VA reaches out to courts to help veterans with PTSD

VA reaches out to courts to help veterans with PTSD
APPEALING TO COURTS: Veterans who are jailed may have unresolved combat trauma, and agency can help
By DANIEL WOOLFOLK
TIMES STAFF WRITER
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011


FORT DRUM — The Department of Veterans Affairs is reaching out to local courts to help veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kynna L. Murphy, veterans justice outreach coordinator for the VA, works with veterans in Northern and Central New York who are in jail and screens them to see if they have issues related to combat trauma that aren’t being addressed properly. If the veteran does, she coordinates a treatment plan and works with judges and lawyers to accept behavioral health treatment as an alternative to jail time if it fits the situation.

“Folks are coming back from overseas having PTSD and are not having treatment for it,” she said. “They are having maladapted behavior having to do with it.”
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