Catawba County is the fifth Veterans Treatment Court (VTC) established in the State of North Carolina.

The Catawba County VTC was initiated in March 2019 and entered the first participants June 2021. The program provides a means to divert eligible veteran participants from the traditional criminal justice system and provide them support and rehabilitation through comprehensive substance abuse and/or mental health treatment, education, vocational programs, and community resource referrals for housing, childcare, and transportation, all while being judicially monitored.

Catawba County Veterans Treatment Court is voluntary for any qualifying veteran who has served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force, Reserves or National Guard. This voluntary, court-supervised intensive treatment court is aimed at helping any veteran with misdemeanor and or felony offenses who are struggling with addiction, mental illness and or co-occurring disorders.

At each part of the five phase program, individuals learn not only about themselves but how to better enjoy their community and learn to be productive and active in the community they once took away from. Each veteran participant is paired with a mentor. This is another veteran who is active in the community and who is familiar with the military culture. This mentor can be an encourager and a listening ear.

Transitioning out of the military is not an easy step. All choices we have made in our lives reflect where we are today. We as humans cannot change our past, but we can change our path forward.

This is exactly what participants of Catawba County Veterans Treatment Court are actively trying to do.

First veterans graduate from Veterans’ Treatment Court