Utah’s 4th District Veterans Treatment Court provides second chance to overcome obstacles
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- Randy Edwards speaks at the Veterans Treatment Court graduation Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Provo District Courthouse.
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- Gary Harter, executive director of Utah’s Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, speaks at the Veterans Treatment Court graduation as Judge Kraig Powell looks on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, at the Provo District Courthouse.
After his 11 ½ years of Army service, R.J. Thomas said he felt he had to figure out everything on his own.
Battling his own mental health and substance abuse issues led to time in and out of rehab and mental health hospitals.
In 2023, he ran into legal trouble.
But through Veterans Treatment Court, he believes he was able to change his habits and, subsequently, his life’s trajectory.
“For me personally, it was hard to accept that I couldn’t fix my own issues,” Thomas said. “In the military, I was in the infantry, and if you have a problem, then you’re trained to know the answer; you know the solution. So you have to fix everything. (But) a lot of my problems, from deployments to our mental health and substance abuse side, were out of my control.
“It’s hard to fight that urge to have control and fix everything (on your own). But groups like this, if you give them a shot, it will still be very much you doing the work, but it will really change your mind to see how much support is at the VA.”
Thomas was one of three people who graduated Tuesday from the Utah 4th District Veterans Treatment Court, a program that offers ex-military members facing legal troubles an opportunity to overcome their challenges through therapy, mentorship and accountability.
In front of mentors and family at the Provo District Courthouse on Tuesday, Thomas, David Flores and Phillip Bernier each received either a reduction or dismissal of charges from Judge Kraig Powell, and now go forward with new beginnings.
“The people who are being recognized today for graduation, all three of them exemplify and show what the success of this program can do,” Powell said.
At the ceremony, Gary Harter, executive director of Utah’s Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, applauded the work the veterans courts do in Provo and Salt Lake City and thanked the graduates for doing “the hard thing.”
The five-stage program involves varying levels of intensity and requires visits to the court, check-ins with mentors and comprehensive therapy.
It can be time consuming and challenging but serves as a way to unravel unhealthy habits.
“I could have done my 10 days jail time and had the probation and been done,” Thomas said. “Or I could have taken this route, which is more work but that came with more support, and I made the right decision in doing that.”
The program also was beneficial Flores, who said he had his own addiction problems that set him back following Army service that took him from South Korea to El Paso, Texas.
Through one-on-one sit downs with therapists, Flores said he found a safe space to talk about his issues, instead of holding back and “dealing with the consequences later.”
“Really grateful for them because they really helped me flip my life around and just gave me that second chance,” he said. “Before any of this, I was pretty much going nowhere. … Now, I’m in college — I got invited to join the honors program.”
Bernier, who served in the Marine Corps, said he realized while sitting in jail that he was the problem, and when he was accepted into veterans court, he took it as a chance to change his own life.
He started the program at an inpatient level, then went from day treatment to night treatment before going to the weekly program. Through 18 months in the program, he said he was able to overcome addiction and behavioral issues.
“It was the biggest second chance I’ve ever had in my life,” Bernier said. “Just the amount of help that is around, that it’s always been there too, just the support. I wouldn’t be here today without everything.”
