Butte County Veterans Treatment Court

The Butte County Probation Department proposes to enhance our current Veterans Treatment Court (VTC). The purpose is to provide expanded services and opportunities for veterans within our community. Project activities include residential treatment, substance abuse treatment, intensive outpatient, and education/employment support. Expected outcomes include affording 30 unique participants the ability to enter the VTC program and obtain services.

            Butte County Veterans Treatment Court (BCVTC) requests a total federal grant amount of $950,000.00 for the duration of the four-year grant period to be utilized for enhancement of the existing Veterans Treatment Court pursuant to Category 2, Type A.

            BCVTC is a post-conviction program for non-violent participants with high risk and high criminogenic need assessments who suffer from substance use and/or mental health disorders. BCVTC is a minimum of twelve to eighteen months in length and consists of five phases of two to four months each. The average participant completes the program in 21 months. Potential participants are referred to BCVTC prior to sentencing.

            Participants in BCVTC must be adult residents of the State of California who have served or are currently serving in the United States military. Participants must have military-related sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, and mental health and/or substance use disorders; however, they are not required to be eligible for services through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Participants cannot have serious or violent convictions and must not present a significant danger to public safety. Participants must be willing to comply with BCVTC program requirements. 

            BCVTC advocates for a continuum of care for substance abuse treatment, including Medication Assisted Therapy, residential treatment, intensive outpatient, outpatient, case management, and recovery support services. Participants receive the appropriate dosage, length, and level of care of substance abuse treatment, based upon an ongoing assessment by treatment providers, to achieve long-term sobriety and recovery from addiction. Participants are referred to treatment providers for a formal assessment (using tools such as the Addiction Severity Index), and treatment is managed collaboratively by the Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist, the Probation Officer, and treatment providers.

            Veterans will receive trauma-informed care through the Department of Veterans Affairs in the form of harm reduction services, relapse prevention services, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Written Exposure Therapy, and Exposure Therapy. Veterans will also be provided Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) and MRT Veterans/Trauma programs through the department as well as the VA determined to be appropriate by validated assessments.