Giving back to those giving so much

To help returning veterans with the sometimes tumultuous transition to civilian life, the Board of Supervisors at its Tuesday meeting will consider a proposal to create four new positions to advise veterans on matters of mental health, substance abuse, homelessness and legal and family issues.

The advisors would join a new Veteran Systems Navigator program, designed to assist those returning from “combat to community,” including vets straining to reintegrate. With the influx of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, there is an increasing need for mental health care, according to county officials.

The new advisors, who will be funded with California Proposition 63 (Mental Health Services Act of 2004), will help these veterans navigate the Veterans Administration as well as services offered by the county, said Joseph N. Smith, director of the County’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Smith, a retired Marine colonel, said “there are more needs than the VA can handle.”

Together with an existing staffer, the hires would allow the department to place one veterans specialist in each of the five supervisorial districts. The four staffers would be transferred from the county’s Department of Mental Health.