Carbon County will soon begin a new specialty court that aims to help veterans moving through the criminal justice system get the help they need.

The new veterans treatment court is set to begin at 9 a.m. Jan. 18 in front of Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph J. Matika.The program will be the 20th veterans court in the state and aims at helping veterans who meet the program's requirements and are in trouble with the law with issues such as mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction and get them the treatment they need to stay out of the criminal justice system.To help with the success of this new court, Henry Desrosiers, Carbon County Veterans Affairs director and the veterans court mentor coordinator, needs a few good men and women to act as mentors to the veterans in this program.Mentors must be veterans, preferably having served in combat but not required, who are willing to assist the person by appearing at court appearances with them, spending some time outside the courts and being available to talk or visit the veteran when needed.Desrosiers said there is no age or gender limitations for mentors because addiction, mental health issues and other problems do not have age restrictions."It's going to be pretty minimal in regards to a person's time on a monthly basis," he said. "It's basically guiding them in their time of need, like an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. Occasionally, you might get phone calls in the middle of the night but the idea is to build a friendship with them to help them through their problems and relate to them."He explained that many of the veterans who will move through the veterans court have problems relating to drugs and alcohol, as well as underlying problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury from their time in combat.Desrosiers hopes to get a variety of mentors in both age and gender to try and keep the veterans paired with mentors who are similar in age and gender."It's going to be a veteran helping a fellow veteran," Desrosiers said. "The consequences of being involved in combat affects people in many ways ... so working with a fellow veteran, either an older veteran or a peer in your age group, it gives them a sense that they are back in the service where structure and obeying orders and directives and regulations come into play again to get them back into society."It is a brotherhood and sisterhood that we all share and this is our intent to get that instilled in them and get them back into society without a stigma."Anyone who would like to become a mentor will go through training prior to being paired with someone in the program.For complete details on what the volunteer position entails, visit

www.carboncounty.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/65-veterans-affairs and click on "Veterans Court Mentor Program."To apply to become a mentor, visit the aforementioned website to print a copy of the application, also found under the "Veterans Court Mentor Program" link; call Desrosiers between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 570-325-3986; or email

henrydesrosiers@carboncounty.net.