Treatment court supports veterans’ recovery in Montana

Butte, Montana – The Veterans Treatment Court is held there, therefore a courtroom in Butte is essentially identical to any other courtroom with that important distinction.

Having specialist treatment is beneficial when veterans run across problems and require assistance improving their lives.

“It goes through what we have been through, and our counselors gear our counseling to the issues that we had and so I completed a PTSD program through this program,” said recent veterans court graduate and Helena resident Bob Shearer.

Two veterans who successfully finished the almost two-year-long program that permits soldiers convicted of crimes to escape prison time if they receive addiction treatment and counseling were recently acknowledged by the court.

“Today they’re going out into the world employed, they’re going out in the world with their driver’s licenses, they’re going out into the world knowing they have to tools to succeed,” said Butte County Attorney Mike Clague.

A veteran of the war who was wounded in Iraq and a program graduate is David Coleman. He later developed into a mentor at the drug court, assisting veterans who, like him, ended up with legal problems. He is willing to assist because he is aware of how difficult the program is.

“There are days when you want to quit, you just want to go down to the bar and drink yourself stupid and say, ‘you know what, I’d rather do the jail time.’ But then you understand you’re gaining so much more by giving up your habit, you gain your family back, you gain a lot of that trust back, you heal,” said Coleman.

Since it began in 2021, the veteran’s treatment court has produced seven graduates.

“Anybody that goes through the treatment court has amazing courage and that’s what it takes: courage. The military asks you to have courage and we ask you to have courage and trust in the process and you did that,” said Clague.