POUGHKEEPSIE – State Senator Sue Serino (R, Hyde Park) and Assemblywoman Didi Barrett (D, Hudson), chairwoman of the Assembly’s Veterans Affairs Committee stood together on Wednesday to urge Governor Hochul to fully fund the Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Program, known as Vet2Vet, in the next state budget.
Each year, according to Serino, veterans from across the state make the trek to Albany to fight for funds for the program, which uses a unique peer-to-peer model to offer non-clinical support and assistance for veterans who may be struggling with PTSD, TBI, or other mental health challenges.
Despite the program’s noted success across the state, year after year, funding has been left out of the former governor’s annual executive budget proposals leaving it to the legislature to negotiate for funding to keep the programs going.
Barrett said there is a push to have the Division of Veterans Affairs elevated to a cabinet-level agency with a commissioner and robust budget.
“So that programs like this Dwyer funding don’t have to be segued through the Office of Mental Health, which we really appreciate that partnership, but veterans should have one stop where they know they can address mental health needs, housing needs, healthcare needs, education needs, and not have to go to five or six different agencies in the State of New York in order to get their services,” she said.
Army veteran Michelle Noone credits the Vet2Vet program with saving her life. “If it wasn’t for Vet2Vet, I wouldn’t be here today,” she said, crediting Adam Roche, former program manager at MHA Dutchess Vet2Vet and Angela Garcia of Vet2Vet. Roche now serves as the director for Veterans Services for Dutchess County. “Now I am able to help other veterans, in a place where I won’t be mocked for having PTSD or be ridiculed for not being able to pay my insurance bills,” Noone said, as she vowed to fight for state funding for the program she considers “invaluable.”
Anthony Kavouras, veterans program director of Mental Health America Dutchess said the “The Vet2Vet program has saved the lives of many since the program began. “We have had several instances where veterans who served this country faithfully, had fallen on hard times and were on the verge of suicide until they were sent to us. A program this vital really shouldn’t have to fight for funding year after year.”
Karl Rohde serves as director of the Putnam County Veterans Service Agency and echoed Kavouras. “The very nature of Dwyer Vet2Vet is that there is a universal understanding that veterans are at their best when with other Veterans. It is absolutely critical that this program be fully funded next year.”
Gavin Walters, director of Ulster Vet2Vet, said, “During a national pandemic, New York added Sullivan and Ulster County under the Dwyer Program.” He noted that one of the first clients of the Ulster Vet2Vet program was to transition a veteran facing eviction into a new homeowner, through a collaboration of several agencies. “If the program is taken away or the programs have to fight for funding, this affects how we can help each military veteran and their family.”
Currently, 30 counties and New York City are home to a Joseph P. Dwyer Veterans Peer Support Program, named in honor of an army veteran who lost his life to PTSD.
In the most recent budget, the programs were allocated a total of $5 million, which represents 0.002 percent of the state’s overall budget, with Dutchess and Putnam counties each receiving $185,000.
Local veterans should know that no referral is needed to utilize services offered by area Vet2Vet programs. Veterans and their loved ones looking for more information on the Vet2Vet program in Dutchess County can click here and those looking for information on available programs in Putnam County can click here. Ulster County vets can click here.
