New state program reaches out to combat veterans who need help

A new program created by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services to prevent the overwhelming number of soldiers returning from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan from falling through the cracks is finding its feet here in Central Virginia.

The Wounded Warrior program was created by the General Assembly in 2008 to help Virginia’s combat veterans not currently in federal service and their families, either by direct service or by referring them to another agency. Louis Alvey, a sergeant in the Virginia National Guard who has been hired by the program to work with local veterans, said he believes the needs here could run deep.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs statistics show that just fewer than half of the 480,324 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who come to them for help from 2002 through the third quarter of 2009 have at least a provisional diagnosis of a mental health disorder; 53 percent of those are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Research has shown that guardsmen and reservists are even more likely to have combat-related problems, Alvey said, especially those who have been deployed more than once.

“And that is our veteran population here,” he said.

Dr. Dell Short, the chief of mental heath service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, said one of the greatest challenges for therapists is in getting veterans to accept help.

“There is a reluctance and there is a stigmatization of psychiatric illness,” Short said. “They’re 20 years old. They don’t want to see a psychiatrist. They think they can handle it.”

Short said older guardsmen and reservists may experience more trauma because they have to leave entirely separate lives behind when deployed, including their families.

Alvey said veteran guardsmen and reservists can have more trouble adjusting, too, because they don’t have an obvious support network of other soldiers after they return home.

“I remember after my second deployment, I wished there was a way to get in touch with other National Guard guys in the area,” he said. “My unit is in Richmond and it was hard to get in touch with them.”

The Wounded Warrior Program is part of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, but services are provided in cooperation with local community services boards, said Camilla Schwoebel, the regional coordinator for the district that includes Central Virginia.

That district has funding for general counseling services, Schwoebel said, and to aid in the treatment of traumatic brain injuries, which she called the “signature injury of this conflict.” There also is a smaller pocket of money for help with medication and transportation problems.

The real work is done by peer specialists like Alvey, she said, combat veterans charged with going out into the communities to find those in need. Who better than a 27-year-old, six-year veteran with two combat deployments under his belt?

So far, he said, most of his work has been on college campuses in helping veterans with their education benefits.

He’s also done some work with community partners in helping families behind on rent or bills when a guardsman or reservist is called to active duty.

He knows that there are Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in need of help who aren’t seeking it — and once they find assistance, are reluctant to stick with it.

He has organized two networking groups — one for families and another for veterans — that he hopes will help to fill that gap. These aren’t group-therapy sessions, he said. They are intended to be casual meetings for like-minded people to hang out, network and help each other.

He said he hopes more publicity about the groups will help him standardize meeting times and places.

Alvey said he is willing to meet with veterans and their families individually as well.