Veterans Treatment Court Resources

Judge Robert Russell, presiding judge of the Buffalo Drug Court and Buffalo Mental Health Court, created the Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court in response to growing number of veterans’ appearing on his dockets and other city treatment court dockets.

 

This phenomenon has not been unique to Buffalo. Immediately following the launch of the Buffalo Veterans’ Treatment Court, Judge Russell and his team were inundated by requests from other treatment court professionals who were experiencing similar increases in cases involving veterans.

 

The Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court has adopted, with slight modifications, the essential tenants of the Ten Key Components as described in the U.S. Department of Justice Publication entitled Defining Drug Courts: the Key Components, in combination with the ten essential elements of Mental Health Courts.

 

Download the Buffalo Veterans Treatment Court Policy and Procedure manual for information on Buffalo's court history, planning, implementation and the ten key components.

 

The Treatment Court Team, volunteer veteran mentors, and a coalition of community health care providers are all vital to the success of the Buffalo Veterans' Treatment Court.

 

Volunteer Veteran Mentors

Often, veterans are more comfortable interacting with other veterans with similar military experiences. One unique component to the Buffalo Veterans' Treatment Court is emerging as a vital tool for Veterans Treatment Courts around the country: volunteer veteran mentors. Operating under the slogan, "leave no veteran behind," the Buffalo volunteer mentors maintain a very unique role in the courtroom, working directly with Veterans Treatment Court participants in a facilitator, advisor, sponsor and supporter role. Mentors meet with participants at every court session and are often in contact between sessions. The mentor program is run by a mentor coordinator and participants come from all branches of the military. Many mentors have been drawn from a number of veterans' service organizations and governmental organizations.

 

Download the Buffalo Volunteer Veteran Mentor handbook.

 

 

A Community-Based Approach

Last year, The Center for Mental Health Services' National GAINS Center developed recommendations for a community-based approach to meet the mental health needs of combat veterans who come in contact with the criminal justice system.

These recommendations offer guidance fot engaging justice-involved veterans in services, whether the services are community-based or through the VA health care system.

 

Download these recomendations here.