The VetsConnection Podcast

Ep. 26 - Transforming Veteran Care: Dr. Rich Peate's Mission at West Palm Beach VA

• Scott McLean • Episode 26

Share episode

Send us a text

Can a dedicated recovery coordinator transform the lives of veterans? Join us as we explore the inspiring journey of Dr. Thomas Peet, affectionately known as Dr. Rich Peate, whose move from Connecticut to Florida brought him to the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. Learn about his academic background from New York University and Nova Southeastern University, and hear firsthand about his passionate advocacy for veterans. Dr. Peate sheds light on his mission to break the stigma surrounding mental health and shares the impactful outreach events he organizes to connect veterans with the vital support they need.

We dive into the robust mental health services offered by the VA, especially focusing on veterans coping with PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Through the Traumatic Resolution Program, Dr. Peate explains therapies like written exposure, EMDR, and cognitive processing therapy, providing a detailed look at how these evidence-based methods offer hope and healing. You'll hear powerful personal stories that highlight the challenges and successes veterans encounter in their recovery journeys, underscoring the profound impact of sustained therapy and support.

Dr. Peate also discusses the significance of social connections and the role of community in enhancing veterans' quality of life. Discover the success stories from the VA's Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Program Center (PRRC) and the upcoming community outreach events, such as the Mental Health Summit, Service Dog Awareness event, and the Suicide Prevention and Homelessness Awareness event. These initiatives not only foster collaboration but also play a crucial role in combating isolation and fostering a supportive environment for veterans. Tune in to understand the full spectrum of resources, from therapeutic storytelling to social gatherings, and how they contribute to a holistic approach to veteran care.

Scott McLean:

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today is Dr Thomas Peet, clinical psychologist and recovery coordinator at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. How you doing, dr Peet? Hi, good, glad to be here. Did I miss any letters or any titles?

Dr. Rich Peate:

You know my name is Thomas Peet but I actually go by my middle name, which is Rich, and it's been a mistake. That's happened all my life, I'm used to it. So I usually just go by Dr Peet and I am the local recovery coordinator at the West Palm Beach VA.

Scott McLean:

There you go. Now that's a bad podcast host for not clearing that up before the podcast, so no problem. Okay, thank you, as long as you forgive me. Welcome to the studio kitchen.

Dr. Rich Peate:

It's nice, yeah, yeah Right. Pretty cool, yeah, comfortable. Yeah, I'm afraid of what I might say in such a relaxed environment.

Scott McLean:

Oh, there you go, setting it up for the listeners. So we've met more than a few times at outreach events and there have been times where I've tried to get over and say hey, but it's like I'm just gonna say it at these outreach events you're like a rock star. People want your attention. I've seen you get I'm not gonna say trapped, but I've seen people talking to you for and you, you like you know, and there's other people waiting behind them and they don't want to talk to you. So I just never got in that line because it's kind of a lot.

Scott McLean:

People want your attention, which is a great thing, which is a great thing. So I finally got a chance to nail you down for the podcast. I'm here and I do respect and appreciate your time, my friend. So tell us a little about yourself. Where'd you go to? Where are you from? Where'd you go to school?

Dr. Rich Peate:

I'm originally from connecticut uh all right, wait a minute.

Scott McLean:

Red sock side or yankee side yankees but I'm not too much into sports. But most people like yankees well, thanks for coming on the show.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, thanks for having me no, but I moved from there. When I was a kid, my parents moved down to Florida, coral Springs, and I went to high school down here on the west coast of Florida. Then I went up to college in Rhode Island and then I spent six or seven years in New York City where I went to New York University. Then I was broke and couldn't afford New York City anymore, so I decided I need to go back to school and that's what brought me back down to Florida and I went to Nova Southeastern and got my doctorate degree and then, after that, a few jobs and I ended up at the West Palm Beach VA. I've been there for, let's see, I'd say, 16 years now.

Scott McLean:

Oh, wow, okay, so you're a veteran at the VA, I'm not a veteran On the job. You're a veteran on the job, I'm a veteran. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I've been there a while, but it seems like yesterday that I was the new kid on the block. And years go by and now I'm the senior psychologist Beautiful.

Scott McLean:

Congrats, and that's a lot of hard work you put in, I'm sure. So what's an average day for Dr Pete?

Dr. Rich Peate:

My job is a little bit different and unique than the average psychologist. Most psychologists will come in, they'll have a caseload and they'll see patient after patient. They usually see about six people a day. They might run a group. My job is definitely flexible and unique. It's really about advocacy for veterans and it's about destigmatizing mental health. I definitely run groups. I see some individuals and I do a lot of outreach and I put on a lot of events that I try to attract veterans and I'm also a trainer for the staff to engage in recovery oriented methods at the VA, which means that you want to have recovery oriented care. You, you VA wants to uh have veterans come in and feel like that. The staff offers hope, change and uh has a treatment plan and everybody is working towards the same goal, um, so sometimes I do trainings for the other staff there.

Scott McLean:

Give me an example. Give me an example of that, what you just said.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Well, for example, the 3C inpatient unit at West Palm Beach is for people in crisis, usually, or detox, and we want veterans to go there and when they go there we want them to have a feeling of a welcome feeling, a feeling of healing.

Dr. Rich Peate:

And we often have to keep track and make changes because too often it becomes sort of we don't want to make it institutionalized, where they feel like they're being housed or it's a jail, it's very difficult to sort of. We don't want to make it institutionalized where they feel like they're being housed or it's a jail, it's, it's, you know, it's. It's very difficult to sort of give people that experience where they know that they're being helped by, by others in a healing environment. So we I I make sure that there's programming involved. We have at least six groups a day that are varied holistically from recreation therapy, clinical treatment groups, medication management, spirituality, art therapy, and we offer these throughout the day, every day, these throughout the day, every day, uh, and in addition, you know, we want to make sure that the staff um are friendly and basically uh are there to assist the veterans. So that would be something I one, one aspect of my job that I'm involved in.

Scott McLean:

You mentioned outreach. Uh, how many outreach events do you do? I'll just say per month Little groups, big groups, big get-togethers, big outreach, little outreach.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Oh yeah, I would say probably about four, but some of them aren't very big. I only do probably three or four larger-scale events, which would be fairs, something that I would invite veterans to that they can gather resources, learn what the VA has to offer. And also one of the aspects I didn't mention in my job was I'm the community liaison for other mental health facilities that want to partner with the VA, so I will invite them to fairs. They become a vendor and then the veterans can walk around and see what these services are. And everybody I invite is usually a nonprofit or non-monetary for the veteran.

Dr. Rich Peate:

If somebody wants to charge the veteran or if it's an organized business, I kind of steer them away. There are certain situations I might invite them if the VA is going to pay for it through community care, but most of the time that's not something I want to get involved in. The VA has strict rules on preference using certain companies. That becomes an integrity issue in a sense. Right right. And there's some things we have to stay away from. I'm very careful of where I don't want to. You know we live in what's called the rehab capital of the world, or at least the United States of the world, or at least the United States, and there's no shortage of well-meaning drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers that want to help veterans. But I cannot support one over the other, so I try not to invite these that charge veterans for their services.

Scott McLean:

So I assume a lot of those organizations reach out to try to partner up with the.

Dr. Rich Peate:

VA. They do, they do and thankfully, years ago not too long ago, maybe about six or seven years ago the VA didn't have sort of an organized method and we didn't have the domiciliary which is now used for drug and alcohol rehab treatment. So we used to send a lot of people out in the community to get treatment and we sent them to I won't mention the names of different different uh organizations Um, once we had the Dom, the uh, it's it. Everything changed and they all have an organized system. Where they have to, they have to fill out forms and become part of the VA insurance network and uh, then if we send them to the outside, it becomes sort of random. They'll look at what the veteran needs, what's closest to his home and uh, who may be up next to get a veteran referral, so that it becomes uh fair.

Scott McLean:

Does that fall into community care program? It does, it does yeah, okay.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So once again, just to get back to your thought uh, we we have been sending less people out to drug and alcohol rehabs where we were sending more out because we have our own facility now and you know they they do want to help veterans. They they get paid pretty good money when they help people but they also do a good job because they want to assist the veterans in the best way they can. So a lot of times the veterans get sometimes extra special treatment when they go to these places. Tell us about the Dom for the people that don't know. Well, the Dom is a residential facility. It's not only for people with drug or alcohol issues, but it's Excuse me, I told you Dr Pete's a very he's in demand.

Scott McLean:

He's a busy guy, phone's going off.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So it's a 45-day unit, but your time can usually be extended, and not only is it for drug and alcohol treatment, but for serious mentally ill, or initials. We call it SMI, the SMI population, seriously mentally ill. Okay, the SMI generally include people with psychotic disorders, clinical major depression, bipolar disorder or anything that you know is more severe on a mental health level.

Scott McLean:

Okay.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So the Dom has a full schedule of treatment. They see individual therapists there, they have groups all day long, they have rec therapy. They stay there on the unit for 45 days and they have social workers that help them, because discharge planning always starts on day one. That way, when they are ready to leave the facility, they have housing, their finances are in order, they're ready to begin their life. That's part of recovery. That's part of recovery. Recovery doesn't end when you finish the residential treatment. In fact, it's kind of like the old saying is once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Recovery is lifelong, whether it's a mental illness or for drug and alcohol.

Scott McLean:

And I myself am a recovering alcoholic. It can be 33 years, god willing the day after Thanksgiving. Good for you. So I do understand the whole concept of recovery is a lifestyle. At that point it has to become part of you.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I try to teach that a lot, because a lot of times the drug and alcohol people will hear that through AA meetings and through other people, but people with serious mental illness, they don't get that same information. They feel like you know, I'm doing better now. I don't have the symptoms, therefore, uh, I don't need medication or I don't need therapy, and then they have a relapse.

Scott McLean:

The dom just expanded right, it got bigger. It's the same size actually.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I'm saying the amount of the amount of people. Yeah, we, um, it was mostly because of staffing shortages. Before that it was because of covid, but uh, I think that I think they can offer up to 60 people, and I don't know if they're quite up to there.

Scott McLean:

The last I checked it was 50, but, um, they are fully staffed now, so it is operating well okay uh, let's talk a if you don't mind, kind of get into the weeds a little bit about mental health services. What does West Palm Beach VA offer, I'll say, specifically for veterans with PTSD or TBI traumatic brain injury?

Dr. Rich Peate:

I was going to say I could be here a long time talking about the program.

Scott McLean:

We're going to have another conversation, my friend. We will have another conversation.

Dr. Rich Peate:

People don't realize the amount of programs that we have for veterans. And I'm only speaking on the mental health side, on the social work end, which my job actually crosses over to other areas of the VA. So even though I'm in the mental health department, I work with the social workers a lot and they have fabulous programs and help and people in the social work program. But I am, I am part of the mental health, so I'll speak for them. And one one program we have is the TRP program stands for Traumatic Resolution Program Therapy um, traumatic uh resolution program therapy and uh use. That's formally called the PTSD program. The reason they changed the name is basically they, they wanted to include other traumas, uh, make sure people feel felt like it was for, um, not just combat PTSD, but it could be from various different traumas. And in that program what they did was for a long time it was open to anyone who had a trauma in their history.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But what happened was, especially after about five years, after 9-11, we had so many people coming in so we had treating the Korean War vets, then we're treating the Vietnam era vets, and then we started treating the Afghan, the Gulf War, oh, the Gulf War, the Afghan and the Iraq freedom and they all started coming in and then people weren't leaving.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So if you have too many people that come in for therapy and they want to stay in therapy, you only have the same amount of therapists.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So they got bottlenecked. So they got bottlenecked and what they did was through national office is they said we're going to. Basically, in a nutshell, we're going to change this to a evidence-based therapy where people come, some people can stay longer, everybody just leave. But they will interview to see if they meet the criteria, which is basically that you have a PTSD diagnosis and then you will opt into one of the evidence-based therapies. You'll complete the therapy, which could be 15 sessions long, and then you're referred back to the mental health clinic and the mental health clinic can follow up on a longer-term basis if the person would like to. But the reason why this is important and it works is because you're no longer having somebody sit in the chair Freudian style for 20 years. We want to get them help, we want to give them skills, we want to give them a short-term focus therapy and move them along so that we can then treat other people coming in.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So other than talk therapy, so to speak, it is talk therapy, but it's more focused talk therapy and you have exercises like doing homework. And it's not for the faint of heart, because PTSD is very difficult, so it's going to be a difficult therapy. Some of the therapies they offer there is written exposure, where you write down your trauma and you review it with your therapist. Written exposure, where you write down your trauma and you review it with your therapist. Another one they offer is EMDR, which is eye movement desensitization therapy. That one has been successful. The other one, one that I've been trained in two of them that I've been trained in are prolonged exposure, which is retelling your trauma history repeatedly, probably about maybe 10 times in the therapy session, to desensitize a person and bring their anxiety down. That's a very difficult therapy, as you can imagine. And the other one is a cognitive therapy called CPT cognitive processing therapy and that one uses cognitive therapy methods, but it also is a exposure method as well.

Scott McLean:

So my life was pretty much an open book. I don't really hold back things. And you just touched on a number of things that are interesting to me, which is I was offered those things and it's scary. You've heard of some of them. It was offered to me and it's scary. It's scary for a veteran. For me, I'll just say me it's like I don't know if I want to do all that and it really is something, something that I I eventually got into the talking about my story, part of it and really kind of opening up that way.

Scott McLean:

I journaled when I was in rehab so I went to the alcohol rehab center at travis air force base back in 91, which is what got me started to not drinking anymore. It worked, it worked for me, it worked for me. And the journaling part of it was crazy. Like I wrote down and then you read it to your group and I'm not I am not bullshitting Mine was like 63 pages of shit, Like. And then you got read it, yeah, and you're like whoa, that was a real eye-opener, it was it shocked myself, I'll tell you I, um, I've I've given these therapies, but I've never been in one and uh I I can imagine it's.

Dr. Rich Peate:

It's very difficult. You're vulnerable and it takes a lot of trust and you feel like you're just an open wound there.

Scott McLean:

At first it's funny, and I'm going to tell you the experience I went through. It was kind of amusing. I'm like, oh, this one and this one.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah.

Scott McLean:

And about halfway through, when you're looking at the pages that you have and you're like, all right, this is a little crazy at this point. And then you get to the point where you're done, Okay, you're done, and you have this little stack of paper. And then the next day it's like, okay, we're going to read it now. And mine took two sessions, which you know it was just very strange, and I was in an inpatient. Going back to what you said about going into a facility where you feel like a prisoner, and that's really kind of what that was. We were locked down for three weeks.

Scott McLean:

you couldn't go anywhere without three other veterans, three other we're all active duty for the first week and then two, and then, like they just didn't trust anybody, didn't trust you, and you walked into an environment of like uh, and then they, the door locks, you get a buzz to get in and out and, yes, you know, just to go have a cigarette you had to have four other people with you and it was right, it was uh, and I saw some guys kind of crack under that. They were like this I can't stay, I'm not, but you have to because you're active duty.

Scott McLean:

They got you, they're capturing audience, exactly so I know that environment and um, so yeah, that those therapies that you were just talking about were offered to me, uh, and they, they scared me a little bit. Yeah, you know the, the uh, I didn't do that. I wasn't offered the uh, the eye, the uh, I didn't do that, I wasn't offered the uh, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Oh, I wanted to mention something when you mentioned that you were hesitant to get involved in them, but I did it.

Scott McLean:

I want to finish that off by saying I did follow through with it.

Scott McLean:

Do you know, which one you did. I ended up doing the talking, the telling, the story you did, yeah, and that's what got me into storytelling. So I just opened myself up. I've never really told anybody that. So it's not because you're dr pete, this isn't a therapy session, but I think it's it's good for people to know these things, that I did go through that and I did talk my way through it and it was emotional but it did work for me I have a very good person, that's.

Scott McLean:

That's, that's handle. I say handling me, because I might be a handful at times right, uh, and it it worked for me. It really did, and it's what opened me up to start whatever I'm doing. I don't want to push that, but no, right.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Hopefully it does lead to change. It did and gives you sort of your life back a little bit. It answered questions for me.

Scott McLean:

It really answered some questions and it actually through telling my story I actually and I've done it for a friend of mine who she teaches therapists, and when they're getting ready to graduate, she says, hey, do you want to come in and talk to them? And I become their open book, like, I'll tell you, you guys are getting ready to go do some great stuff and if I can help you do that, I'll answer any questions you have. And it's therapy for me too. And at one point during the and I talked about this in my last episode I remembered something in a really horrible story that happened to me. Like I was security police, I was on scene and something that I saw and I remembered it right there in the middle of that class and I said whoa, whoa, whoa.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, you guys are about to experience something with me here, because this is what happened Wow.

Dr. Rich Peate:

That's visceral, but those students are so lucky to get that experience from you, right.

Scott McLean:

Right, and I'm always. That's why I'm an open book. I'll help anybody. It helped me, so I can't help but give it. You know, pay it forward.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Well, you know what Another thing is. You know you, for some reason you conjured up the courage to go through that therapy. There is a large dropout rate for these therapies. They start, they might get a couple sessions in, and then it's too anxiety provoking. It's understandable yeah, yeah uh, there's ways around that where you we try to maybe um use the protocol a little differently to manage them.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But uh, like, like you were saying, I may see the person you know 10 times before I say why don't we try this new therapy? And then they feel more relaxed with me and they're willing to engage in it. Where, if you go, oh hi, we did an interview, I know you. Now, next week, we're going to start this therapy.

Scott McLean:

It's, it's a little too much yeah, yeah, and I and I, I can see that and that's exactly what the person that's that I'm the that I'm dealing with with through the VA. Yeah, they brought me along. Yeah, they knew Right.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Right, yeah, you don't want to scare somebody away.

Scott McLean:

Let's bring him along easily. Yeah, I'm sure that's how it went. Traumatic brain injury West Palm Beach really deal with it or no?

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, you know, we will do a neuropsych eval and we'll find out what the deficits are and we'll write a report on that. But as far as the treatments go, west Palm usually refers people out for certain things and that's a medical type of issue, so I'm not too aware of of where they're sending people. I do know that on the outside of the VA there are organizations that offer some treatments for veterans pro bono, for for, for TBI If somebody has TBI, long-term TBI but if it's in the va, we will there. There are other vas that have uh, much more capability, better capability and uh, the tampa va is sort of a hub for tbi. Okay, and people come from all over just to go to tampa va I know of veterans that have gone through the 22 project hyperback oxygen therapy treatment and that's an amazing organization.

Scott McLean:

I'm yeah, I'm very I'm always impressed.

Dr. Rich Peate:

And ashley williams I always give her a shout out when I can, because she's an amazing person doing amazing work you know, um, since I've been in this particular job, I've learned about these organizations like you have, and, uh, it's so great that the one thing we have to get better at is informing veterans about other places that offer things that maybe the VA doesn't. The VA has to be careful because if I Dr Pete, who works from the VA, refers somebody and they have a negative experience, they're going to say the VA told them to go.

Dr. Rich Peate:

The VA sent me Right.

Dr. Rich Peate:

The finger pointing starts. I have to be very careful. I have to say you know, uh, there are organizations that offer some therapies, might want to try some complimentary or alternative therapies, and uh, they can go search on their own. But I think we're getting better. We're getting more organized as a community and I'm going to talk about that in the mental health summit that's coming up but more organized in recognizing who the veteran is, in sharing information and then in putting all our information together so that we all know what's going on.

Dr. Rich Peate:

We're not there yet but it's better than we were, which was everybody was doing their own thing and nobody knew what each other were doing. No, even in the va, one hand sometimes doesn't know what the other hand's doing it's a giant, it's a big, it's a big machine yes, you know it's and I.

Scott McLean:

I am a big fan. There are people out there that aren't right. I am a big fan because it helped me, so I can only speak from my experience yeah, that west, that West. Palm Beach VA. I had a choice to go to another one and somebody said, go to the West Palm Beach VA. It's like the Taj Mahal of VAs.

Dr. Rich Peate:

That's what was told me by another veteran.

Scott McLean:

And I love to hear good experiences because I do hear a lot of bad ones, sure.

Dr. Rich Peate:

You have to be the squeaky wheel when you're uh, when you're not getting the services you want, because uh, we'll find the right person for you and uh, I can, I can help. I can always assist people if they if they need to get to the right person to the right therapy, if they need an appointment, I can be that person too right, so?

Scott McLean:

So I just want to ask one more question before we get into the next week's big event. Sure, how about family members? How can they be involved in the treatment process for veterans in either way, whether it's the DOM or it's a PTSD treatment or post-traumatic growth treatment?

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah. Or post-traumatic growth treatment yeah. The family therapy or couples therapy, or even if you want them to be involved in your treatment in some way, doesn't necessarily mean that they're in the therapy session with you. It could be that they're just a supportive person. It is shown to be more effective because the family member learns what the symptoms are, why the person's acting the way they are and how to support them. You would have to, as a veteran, talk to your therapist or your provider to say how can my spouse or mother or sister, whoever it is, be a part of this or learn about this, and then they'll bring them in. But we do have couples therapy. We don't really have family therapy too much.

Dr. Rich Peate:

The other thing that we have is the vet centers. Now, the vet centers are part of the VA but are sort of an offshoot. They're not located at the hospital and they're not part of our community. What are they called? Community mental health centers? They are their own entities and they offer therapy for veterans, specifically for PTSD and MST, military sexual trauma and family and couples. So we have two of those Jupiter Vet Center and the Palm Beach Vet Center, which is in Green Acres. It's a more low key you don't have to go to a medical facility and if people sometimes like it because it feels a little bit more relaxed.

Scott McLean:

I never knew those existed.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, until today.

Scott McLean:

That's great information.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah.

Scott McLean:

Thank you for that. Yeah, that's great information. So let's get into success stories, let's get into the happier side of this conversation. Give me a success, give the listeners a success story. It doesn't have to be about a particular person or it could be about a program, but something that comes to mind where you're like that was great, that worked.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Well, there's so many different programs that help people it's hard to choose just one. We have a program called the PRRC and that's a psychosocial rehabilitation recovery program center within the VA that helps people with serious mental illness, smi as I said before, a lot of people with serious mental illness. They'll get on medication but they still have a little bit of difficulty functioning either socially, keeping a job or motivation, or just getting into life. So this program is what we call. In other hospitals they call it a partial hospitalization. We don't really call it that, but what they offer are daily groups in individual treatment, specifically working with their goals.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So a veteran might have a goal of I want to meet new friends, and they don't know how to go about it. Or maybe they their social skills are a little off, so they will get. They'll go to groups that work on that. They'll go to therapy, they'll have exposure to socials and they they learn new skills so that they can function better and have a better quality of life. It's all about getting a better quality of life Because with the serious mentally ill population, medications are not the magic pill that fixes everything.

Dr. Rich Peate:

We talk about PTSD a lot because people think the VA veterans PTSD, but I'll tell you that those veterans who have a trauma from battle or from other types of training, incidents or something like that, they're important and they make up a percentage of the veterans, but there's a large part of the veteran population that have mental health issues that are serious, just like the regular public does, just that they happen to go into the military. So this program helps them lead a better life, more independent, more functioning. They want them to have all the opportunities that everybody else has Going out and doing things and living on their own, living independently and whatever goals they have, whether it's going to school, finding a job, maintaining a job, that kind of thing.

Scott McLean:

So how would a veteran get involved in that, say in the West Palm Beach?

Dr. Rich Peate:

VA. So that's a program within the mental health clinic. So they would talk to their mental health provider. If they don't have one, they'd have to go to the mental health clinic and sign up on 1C and they would say I heard about this psychosocial program, I wonder if I qualify, and then they would determine whether you're qualified. You have to have certain diagnosis to qualify.

Dr. Rich Peate:

It wouldn't be somebody that just has minor depressed mood or a little bit of anxiety. It wouldn't be somebody that just has a minor depressed mood or a little bit of anxiety. It usually is somebody that has more of a severe mental illness. They're not so severe that they need to be homebound. We have another program for that. We have a program that we have providers go to the home to assist and help people. But they would, they would go to the provider and then, and then they see. But they would go to the provider and then they'd see, they'd get an interview and see if it would be a good match for them, because the person has to be willing to attend. I think about eight groups a week, wow, yeah, okay, plus individual therapy, plus going out on recreation trips and other types of things that they do.

Scott McLean:

All right, let's talk about next week's big event at the.

Dr. Rich Peate:

VA. I'll tell you we have three big events. Okay.

Scott McLean:

We got all day. But well, I do. I know you don't.

Dr. Rich Peate:

It's probably a mistake that we planned three in one week. I don't know how that happened. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen next year. I don't know how that happened. I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen next year. But the first thing that we have is on Tuesday, the 24th, we have a mental health summit, and the mental health summit is something that I host every year and before me somebody else hosted it.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I've been doing it for about seven years where we invite community partners there's community mental health organizations, nonprofit agencies, anyone that works with veterans or associates with veterans that want to learn more about the VA. We bring them together, we talk about VA programs so they learn about what we're doing, and then we learn about what we're doing, and then we learn about what they're doing. We come together and we have a discussion. So that is on uh, tuesday, uh the 24th, at eight 30 at the Jupiter rec center, eight 30 in the morning, eight 30 in the morning. It goes from eight 30 to a two o'clock and uh, that's open to not only um providers and uh clinicians, uh and community partners and organizations, but it's also open to veterans if they want to attend. I don't know if they. You know I'm in the business so I kind of say, oh, it's interesting to me. I don't know how interesting that is to the veteran. Some. Some might find it interesting. Others might say, hey, just give me the therapy, I don't need to learn how the sausage was made Right.

Scott McLean:

That's a good way to put it, yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But the idea is that we do work together so that the veteran, the VA, does not work in a silo anymore Like we used to. The VA works within the community and we want the community to be assisting veterans. So if they need a veteran that needs VA, they refer to us. If we have a veteran that we think they could be helped through the community, we refer to them. So it's really an exchange and it's an exchange of information. So that's on Tuesday.

Dr. Rich Peate:

The second thing we have is a service dog awareness event. This is the second annual one that has happened. Last year was pretty well attended. A lot of people like this because they want to find out what the rules are for service dogs and where do they get one and is the service dog already trained or do they train them? A lot of questions like that.

Dr. Rich Peate:

So from 10 to 1 PM at the main hospital in West Palm Beach off of Blue Heron, the VA and the atrium. The atrium we're going to have about I think there'll be about five or six different service dog organizations. They bring some service dogs. They have their flyers and you can decide whether you want a service dog. You can determine whether you want to support animal. You could get into the weeds about what the difference is there too, but a service dog is usually highly trained that provides a particular service. A support animal doesn't necessarily have to provide a particular service to you. That's why. That's why a seeing eye dog provides a particular service. But some people just want an emotional support animal and you can go to. You know, I know, I know it's, I think Semper Fi service dogs will be there and Big Dog Ranch Big Dog.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Ranch yeah, I think Paws for Liberty and there's a few more that'll be at the event, so hope to see you there. I'll be there. That's on the 26th. Oh, the third one.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, the third one.

Dr. Rich Peate:

That's a big event. That's our Suicide Prevention Awareness event that we've also combined with homelessness awareness too. Oh, okay, yeah, and that's on Friday at 10 o'clock. That's going to be very, very large. We're going to have food for veterans, we're going to have a picture-taking area with the Hulk. The Hulk's going to….

Scott McLean:

The Hulk's leaving the kitchen studio and making a trip up to the West Palm beach, va.

Dr. Rich Peate:

It's bigger than I imagined, yeah.

Scott McLean:

You're going to get your picture afterwards Everybody that comes to the kitchen studio gets a picture with the Hulk. That's pretty cool.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Um, I thought, uh, to tell you the truth, when I learned about the Hulk and we're're going to stamp out. He's going to stamp out uh stigma, uh mental health stigma, and uh I said that's a great idea, but what he really should represent is, um toxics exposure, that's a good one, that's a good one. They should use him for that, but uh he's available for that also. Yeah, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not involved in that uh area of the va, but, uh, yeah, that would be a perfect fit.

Scott McLean:

Maybe I'll be getting more calls from the va like hey, is the hulk available exactly this event.

Dr. Rich Peate:

And you know what, when we advertise information on toxic exposure, we get a lot of veterans coming out. Yeah, for information, uh, as a matter of fact I don don't have the. Oh, I do have it. You know this is tonight. It's the 19th right. Yes, at 3.30,. I should say tonight, this afternoon there's a resource fair. If this gets on the air today, I don't know if it will, it won't make it.

Scott McLean:

It won't make it Okay Well.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I won't make it.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, I won't make it okay well, uh, I won't bring it up.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, yeah so, but the suicide prevention fair will be very big. There'll be a lot to do. You can bring your family, you can bring anyone you want. You can get some food. You can hang out. It's going to be in the basement. It's going to be uh, uh, by building 16. If you know where that is, it's uh the um, uh, homeless resource center and uh, just come out there say hello, we're gonna have some vendors out there. You can learn about resources and you can get pictured with the hulk and uh and spider-man, too, is gonna be there.

Scott McLean:

Oh, spider-man will be there, yeah, and um, I have a little axe throwing thing that we can use so we'll have some games and things there too all right, and that is again the suicide prevention awareness, awareness, it's suicide prevention awareness month yes, so we're rounding out the month, we we've had different activities throughout the month and, uh, this sort of uh uh ends it off on a bang right, yeah, and that's friday, the the friday, the 20.

Dr. Rich Peate:

What is that? What is that?

Scott McLean:

well, if you're hearing this on monday or tuesday or wednesday or thursday or Wednesday or Thursday, it's Friday, it's.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Friday, the 28th. I think it is, isn't it? Let's see.

Scott McLean:

I have it right here on my calendar.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I just want to make sure.

Scott McLean:

Let's see Go back here 26th, 27th, they're picking up. It's the 27th.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Friday, the 27th.

Scott McLean:

Let's do that again Again. What date and day is the VA suicide prevention event?

Dr. Rich Peate:

Friday the 28th, did you say the 27th? Yeah, so let's do that again, let's try it again.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, so let's yeah. So again, what day and date is the VA? All right, what day and date is the VA suicide prevention event?

Dr. Rich Peate:

That is this Friday, the 27th, at 10 am, 10 am, building 16. Yeah, you drive towards the back of the building or just park anywhere and try to find the basement. We'll try to get out of the sun. It's going to be very hot.

Scott McLean:

Yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But we want to make sure you guys are safe. We'll have a lot of water and food and, uh, come say hello, I'll be there, excellent excellent.

Scott McLean:

Uh, let's get into website. You got a website. You have any anything you want to let people know how they can get in touch with whoever?

Dr. Rich Peate:

whatever dr pete or well, you know it's interesting, I didn't know this, but um, a few people have been calling my phone and I said how am I getting these phone calls? And I said how did you reach me? Because they're calling up saying, well, I need an appointment for mental health and I'm like I'm not the scheduler, but I will help them, I'm there to help. And I said how did you get my number? And they said it's on the web. It's on the internet. And I said it is. So I went in there and I typed in West Palm Beach VA, mental health, and, sure enough, it says point of contact, dr Pete. So somehow they decided that I'm the point of contact and that's fine. I will direct people to 1C to get their appointments. But you can go on the West Palm Beach VA website. They have different things on there too. You can click on events there's a lot on there, yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, yeah, a lot of people don't use it, but you can also go to the Facebook page and see what kind of events we're having there. And see what kind of events we're having there and maybe we'll have some new types of places that you guys can go to. I really want a centralized area that veterans can go. I think there is a Facebook called South Florida Veterans. I'm not a veteran so I don't post there, but I usually have our peer supports, post things that I want on there. Uh, and, by the way, I wanted to mention another thing for for uh, vets that I didn't talk about.

Dr. Rich Peate:

One of my uh, one of my pet projects is veteran socials and uh, I set these up a couple of years ago and these uh have been growing. So the first one I set up in West Palm Beach, at Panera Bread off of Lake Boulevard, and then I expanded. So we have one in Delray, we have one in Boynton, we have one in Green Acres, west Palm Beach, port St Lucie and we're starting another one in Fort Pierce. Uh, port St Lucy and we're starting another one in Fort Pierce. And uh, what these are? They? They're. Most of them are on Wednesdays at 10 AM for two hours, although there's one in Vero beach that's at 6 PM. Um, I'll be happy to give you a flyer and somehow we can upload it or get people that information.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But, uh, it's great because if you were, if you have nothing to do, you're bored, you're sort of isolated. Uh, you want to learn about va resources? Uh, we have people come in from the community as presenters. We have presenters come in from the va. They talk about services, they talk about what's going on. We also also play some games. Sometimes we play bingo or Jenga and we also do some icebreakers and we talk, we have some food and snacks and beverages and we meet for a couple hours and then some people come back over and over again. I'd like to see that people return. This gives them something to do and get out of the house and connect with other veterans. That's a whole other segment. I can go on on isolation, loneliness.

Scott McLean:

We have another episode after this event. Yeah, definitely coming back. Okay, yeah, I can talk more about that. I know you've got a lot to offer.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yes, yes, I can talk more about that, because that's this is. I think that they even call it an epidemic, a loneliness epidemic. So we're trying to address that as well.

Scott McLean:

And these socials are at like coffee shops, they're at like little restaurants and they're very casual. Totally yeah, and it's with other veterans, casual and totally yeah, and it's you with other veterans. And that I found out through herd foundation on our fall and friday. Uh, that is, that's a. That's a nice bonding moment. There's people veterans look forward to that yeah you know, because it's really, we relate to each other right, and it's.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I'm the only non-veteran there. Yeah, I've been accepted somehow, I think you.

Scott McLean:

I think you're a pretty key part of that.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Right yeah.

Scott McLean:

Your invitation is written in stone. I think yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, the guys are great, and what's great is that they all, they come from all over, so it's it's not, like you know, navy against Marines.

Scott McLean:

That's when the fun starts. So there's always the jabs. Everyone takes jabs at each other, but it's never really. You know, even in the military itself, active duty it wasn't taken as a uh well, you had young marines and well, I, I heard from an old marine one time who said the biggest pain in the ass in this world is a young marine. Right, yeah, and I agreed with them yeah yeah, but as we get older that stuff dissipates. But uh, did we miss anything? Is uh?

Scott McLean:

anything you want to? I mean again, we have another episode that we're going to do together, absolutely.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I just want to say that you know we have something for everyone and I can find something for you if you need help. Uh, one of the biggest things that veterans don't do, especially the young ones, is that they, they wait I waited, did you too long? Yeah, yeah uh, or they attempt to get some help and something turns them off and they don't come back for them.

Scott McLean:

That's what happened to me the first time that that's why I tried and I was like, but that was 20 years, 20 something years two years ago and it was a different VA then. True, true, you know.

Dr. Rich Peate:

But even now it could happen. You can get the wrong person at the wrong time, you could get wrong information, and then people just kind of shrug their shoulders and say I'm not going back, that's not for me, they don't help. Help and I knew it. You know something in their head and, uh, you just got to find the right person and um, and try again, because the help is out there. And uh, we want everybody to have a good quality of life and we can assist you in making it happen. But you sort of have to. You have to have some motivation. You know we wouldn't have to wait for a crisis. If you're feeling like life isn't going according to your plan, you're having a lot of obstacles, a lot of setbacks or emotional type of issues. You know, come see somebody. And, by the way, the socials aren't just for mental health people.

Scott McLean:

Right, right, right. Yeah, I'm glad you said that yeah.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Yeah, I just thought of that. Yeah, sure, we don't talk about that stuff at the socials. We're not bringing up somebody's dirty laundry, we're just sort of hanging out and sharing and that's what it is.

Scott McLean:

It's bonding, it's just hanging out with other veterans and it's casual and it's fun and it's what you want to get out of it. And everybody there is there for the same reason. They want to be there. Yeah, most of them come back, so they must get something out of it, except for, you know, other than free food, maybe a free coffee.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I do have to lower people in. A lot of times I try to think of it. I want to bring younger vets in to let them know that the VA is there for them as well. Although they're working, they're raising families, they're doing their own thing. That's one of the things. Our clock stops at 4.30, everybody goes home and a lot of the vets are getting off of work so they miss that.

Scott McLean:

Maybe that's something we need to work on too. That's our next conversation, definitely part of our next conversation, absolutely. Well, okay, let me do my rollout and then, uh, we'll, uh, we'll talk off air. So we built another bridge today. This was a really informative, uh, really good bridge. Thank you, dr pete, for taking time out of your busy day. I say that seriously because I know he, as you heard during the podcast, his phone was blowing up. So that's because he's, uh, he's good at what he does and people like him and, and he does a great job for the va, and he was actually I'm going to say this he's sitting in for cecilia bias, who was supposed to be here, and well, you know what You're like the Joan Rivers of the Vets Connection podcast. You're a great sit-in, great fill-in.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Thanks, she's actually busy planning the suicide prevention awareness event for Friday. So I said no, I'll fill in for you.

Scott McLean:

But see, now we have another podcast to go, we have another episode we get out of this. And you can come on anytime you want, If you ever trust me. I don't offer that to anybody, I've actually never offered that to anybody. But if you ever want to come on and you have something you want to talk about or we want to get something, just let me know and you will go right to the head of the line.

Dr. Rich Peate:

Absolutely no problem.

Scott McLean:

Maybe I'll bring a veteran in, we can talk absolutely, and probably the next time we do this I'll be in the new studio, the willow and palm studio, down on atlantic ave in downtown delray even better, it's a couple minutes from me yeah, yeah, it's gonna be a beautiful little studio and, uh, yeah, I'm looking forward to that, although I'm gonna kind of miss the kitchen studio. You know I have a few more interviews left here, but uh yeah yeah, then I. I actually can't just get out of bed and start podcasting.

Dr. Rich Peate:

I have to drive over to Delaware.

Scott McLean:

It'll feel like work. Yeah, that whole 20-minute drive is so anxiety-ridden. So, yes, we built another bridge today. If you want to hear other episodes of the Vets Connection podcast, I'm on all the platforms Spotify, apple Podcast, amazon Alexa all of it. Check it out. If you want to go to the website, I post resources there. Everybody I interview gets put on the website their resource, their logo and the website, taking you right to what they do and what they offer. You go to vetsconnectcom, wwwvetsconnectcom. And if you want to know about the One man, one Mic Foundation that's my foundation now go to onemanonemicfoundationorg or, if you want to email me about that, onemanonemicfoundationgmailcom.

Scott McLean:

I'm having a fundraiser the day after Veterans day, so get used to hearing about this. It's a unique, one-of-a-kind fundraiser. I'm telling you that it's no pomp, circumstance. It's at the boca black box. You want to come and listen to eight veterans maybe nine tell firsthand stories, live, without notes. It's the true art of storytelling. You're definitely in for a ride Eight different veterans, eight different deliveries, eight different stories. It's going to be a very unique fundraiser and it's going to basically emphasize what the One man, one Mic Foundation is doing. And listen to the end of the podcast. There's a good public service announcement that basically covers a lot for veterans and family members of veterans and friends of veterans actually. So listen to the end. It's only a 30-second public service announcement and with all that said, as I say at the end of every episode, you'll hear me next Monday and a new episode.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Scott McLean

Host