they meet their obligations to themselves, the court and their community.”

Expert opinions

Dr. Eric Seemann, a counseling psychologist, U.S. Navy veteran and a member of the Alabama Army National Guard, will present the afternoon keynote address. Seemann’s areas of specialization as a licensed psychologist include forensic psychology, assessment, military psychology, crisis intervention, risk assessment, pain psychology and dangerous populations.

Retired Lt. Gen. Jim Pillsbury will also be a guest speaker during the afternoon. Pillsbury, who has 38 years of military experience and retired as commander of Redstone Arsenal and the Aviation and Missile Command, has previously spoken at veterans events in Athens.

The conference is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. To register, click here or email Phillip.howard@usdoj.gov. Six APOST hours have been approved for law enforcement officers. Continuing Education Units of 5.8 hours of have been approved for attorneys. CEUs for social workers are pending.