The VetsConnection Podcast

Ep. 51 - Dr. Richard Peate, West Palm Beach V.A., Serving Those Who Served: Mental Health Month at the VA

• Scott McLean • Episode 51

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Mental Health Awareness Month takes on powerful new meaning through the eyes of Dr. Richard Peate, a VA psychologist who's spent 18 years finding innovative ways to support veterans beyond traditional therapy. In this candid conversation, Dr. Peate unveils the trio of elements every veteran needs: purpose, belonging, and connection.

The West Palm Beach VA is buzzing with activity this May – from weekly resource fairs to community socials where veterans can meet hospital leadership over half-priced tacos. But it's Dr. Peate's newest initiative that truly stands out: a Volunteerism Expo connecting veterans with 37 organizations across three counties.

"Veterans have an innate sense of wanting to serve," Dr. Peate explains, highlighting how volunteering taps into core military values while combating isolation and providing renewed purpose. Research even shows volunteers live longer – a testament to the healing power of giving back.

Most compelling are the stories of small interactions that make enormous differences. One veteran podcast interview heard by the right person at the right time saved a life. A newsletter that seemed ineffective suddenly connected someone to life-changing equine therapy. These ripple effects remind us that mental health support comes in many forms.

At its heart, Mental Health Awareness Month isn't about grand gestures but simple acceptance. "All you have to do is not judge and just be aware and accepting," Dr. Peate reminds us. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can offer someone struggling is simply our time and attention.

Explore upcoming VA events, discover volunteer opportunities, and learn how small moments of connection can create profound healing for our veterans. Sometimes the most meaningful service happens after the uniform comes off.

Scott McLean:

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today again is Dr Richard Peet, psychologist Dr Peet from the West Palm Beach, va. This is his second time on. Very few get a second chance, but Dr Peet earns it. He's a good dude, does a lot of great work for the veterans in Palm Beach County, and I told him he has an open door to come on anytime he wants and get an episode. So this is definitely a throw in, but it's worth it. I have no problem with that. He called me up and I said let's do it. And so we're doing it. How are you doing, dr?

Dr. Richard Peate:

Pete, I'm doing really good. It's a busy month for me. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for squeezing me in. It's just important, and I want to see if we can promote what we're doing in the VA.

Scott McLean:

Well, let's have at it. So May is mental health month, and what does the VA have coming up this month? What events and what's good?

Dr. Richard Peate:

Yeah, mental health awareness month is in May every year and we try to acknowledge that by posting certain activities and events, and this month we're doing a number of things, some things that are exciting to me. First off, every Tuesday of the month in the atrium of the now called Thomas H Corey, west Palm Beach VA. They had a name change, if people didn't know about that, but in the atrium we set up tables and we offer self-help care, we have giveaways, suicide prevention, whole health and social work is there, and we sort of take over the atrium in the morning. So we got two more Tuesdays to go and we give away a lot of different mental health awareness type of things. As a matter of fact, I brought some with for you today. There you go. I have I love swag, yeah, the rubber bracelets, and I didn't know what color you like, so I have black, white and green.

Scott McLean:

But they all have green on them, so it's good.

Dr. Richard Peate:

That's have black, white and green, but they all have green on them. So it's good, that's the irish in me, right, and? And you're right, and? And green is the color of mental health awareness. Hey, so, and as a matter of fact, today is where your green day, so I don't know if people be hearing this today, but you can wear green any time of the month and say people say, oh, why are you wearing green? It's mental health awareness month, but I'll leave these with you. Some bracelets. I also have some mental health awareness stickers and I picked this one out just for you. It has a happy face that looks like a hamburger, but it's not.

Scott McLean:

I love it. It's a taco. Oh, it is a taco.

Dr. Richard Peate:

It says it's okay to fall apart. Sometimes Tacos do, and we still love them. There you go, all right, yeah, I didn't bring my glasses. I didn't know I'd be reading stickers yeah, I have mental health matters sticker and I have another one that you rub it with your fingers and it calms you down.

Dr. Richard Peate:

It's a team stimulator and you can put it on the back of your phone. So we give a little bit of this swag away. Yeah, swag is good, yeah. So the other event that we have going on other than those Tuesdays is on May 22nd at 10 o'clock at the West Palm Beach Thomas H Quarry, va. We have a Meet the Peers event from 10 to 1 on the fourth floor. So if people go there you don't have to register, you just show up and you say I'm looking for, just go to the fourth floor, not that big, so you'll see us out there.

Dr. Richard Peate:

I say I'm here for meet the peers. We're going to have five of our peer specialists. Peer specialists are veterans who help other veterans and they're hired by the VA. They're going to give many speeches, presentations. They're going to talk about how to become a peer specialist for those who may be a veteran and want to get into that work. And they're going to talk about how to become a peer specialist for those who may be a veteran and want to get into that work. And they're going to talk about other peer specialist duties and training that they've had. And we're going to have some lunch for about 50 people. First come, first serve. There you go. So that's pretty interesting. I hope some people show up for them and I will be there as well.

Dr. Richard Peate:

And again, that's when oh sorry, that's the 22nd. 22nd, okay, and on the fourth floor of the VA at 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock, okay, yeah. So just come on in and show up. You're always welcome.

Dr. Richard Peate:

The other thing that I may add is if you're in the Boynton Beach area and you want to go for meet the director of the VA, he's coming to one of our socials. We have veteran socials in the community and we have them from Delray Beach all the way up to, well, vero Beach. We have about six or seven of them and they happen monthly. Get together, you don't have to go to the VA, you don't even have to be a member of the VA. You can just show up, say I'm a veteran, we say hello, you have coffee and danishes and whatever else, and. But this Monday is a special event and it's going to be at Alou Mexican Cuisine on Gateway and Director Corey Price will be there to talk to the veterans and there's going to be half-priced tacos and we're going to have a social there. So that's another thing that just happened to come up during the month of May that I included in our events.

Scott McLean:

So those socials that you mentioned, they aren't necessarily in formal settings. Some are at coffee shops.

Dr. Richard Peate:

That's right. You know I decided that I wanted to get out of the VA. I wanted to get out of the institutions and get out of the sick role and have a place where people can just relax. We have one of them at Boynton Beach Mall. We have another one at the Lake Worth Therapeutic Rec Center. It would be too much for me to go over every single one of them and where the locations are. But if you are interested in that, I don't know how could they find that out.

Scott McLean:

You know we could do this. If you're listening and you want to know where these socials are, I will take a flyer and you can reach out to me at vetsconnectionpodcast at gmailcom. Vetsconnectionpodcast at gmailcom and email me and I will send you all the information you need about these socials off of the flyer or the information that Dr Pete gives me. So I will be the conduit to that All right.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Thanks so much. You got it, buddy. They might be listed on the VA website West Palm Beach VA website as well. But again back to your question. They're in a low key, non-clinical environment where people can relax, we laugh, we talk, we sometimes play games and we get to know each other. And most importantly is we have special guests which, before we came on the air, I invited you to because I'd love for you to be there to talk about your one man, one mic and how you teach veterans how to be podcasters.

Scott McLean:

That would be great. I appreciate that. Yes, I will definitely do that. You let me know where and when and I will be there, my friend, great Thank you, yes, yes. So what else is going on this month?

Dr. Richard Peate:

Now, this is the newest endeavor. I started these socials about five years ago, so they've been going on a while, but my newest endeavor is this month. I said I'm going to kick off something new. I have to, I have to do something that excites me, that that gets, that gets my blood moving. And I said what do I hear veterans complain about a lot and they say I have nothing to do, I'm bored, I'm lonely, I'm isolated.

Scott McLean:

Not all veterans.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Young veterans are working, people have full lives. That's fine. I'm happy for them. These are for the veterans that may just not have enough social supports or things going on in their life. So I said, hmm, what can we do about that? I already do the socials. You know what I don't know. I think that we need to connect them to volunteer opportunities in the community. So I reached out, and when I started doing this I didn't know how many there were. I reached out. I got 37 organizations throughout Palm Beach, martin and St Lucie County. So it's just not in the main West Palm area, because people would say you always do things in West Palm. No, this time I brought them.

Dr. Richard Peate:

37 organizations that have volunteer opportunities are going to come to the VA and talk about how you can volunteer with them. Wow, yeah, that is going to be on the 29th of May at 10 o'clock on the fourth floor, same as the other one, 10 o'clock on the fourth floor, and we're going to have some food there if you want to get something to eat. Most importantly, all these I don't have the list with me, but I can roll off the top of my head United Way will be there. Alzheimer's Association will be there, palm Beach Parks Department will be there, a Big Dog Ranch will be there, and so many more.

Dr. Richard Peate:

I couldn't list them all, but there's something for everyone If you want to work with animals, children, pets. If you have an interest in teaching people how to read children, pets, if you have an interest in teaching people how to read and we have four outside the VA veteran organizations, so Team Rubicon and Red, white and Blue. They have activities going on and a couple others. So if you want to work with veterans, you can come there and see if that's your interest Also our own volunteer department at the VA will be there.

Dr. Richard Peate:

We have a large volunteer department. However, volunteering at the VA is very popular and there's a lot of volunteers that come from civilians and everybody want to come to volunteer. So a lot of times there's a wait list because we don't have enough volunteer positions for them. So they're going to be there and maybe they have some openings. Maybe you can get on the list. But if you can't, we're going to have tons of opportunities for you to talk to different people.

Dr. Richard Peate:

And where I originally started this, I started calling these agencies and they said tell them to go to our website. I said I understand that, I know I go to websites and but you know a lot of people, including me the moment, they tell me I have to fill something out and then I have to wait, I'm out, I'm done, I'm like I don't want to bother and I think I don't think that's too far-fetched, especially for older seniors. But if they can shake a hand and they can meet somebody and learn about volunteer positions, they're more apt to say I want to get more information. How do I sign up? So I was able to get many people. I probably could have gotten another 20, but we just don't have the room. We don't have the space, and I wanted to have it at the VA.

Dr. Richard Peate:

The only drawback you can expect is parking. If you've been up to VA, you know that at certain times parking is hard to find. It's at a premium, yeah, and now that all the staff is working in the office again, for years there was great parking because half of us were at home, yeah, and now we're all back in the office, so the staff take a lot of the parking up. So I still encourage you. That probably will be parking. You just have to drive around a little. We're going to have shuttles. If you park far away, that's okay, We'll have a shuttle to bring you in.

Scott McLean:

There you go.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Yeah, yeah there you go.

Scott McLean:

So how did you wrangle up 37 organizations Like that's no easy feat. I know this world. It's no easy feat.

Dr. Richard Peate:

I know this world. It's no easy feat. Yeah, it's basically pounding the pavement. I first emailed people and didn't get responses. Then I started making phone calls. Then I had to get to the right person. Then, when I talked to them, I have to explain to them what I'm doing. Then they say go to the website. And then I have to explain to them that veterans want to meet people. This is a way for you to help veterans and this is a way for veterans to help others. One of the key aspects to this is veterans have an innate sense of wanting to serve because when they were 18, 19, and 20 and joined, it was ingrained into them you're serving your country and they did that with pride, Some of them for three years, some of them for 13, some of them for 30. And now they don't mind giving back. So I'm not a veteran, by the way. I only get my information secondhand from people like you.

Scott McLean:

Okay, I'm going to stop you there. Bad interviewer, bad interviewer. I'm going to stop you there. Bad interviewer, bad interview. I'm going to stop right there, okay, okay, and I say this and and this is absolutely true you might not be a veteran, you might not have served, but you were serving those who served and in my opinion and this is my opinion that is just as important as serving, because when we're done, a lot of us need someone like you to kind of help us transition, to help us figure things out.

Scott McLean:

I give immense respect to those who are serving those who served. I don't think enough people look at it that way. I think they look. You know, okay, dr P's talking to me, you do great, you're a great guy, you do good what you do. But the next level of that is you are serving. You committed to this, like you signed up for this, like I signed up for 10 years in the Air Force, and you never left A lot do. That's true, it's not an easy job and I understand that. But again, with all respect, you served those who served. To me, that's just as important.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Thank you, you're welcome. That does make me feel good, because not everybody serves Exactly and we give back when we can.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, all right.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Yeah, so All right. So I do hope that this gets out there.

Scott McLean:

Yeah.

Dr. Richard Peate:

In the ether so that people hear it and say I'm going to go check it out, you're not going to be signed up for anything, you're not going to be obligated to volunteer, you're just going to go and mingle and learn about opportunities. I have a whole I have a whole different list of the benefits of volunteering and getting back and there's research on. I don't know how they did it, but they I'm not a researcher, but they interviewed or they did some measures to find out what people gained. And actually I didn't even know this. People who volunteer live longer, isn't that interesting? Yeah, they found that out by the fact that they're active, they're social and they're doing an activity, so they're not sitting on the couch and they also. It gives them purpose.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, that's the other connection. Yeah, exactly, and belonging, those are very. I say that for the One man, one Mic Foundation and this is exactly what podcasting does In this area of Florida. People say PBC it's Palm Beach County. I say that's purpose belonging, connection. That's how I use that with my foundation. It's all true in veterans that want to do that, people in general that want to do that.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Can I steal that?

Scott McLean:

Absolutely, you can have it, dr Pete, but it's, it's true. And, yeah, I, and I appreciate what you're doing. And when you were telling me this, when I asked you about you know you rank it up 37 and possibly 57, right, the other 20, it just reminded me there was a good friend of mine who I met when I was working in CBP and his name was Sean Fletcher. He was one of my best friends, like we hit it off. He was from New Jersey, I was from Boston, so we had that, but we just became very, very good friends and he recently, like two years ago, passed away from a heart attack. He was a young guy At one point, he was a Navy veteran young guy. At one point. He, he's a navy veteran.

Scott McLean:

He was the, the, the lightweight boxing champion, the dod lightweight boxing champion, right, and you know we used to mess around and and I, I think one day I asked him, I said so, how did? How did you? What is the? What is the road to a champion? And he looked at you, scott, you got to put in the work, to put in the work, just put in the work. And he put in the work. And, dr Pete, you're putting in the work, and when you put in the work, you get results. The results might not lead to a, you know, like a championship belt, but when you help just one veteran putting in the work, that's the win, that's the championship.

Dr. Richard Peate:

You know what I have to. I have to stand by that because I may not be helping thousands of people, but if I can help one person and I send out a newsletter every month to veterans that are on my list and I send it out, not knowing whether my newsletter is effective or not, and sometimes it takes me a while to put together. I get flyers for veteran events all over the place and I put it together and I send it out. Sometimes I say to myself is this worth the effort? I'm not sure. Maybe I should focus on something else, which is natural, and every once in a while somebody will write me and say thanks for letting me know about this event. I signed up for equine therapy and it really helped me and it was just a flyer I put in my newsletter and I'm like okay, I helped one person, maybe I'm helping more. I'll keep doing it. It's the little things.

Scott McLean:

It doesn't have to be dynamic, it doesn't have to be big. People like that, people love big and dynamic. But it's the under the radar stuff in this podcast. I created it. I've told you this story. I created this podcast because I didn't know that nonprofits existed, I didn't know the programs that were at the VA, because I I walked away 20 years ago because they handed me a stack of paperwork and I came back and I meet Cecilia Baez, who's doing great work with the VA, and Jonathan Oakley for Mission United, and I said well, you know what I'm going to do, this podcast and I'm going to help them. I'm going to help them get the word out to what they're doing and reach other veterans. So I start interviewing, then I start my foundation.

Scott McLean:

So I I he was my first student, he lives out in Utah young man and I had he's the typical I don't have a story, but he has an amazing story and I interviewed him and he I put this out there. Right, this goes out to the ether, like you said earlier. Yeah, this goes out to the podcast universe. Right, somebody heard that interview because this kid had TBI. I call him a kid because to me he's a kid. Yeah, he had TBI. He got blown up in a Bradley fighting vehicle in Syria, him and his guys I think he was like only a second lieutenant and when that happens, the story is like it sucks the air right out of the vehicle, that explosion, and he said they were all in there gagging. There was like six of them, I think he said or five of them, and he mustered up enough strength to just pop the turret. Okay, he said the air came in like a vacuum. Oh, and just so, they were all. They all lived and he ended up with TBI. Yeah, so he tells his story and it's a very emotional story.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, someone heard that interview and they reached out to him because he started his own nonprofit. Oh, okay, he started TBI's. But they heard it and he sent me a text. He goes. I just got an email from you know. Somebody said they heard my interview and they told me I I saved their life. Like they knew this. Somebody, like them, somebody went through what they went through, wow. So my point to all this is exactly what you just said. Just when you think it's, is this really serving? Is this really doing anything?

Dr. Richard Peate:

I get something like that yeah, yeah, anything, I get something like that.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, yeah, it makes it all worthwhile. Oh, absolutely.

Dr. Richard Peate:

And I'm a person that I did therapy as usual, like we call it. Therapy as usual is come into the office, I meet with you for 45 or 50 minute therapy hour and I try to do good work and help people, as my colleagues do, and we see them in two or three weeks. I did that for a long time, but I knew that I wanted to reach more people and give them something that was a little beyond therapy. Therapy is extremely good and important. However, through my work of advocacy and starting innovative programs up, like the socials and now this volunteer project, I'm able to help people that they can use this in their daily lives. They may not need as much therapy because they're getting their social needs met, and that's what that's kind of. What you know keeps me going Putting in the work.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Yeah, you're putting in the work Dr B hey 18 years.

Scott McLean:

You're a champion, buddy, don't worry, you are a champion.

Dr. Richard Peate:

I've been with the VA 18 years and you know I'll probably be there longer.

Scott McLean:

Well, I'm going to joke around and say, yeah, you're a champion just for doing that.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Right, I love the VA.

Scott McLean:

It is yeah, and I worked in the government period. Working for the government is always something. It's always something, yeah. So okay, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Oh, can I add one more thing?

Dr. Richard Peate:

It's all yours. You know what am I to do for Mental Health Awareness Month? Well, of course, I'm telling you to come to my activities and events. However, the great thing about Mental Health Awareness Month is you don't have to do anything. All you have to do is be understanding and accepting of people that have mental health challenges, and all that means is not judging and trying to check your own stigma when you hear somebody has some sort of a mental health diagnosis and say you know, that could be a brain disorder like schizophrenia or bipolar, for PTSD it's an acquired diagnosis and it's treatable. So all you have to do is not judge and just be aware and accepting. And that's all the month is about, and I I think that if people do that, we've, you know, we've, we've. We're trying to make more inroads so people have less stigma towards mental people with mental health problems.

Scott McLean:

I've lived by this for a couple of decades at least. Something kind of got into me one time. And you know you'll meet somebody on the street or you'll meet somebody in line, or you'll be meet somebody walking through a parking lot and they just start talking to you and something tells you that they're kind of maybe there's something wrong. Yeah, right now I've seen people walk away from people like that. I've seen people that just kind of they're scared or whatever emotion runs through them and I just decided at one point just talk to them. And I talked to them for a couple of reasons. I will give them all my time and I'm not being virtuous here, I'm not throwing up, you know, look at me, it's just how I carry myself. And there's two things I go by. One is you might be the only person they talk to that day. You might be the only person that has talked to them, literally talked to them in days, because human nature is you're defensive yes, not normal to me and the fight or flight type thing kicks in. There's a lot that might go on there. But the second thing that I this is probably the most important part to me you never know who you're talking to. And I'll go a step further.

Scott McLean:

I think personally and this is not a religious thing this people might be offended by this. This is just my opinion, I think. I think God walks the earth, he literally walks the earth and he tests you. What kind of person are you? Yeah, because why would this random person come up and just talk to you? Right, and I think I just and it's just the way I look at it I think you might be getting tested. You don't know who you're talking to, right? And if you disregard this person, but then you live your life in a virtuous, humble and giving and caring and volunteering way, well, are you really that? Are you really that Like, if you just walked away from this person or you know you might get away from me, type, deal, right, give them your time, because when the time comes and if there is a pearly gate, right, you want to be ready you could be 100% like oh, I'm in, I got this. It's going to flash back to that one moment. You just disregarded this person.

Dr. Richard Peate:

That's just how I think about it, yeah and I'll add to that by saying be safe. Yeah, of course, Make sure that you're not putting yourself in danger, but your point's well taken. A simple hi, how you doing what's going on today. Yeah, you know you doing okay. And then a smile, exactly, you never know what helps a person.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, and I said God bless, and you know, stay safe. I give them the kind of the thing and I can carry myself, I can defend myself, I can defend myself. I'm a big dude, I'm not worried about anything like that. But I do understand why people could be nervous if someone walks up kind of rattling at them, right Right.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Right.

Scott McLean:

Yeah, but it's just how I. That's why I said it's just how I do it, right, I? Just I just look at it like this why me, why did they pick me out of this crowd? Right, you know, I, I want you walking by, then one, two, three people, and then all of a sudden they approach you like why is that? And I just go deeper with it. Yeah, but I give them my time, I give them my attention. Sometimes I give them money. You know, like hey, what do you need? And I know where they're going and I'm not going to battle that like, oh, you're giving them money for drugs and you know what, maybe I'm not. Maybe Maybe they're going to go to McDonald's and buy a Happy Meal. They got to eat sometime, exactly. So that could be a whole other conversation.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes.

Scott McLean:

Mental Health Awareness Month, like Dr Pete said. Just acknowledge it.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Just acknowledge it.

Scott McLean:

That's right. So let's do those two events one more time. Okay, may 22nd. Yeah, corey.

Dr. Richard Peate:

Price no, all right. May 22nd, meet the peers at the VA on the fourth floor at 10 am.

Scott McLean:

There you go.

Dr. Richard Peate:

You're going to learn how to, uh, what peer support is about veteran peer support and if you want to become a peer support. The next one is oh, actually, you're right. The first one is before that and that is Monday, which is, I think, the 19th, okay, and that is at Alou Mexican Restaurant in Boynton Beach at 12 noon, where you can come and socialize and meet the director of the VA hospital and half-priced tacos Half-priced tacos. It'll be a good chance and you don't always get that opportunity. No, it is hard to get.

Dr. Richard Peate:

You are, he's sequestered away. I don't see him either. I'll be there too, if you want to meet me and get my information. I don't have quite the high ranking level, but I'm easier to reach, okay, so that is on the 19th, uh, if you want to have lunch in boynton beach. The other one is meet the peers on the 22nd at 10 o'clock and the third one is my big event, which is volunteerism expo, that Expo where you can match with volunteer opportunities in the community anywhere from Boca all the way up to Vero Beach, and hopefully I see you. I'm going to be at all these and I'm going to be greeting people. I'm going to be a handshaker If you bring your baby, I'll kiss them, so I go. So I hope to see somebody there. If 10 people come from this podcast, I'm happy there you go.

Scott McLean:

And, like I said, if you want a list, dr P will send me a flyer or the information and I'll get it to you. Just email me at vetsconnectionpodcast at gmailcom and I will get you that information. Or you can just re-listen to the podcast Rewind and all the dates and times of the day. Well, is that it, dr Pete? Everything, you got everything.

Dr. Richard Peate:

That's all I have. We're good. I could come on every week, but you know I don't want to. What do they say?

Scott McLean:

You wear yourself out. Yeah, you're always welcome. Everybody from the VA is very welcome and, like I say, the VA helped me, they helped me, and so for that I am always going to be grateful to them. Well, that's it. Well, we built the second bridge with Dr Pete. This was a good one. There's a lot going on. Dr Pete's going to send me a flyer and some information. I will put it out on social media and, you know, get it out that way, and we're going to get try to get as many people as we can. Well, dr Pete, thanks for coming on. I appreciate you, I appreciate what you do.

Scott McLean:

And listen to the end of the podcast. Listen past the outro. There's a good public service announcement in regards to two on one and nine eight eight. It's very informative, so give it a listen. It's very informative, so give it a listen. It's only 30 seconds long and yeah, well, that's it. I will be back. I already have another podcast ready for Monday, so you'll hear that one on Monday and then every following Monday after that. So thanks for listening and talk to you soon.

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