Latest / Behavioral Health Brief / Ep 2 | The Mission After Service: Connecting Veterans To Hope, Purpose And Community

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Ep 2 | The Mission After Service: Connecting Veterans To Hope, Purpose And Community · Behavioral Health Brief

0:06
Speaker 1: Good morning, Welcome to the Behavioral Health Brief. I'm Jim
0:10
Speaker 1: Callahan and I have the honor of being the President
0:13
Speaker 1: and CEO of Turned Behavioral Health Services, an organization driven
0:19
Speaker 1: by one clear.
0:20
Speaker 2: Mission, improving lives.
0:22
Speaker 1: I often ask myself is there anything more important than
0:26
Speaker 1: that in our world today? My belief is this, when
0:30
Speaker 1: improving lives guides our decisions, stronger systems and healthier communities follow.
0:38
Speaker 1: That belief is the hope behind this podcast. That's where
0:43
Speaker 1: today's conversation begins and why programs like Courage to Call
0:48
Speaker 1: are so essential. Joining me today on the Behavioral Health
0:52
Speaker 1: Brief is John Osted. John, thank you for being here
0:56
Speaker 1: today and supporting TURN. Were so excited and we truly
1:00
Speaker 1: appreciate the work that you're doing for the veteran community.
1:03
Speaker 1: You serve as the Veteran Engagement Coordinator for the City
1:07
Speaker 1: of San Diego, working with.
1:08
Speaker 2: Mayor Todd Gloria's administration.
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Speaker 1: Buteward, talk about your role today. I'd love to start
1:13
Speaker 1: with your story. Track us back to the day that
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Speaker 1: you decided to serve and share with us. Where you
1:18
Speaker 1: were in the country.
1:20
Speaker 2: Was it in San Diego? Was it in Philadelphia?
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Speaker 1: Where were you and What motivated you to serve for
1:25
Speaker 1: our country?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I just finished my associates degree and I was
1:30
Speaker 3: living in Santa Clarita, So I went to MEPs out
1:34
Speaker 3: of Los Angeles. The day I decided to go and
1:37
Speaker 3: be screened to join the Navy, there's a bomb threat.
1:40
Speaker 3: So the three hour event turned into like twelve hours.
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Speaker 3: Got locked into a building for which is great for
1:47
Speaker 3: them because they have you kind of locked in a
1:49
Speaker 3: building and now they want you to sign a contract.
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Speaker 4: So I did.
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Speaker 3: But that was my first experience with anything with the
1:57
Speaker 3: military was taking admission exam and then and being locked
2:01
Speaker 3: in a building because of a bomb threat. So its
2:03
Speaker 3: a very interesting day you actually locked in a building.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, we weren't allowed to.
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Speaker 1: Leave and you weren't allowed to leave for twelve hours.
2:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: I was there from like seven to seven. It was
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Speaker 3: it was a until day.
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Speaker 1: They were like the recruiters were like recruiting you the
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Speaker 1: whole time you were in there for the twelve hours.
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Speaker 4: Oh definitely.
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Speaker 3: I heard every pitch for every every single type of job,
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Speaker 3: and I was pretty pretty steadfast and what I wanted
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Speaker 3: to do, so I got to do what I wanted.
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Speaker 1: What do you remember most about that moment being locked
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Speaker 1: in a building.
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Speaker 3: Well, I I was like, Yeah, this is this gonna
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Speaker 3: be my whole time in the military, just constantly being
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Speaker 3: I mean, obviously you're you're told what to do, and
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Speaker 3: there's a lot of expectations that do you follow orders?
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Speaker 4: Obviously? But am I just going to be stuck in
2:45
Speaker 4: a building the whole time? And Yeah? It wasn't like
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Speaker 4: that at all.
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Speaker 3: My career has been great with the Navy, but it
2:51
Speaker 3: was fun. I once once the bomb threat was kind
2:54
Speaker 3: of over and I signed that contract, it was pretty exciting.
2:58
Speaker 2: What'd you do next?
2:59
Speaker 1: Once you signed the contract and you were in the
3:02
Speaker 1: Navy and you finally got out of that building and
3:04
Speaker 1: walked out and probably took a deep breath, and what
3:06
Speaker 1: did I just do?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. I'd signed up for eight years. That was
3:11
Speaker 3: the first term. It was like six years on as
3:14
Speaker 3: an active reservist, in two years as an inactive reservist,
3:18
Speaker 3: and I joined as an intelligence specialist, So I knew
3:21
Speaker 3: I wanted something with the clearance. I thought that would
3:23
Speaker 3: help me when I got out of the military or
3:25
Speaker 3: when I was done with serving. And I'm sure enough
3:28
Speaker 3: eighteen years later, still serving as a reservist and thank
3:33
Speaker 3: you haven't looked back.
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Speaker 2: Wow, that's amazing, amazing.
3:37
Speaker 1: What's been inspiring you lately with the work you're doing
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Speaker 1: now for Maritime Glorious Office.
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Speaker 3: I love seeing all of the community partners we have
3:46
Speaker 3: out there. There's not a whole lot I can do
3:49
Speaker 3: at the city as an individual. You know, if someone
3:52
Speaker 3: calls with an issue, I'm probably not the right person
3:55
Speaker 3: that's going to flip the switch and solve their problem.
3:58
Speaker 3: But there's so many other organizations in the community that
4:01
Speaker 3: have been helpful. I mean, the Wounded Warrior Project is
4:05
Speaker 3: like one of the one of the easy buttons for me.
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Speaker 3: If someone's experiencing a financial crisis, I can I can
4:11
Speaker 3: call up some connections that I have over there, direct
4:14
Speaker 3: this person to a warm body instead of a phone,
4:18
Speaker 3: a phone line or an email that gets lost, and
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Speaker 3: really help make a difference, like immediately.
4:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, when we had lunch the other day,
4:26
Speaker 1: you were saying, I'm a connector.
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Speaker 2: If you need a.
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Speaker 1: Handicap ramp built to be able to access your house,
4:33
Speaker 1: I know the person to build it. If you need
4:35
Speaker 1: to move into a residence, I know the mover to
4:37
Speaker 1: move you in. But I'm not going to be the
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Speaker 1: guy that's going to build a ramp or move the
4:41
Speaker 1: furniture for you. So that's really great because those services
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Speaker 1: are so needed all across the community.
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Speaker 2: I love what the Wounded Warrior Project does outside of work.
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Speaker 1: How do you unwind? How do you slow down and
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Speaker 1: take care of yourself?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm getting into middle age and I have a
4:59
Speaker 3: hobby that it definitely makes me feel old. I love
5:03
Speaker 3: jiu jitsu. It's something I do like four five days
5:06
Speaker 3: a week. I was there three hours yesterday, so if
5:10
Speaker 3: I'm not feeling sore, I know I haven't been to
5:12
Speaker 3: the gym in a while, so it's it's one of
5:14
Speaker 3: my favorite things to do. When you're there, it's pretty
5:16
Speaker 3: much all you can think about. If you start thinking
5:18
Speaker 3: about work or bills or anything going on at home,
5:21
Speaker 3: you're going to get choked. So it's a nice like
5:25
Speaker 3: zen flow state while you're there.
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Speaker 2: Well, that's terrific.
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Speaker 1: Anything else to share any other hobbies?
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Speaker 3: I have a kid, I've got a great wife, So
5:32
Speaker 3: baseball practice, baseball games. That's pretty much if I if
5:35
Speaker 3: I'm not doing jiu jitsu or working, I'm I'm probably
5:37
Speaker 3: at baseball.
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Speaker 1: Let's lean into why your office all this work is
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Speaker 1: so es central to San Diego community. Current data that
5:45
Speaker 1: we've got is two hundred and thirty to two hundred
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Speaker 1: and fifty thousand veterans call San Diego home, alongside one
5:52
Speaker 1: hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty thousand active military.
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Speaker 1: And as we were talking earlier, that is we are
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Speaker 1: probably in San Diego the largest veteran group in the
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Speaker 1: entire country. And what we hear from Courage to call
6:08
Speaker 1: our program that we operate is there still very rare
6:12
Speaker 1: challenges of food insecurity, gaps between federal benefits and local realities,
6:18
Speaker 1: the need for navigation and coordination and advocacy, housing instability
6:24
Speaker 1: and homelessness, and obviously in San.
6:26
Speaker 2: Diego, the high cost of living.
6:28
Speaker 1: What do you see veterans struggling with the most once
6:32
Speaker 1: they come.
6:32
Speaker 2: Out of the military.
6:35
Speaker 3: I think finding a job that gives them purpose is
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Speaker 3: a challenge, and all those things that you mentioned, housing,
6:42
Speaker 3: food insecurity, all those things are just compounded.
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Speaker 4: If you don't have a job that you liked. So
6:47
Speaker 4: if you're.
6:47
Speaker 3: Struggling to find an employment, then you're probably gonna have
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Speaker 3: a hard time feeding your family. You're probably gonna have
6:53
Speaker 3: a hard time affording a house that's you know, it
6:57
Speaker 3: feels at home. So finding a job that's either aligned
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Speaker 3: with their military skills or aligned with something they're passionate
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Speaker 3: about is challenging, right.
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Speaker 1: Is what's the biggest gap that you're trying to fill?
7:10
Speaker 1: As your role in the marriage office today.
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Speaker 3: I just want to connect people to the resources that
7:16
Speaker 3: will make that easier for them.
7:18
Speaker 4: In the military, you.
7:21
Speaker 3: Have a job, you have an MOS or a Navy
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Speaker 3: employment code, and you do that job, and then you
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Speaker 3: move four years later, and you do that job, and
7:31
Speaker 3: you grow in rank and responsibility, and your duties change,
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Speaker 3: and you have all these other assigned tasks that may
7:37
Speaker 3: or may not have anything to do with your job,
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Speaker 3: and so you develop this agility and this dynamic ability
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Speaker 3: to learn new things. But an employer wants to know
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Speaker 3: that you can do the job that they're hiring for,
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Speaker 3: and so they're not looking to train someone. And so
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Speaker 3: it's a challenge for veterans to convince an employer that
7:58
Speaker 3: if you hire me, I'll figure this out.
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Speaker 1: Do you do any liaison work with employers, like educating
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Speaker 1: them on what you know people coming out of the
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Speaker 1: military are really all about.
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Speaker 2: And the key workers that they are.
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Speaker 3: Yes, I have friends or I know hiring managers or
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Speaker 3: HR folks within a lot of organizations in this area.
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Speaker 3: And so if someone's like, I want to get a
8:23
Speaker 3: job at Northrop Grumman or I'd like to go get
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Speaker 3: a job at Amazon, I probably know someone at one
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Speaker 3: of those companies. You know, there's a long list of
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Speaker 3: other companies obviously, but being able to connect them with
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Speaker 3: someone that will actually have a conversation with them, that
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Speaker 3: kind of brings down some of those barriers and alleviates
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Speaker 3: some of the concerns that those employers have.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems to be that a lot of employers
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Speaker 1: are I don't talk a lot to employers.
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Speaker 2: But our program does.
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Speaker 1: Christina, who you know are program managed for for Courage
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Speaker 1: to Call, And they're only a little a little hesitant
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Speaker 1: when when people are coming back from the battlefield and
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Speaker 1: being able to get a.
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Speaker 2: Job in the community, do you do you do any.
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Speaker 1: Training with them in your job?
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Speaker 3: So I volunteered for a long time with a group
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Speaker 3: called vets Tap and they actually just closed up shop,
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Speaker 3: but we, through that organization were helping people with resumes
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Speaker 3: and LinkedIn profiles and this is how you interview and
9:17
Speaker 3: now there's other resources out there like Wounded Warrior Project,
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Speaker 3: and they have a team dedicated exclusively to helping people network, writing, resumes,
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Speaker 3: doing all that stuff that I was doing with another organization.
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Speaker 3: So once folks get comfortable and they have a resume
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Speaker 3: that's a good collection and a good representation of their
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Speaker 3: skill set for the jobs they are trying to get,
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Speaker 3: I think that makes it a little easier for them.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we're trying to you know, I shared
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Speaker 1: with you at lunch and before when we were talking
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Speaker 1: about this that you know, our Courage to Call program
9:49
Speaker 1: lost at funding with the County of San Diego, which
9:52
Speaker 1: we're truly honored to have had the County of San
9:54
Speaker 1: Diego fund us for seventeen years, which is great. But
9:58
Speaker 1: you know, there's the challenges for the but we're been
10:02
Speaker 1: gracious enough to be able to receive a good donor
10:05
Speaker 1: and has stepped up. But my point with that is
10:08
Speaker 1: we really want to expand those type of services. Now
10:11
Speaker 1: that we're kind of under the auspice of the county,
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Speaker 1: we can expand our services in several different ways like that,
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Speaker 1: And I've been working with the Courage to Call team
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Speaker 1: to do some of that different training we get them
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Speaker 1: in now that are looking for all those types of things.
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Speaker 2: But I think it's going to open up the door
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Speaker 2: for us much better to be able to do that training.
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Speaker 4: That's great.
10:29
Speaker 1: So we're going to continue this conversation in just a
10:32
Speaker 1: moment because it's been a great one today. But before
10:34
Speaker 1: we do, this is a good opportunity to share a
10:37
Speaker 1: segment of the show called the Brief, and we're going
10:40
Speaker 1: to highlight current events that are shaping behavior health. And
10:44
Speaker 1: you and I were recently at the sd MAC Bill
10:49
Speaker 1: number fourteen oh seven. So California is losing military retirees
10:54
Speaker 1: at a significant rate, with the population declining more than
10:57
Speaker 1: twenty seven percent since two thousand and One of the
11:01
Speaker 1: major reasons that's impacting California remains is one of the
11:04
Speaker 1: few state still taxes military retirement pay. Why thirty eight
11:09
Speaker 1: other states don't. Senate Bill fourteen oh seven, which is
11:14
Speaker 1: part of the State California campaign by sd Mack, would
11:19
Speaker 1: provide a full state tax exemption on military retirement planing pay,
11:23
Speaker 1: helping retain veterans and their families who continue to.
11:28
Speaker 2: Contribute to leaders.
11:29
Speaker 1: Could you speak to that for a minute, John, about
11:31
Speaker 1: your understanding of Senate Bill fourteen oh seven.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, my understanding is that it would just put us
11:36
Speaker 3: on par with some of the other state leaders. We're
11:38
Speaker 3: losing a lot of folks to Texas and Florida, and
11:41
Speaker 3: I think the goal here is to encourage people to
11:45
Speaker 3: stay in California and likely they're going to get another
11:50
Speaker 3: job out here, and that income is going.
11:52
Speaker 4: To be taxed.
11:53
Speaker 3: They'll keep their house out here, and that property tax
11:55
Speaker 3: is still going to happen. So if they leave, you
11:57
Speaker 3: get zero percent of nothing. If they stay, likely you'll
12:03
Speaker 3: maintain a tax space that's willing to contribute to the economy,
12:06
Speaker 3: continuing to work and provide their leadership in whatever industry
12:09
Speaker 3: they decide to focus on.
12:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, because policies like this, if we can help SDMAC
12:15
Speaker 1: get this policy pushed through, is really going to help
12:18
Speaker 1: our community, impacts housing and mental health and family well being.
12:22
Speaker 1: And for our listeners today, if you'd like to learn
12:25
Speaker 1: more and support this effort, you could find the full
12:27
Speaker 1: details at SDMAC website. And now a brief word from
12:31
Speaker 1: Urn Behavioral Health Services and we'll be right back.
12:34
Speaker 5: Improving lives every day and in every way for Californians.
12:39
Speaker 5: This is the mission of TURN Behavioral health Services. By
12:43
Speaker 5: focusing on wellness, recovery, and resilience, TURN is helping create
12:47
Speaker 5: lasting change, especially for our military community. If your active duty,
12:53
Speaker 5: a veteran, reservists, regardless of military status, or part of
12:58
Speaker 5: a military family in San Diego, support is here. Courage
13:02
Speaker 5: to Call is a free confidential helpline staffed by veterans
13:07
Speaker 5: who understand military life. From eight am to eight pm.
13:11
Speaker 5: You can connect with peer to peer specialists who are
13:13
Speaker 5: ready to listen, guide, and help on the very first call.
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Speaker 5: Struggling with mental health, food, insecurity, finances, housing, You don't
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14:11
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Behavioral Health Brief.
14:13
Speaker 1: I'm Jim Callahan. We're continuing our conversation with John Austin.
14:18
Speaker 2: Now.
14:19
Speaker 1: John is leading the veteran engagement for Maryork Todd Gloria's
14:22
Speaker 1: office and John San Diego's very unique military and veteran community.
14:28
Speaker 1: Let's explore that a little bit. We were had the
14:31
Speaker 1: opportunity to attend the Invictus Games celebration event the other
14:36
Speaker 1: night at the University Club. I wonder if you could
14:38
Speaker 1: expand upon the Invictus Games and why it's so important
14:42
Speaker 1: for San Diego in twenty twenty nine to receive these games.
14:47
Speaker 1: I was totally impressed with the whole presentation the other
14:50
Speaker 1: night and really willing and wanting to be part of
14:53
Speaker 1: that Invictus Games organization and.
14:56
Speaker 2: Move it forward.
14:57
Speaker 1: So John, if you could relay to us the whole
15:00
Speaker 1: kind of layout for the Invictus Games that's coming up.
15:03
Speaker 3: Sure, it's a wonderful opportunity for the city of San
15:06
Speaker 3: Diego City, California, the United States, to host these games.
15:09
Speaker 4: We hosted the games I think in Florida.
15:13
Speaker 3: Probably the second time the Games were hosted ever in
15:16
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen or twenty sixteen, and the Games haven't been
15:20
Speaker 3: hosted in the US since, so it's a great opportunity
15:23
Speaker 3: to bring the Games back to the United States. Essentially,
15:26
Speaker 3: the Evictius Games is like an Olympic style of events
15:29
Speaker 3: with adaptive sports for wounded, ill and injured veterans from
15:34
Speaker 3: twenty five different countries.
15:36
Speaker 2: Wow, that's tremendous. Twenty five different countries, definitely amazing.
15:40
Speaker 3: It's all like a good will type of games.
15:43
Speaker 4: Or they compete in.
15:44
Speaker 3: A triathlon, there's like basketball, wheelchair basketball, there's swimming, There's
15:49
Speaker 3: so many other games and allows them to compete and
15:53
Speaker 3: share good will with one another break bread, you know,
15:56
Speaker 3: while they're living together for the entire series of events.
16:01
Speaker 3: And if we could bring that to San Diego would
16:03
Speaker 3: be an excellent opportunity. We're currently in the run with
16:07
Speaker 3: two other countries, South Korea and Denmark, and we're the
16:12
Speaker 3: only US country being considered, so or US city being considered.
16:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, excuse me, how do you feel our our chances
16:20
Speaker 1: are in San Diego to win the Games.
16:23
Speaker 3: I wasn't obviously there when the Invictus Games Foundation went
16:29
Speaker 3: to these other these other communities, these other countries and
16:34
Speaker 3: saw what they had to present. But I think we
16:36
Speaker 3: had a really good showing and there was a lot
16:38
Speaker 3: of comments from the CEO and Victus Games just he
16:43
Speaker 3: was blown away by the community of San Diego. We
16:46
Speaker 3: went to a Padres game and during like the fourth inning,
16:53
Speaker 3: they asked the veterans to stand up and be recognized,
16:57
Speaker 3: and everyone collapsed and it's a really really great experience
16:59
Speaker 3: in The COO is a retired general from the British military,
17:06
Speaker 3: and he was like, they never do this in England,
17:09
Speaker 3: and just the ability for our community to just work
17:15
Speaker 3: and be alongside of veterans in just enjoy a baseball
17:20
Speaker 3: game together and then recognize these individuals was like such
17:25
Speaker 3: a great experience for him, and these other countries aren't
17:29
Speaker 3: aren't doing the same thing like we do such a
17:32
Speaker 3: good job of making our veterans feel welcome. So they
17:35
Speaker 3: were blown away by that, and I think that's one
17:38
Speaker 3: of our strong suits here in San Diego is we
17:40
Speaker 3: really weave these people into the fabric of our community.
17:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you think about the numbers, two hundred and
17:47
Speaker 1: thirty to two hundred and fifty thousand veterans and to
17:50
Speaker 1: be able to have those games here in San Diego,
17:53
Speaker 1: that would be tremendous. I mean just think of the crowd,
17:55
Speaker 1: just the veterans alone that would be able to come
17:58
Speaker 1: out and witness people doing like Olympic events, right, and
18:03
Speaker 1: from a veterans field and view, I think that I
18:06
Speaker 1: just think it's simply amazing for the city as Andy,
18:09
Speaker 1: and I'm so hopeful that they're able to take or
18:12
Speaker 1: win the opportunity in twenty twenty nine. I thought when
18:16
Speaker 1: I was reading the material that Birmingham was a Birmingham
18:19
Speaker 1: that is going to pick. Is that Birmingham, Alabama that's
18:22
Speaker 1: actually going to get the games?
18:24
Speaker 2: No?
18:24
Speaker 3: No, ok, that's the games are in England this year?
18:29
Speaker 2: Oh okay yeah?
18:32
Speaker 4: Or not this year? Yeah, next year? Yeah's regardless, it's
18:35
Speaker 4: not us.
18:36
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah. So interesting.
18:39
Speaker 1: I think you said the other day too that if
18:41
Speaker 1: we're not able to potentially get twenty twenty nine, there
18:43
Speaker 1: could be an opportunity in twenty thirty one, right, I.
18:47
Speaker 4: Mean that's the hope.
18:48
Speaker 3: The hope is we get it in twenty nine, and
18:50
Speaker 3: kind of the backup plan is perhaps thirty one.
18:54
Speaker 4: We'll see, Yeah, it was just like when.
18:57
Speaker 3: France was selected for or the Olympics. Los Angeles did
19:02
Speaker 3: a great job of showing why LA should be selected
19:05
Speaker 3: and so they were instead of having to go through
19:07
Speaker 3: another round of bids, they put Los Angeles in for
19:10
Speaker 3: the the next series of Olympics. So we're hoping that
19:13
Speaker 3: if we don't get it, that twenty thirty one is
19:16
Speaker 3: are here.
19:17
Speaker 1: I think it was really interesting because we were at
19:20
Speaker 1: an event at the University Club and the gentleman I
19:24
Speaker 1: don't know if that was the COO who came up
19:26
Speaker 1: and spoke at the microphone the CEO CEO, but he
19:31
Speaker 1: led me to believe that with how he described San
19:35
Speaker 1: Diego and some of the stuff that you brought up
19:38
Speaker 1: about San Diego, the way he described it kind of
19:41
Speaker 1: left me with a thing that we may be leading
19:43
Speaker 1: the cities right now and it's kind of ours to lose.
19:47
Speaker 1: For those of you who are in our audience today
19:50
Speaker 1: and with us. The gentleman pulled out a Tom Cruise
19:54
Speaker 1: set of glasses and let it everybody in song and
19:57
Speaker 1: put the sunglasses on.
19:58
Speaker 2: It was. It was quite an experience and.
20:01
Speaker 1: Anything to share on that from that Wednesday night, just
20:04
Speaker 1: a week ago.
20:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was exciting.
20:06
Speaker 3: We had a lot of folks show up to that,
20:08
Speaker 3: a lot of community partners. It's been it's been a
20:12
Speaker 3: great experience. You know, there's a bid team. They're managing
20:17
Speaker 3: this whole process of of giving this this opportunity together,
20:22
Speaker 3: and myself and one of my colleagues are kind of
20:26
Speaker 3: advising and helping get those connections for this organization. So yeah,
20:32
Speaker 3: once when it all came together and everyone showed.
20:34
Speaker 4: Up, it was it was wonderful. So yeah, I think
20:36
Speaker 4: we oppressed them.
20:38
Speaker 1: And I think we have San Diego has Invictus Games
20:41
Speaker 1: San Diego website where our viewers or listeners today could
20:45
Speaker 1: go out and find out more information about the Invictus Games,
20:48
Speaker 1: because I think that's really going to be big for
20:51
Speaker 1: our veteran community, our active military community in San Diego
20:54
Speaker 1: as a whole.
20:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, they want to.
20:55
Speaker 3: Learn more about it and what that bid looks like.
20:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, they should go to that website.
20:59
Speaker 1: Okay, we'll let's shift for a minute and kind of
21:02
Speaker 1: back to some of the things happening key for our
21:06
Speaker 1: active military and veterans in San Diego. A question what
21:10
Speaker 1: are we getting right and where do we still need
21:13
Speaker 1: to be honest about improvements for veterans in our active
21:16
Speaker 1: military in San Diego.
21:19
Speaker 3: I mean, you throw a rock and there's a veteran
21:21
Speaker 3: organization willing to help people out. So I think from
21:25
Speaker 3: a carrying capacity and a desire to help veterans, we're
21:29
Speaker 3: doing that in spades.
21:30
Speaker 4: We're doing a great job there.
21:33
Speaker 3: I think where I think every community could do better
21:36
Speaker 3: in this area, or the country could do better in
21:39
Speaker 3: this When folks transition out of the military, they haven't
21:45
Speaker 3: had opportunities to interview for a job. Every you know
21:48
Speaker 3: is often as someone their same age in peer group,
21:52
Speaker 3: so they're often like lacking some of these skills. And
21:56
Speaker 3: I think employers, and this is something that I'm eployers,
22:00
Speaker 3: if they just understood this, they might have a little
22:03
Speaker 3: more grace for someone coming straight out of the military looking.
22:05
Speaker 4: To work for them.
22:06
Speaker 3: So if we could find a way to bridge that
22:08
Speaker 3: skill gap and then also encourage employers to maybe take
22:12
Speaker 3: a chance, I think we could we could really help
22:15
Speaker 3: improve the lives of our veterans.
22:17
Speaker 1: Great input, and how did community based organizations complement government
22:23
Speaker 1: efforts and what government can't do. If you could talk
22:27
Speaker 1: to that bean you're working for the mayor's office and
22:29
Speaker 1: you're working with multiple organizations out there. You know, what,
22:33
Speaker 1: what can we do more that the government can't do?
22:37
Speaker 3: I mean just direct access to resources. Like I had
22:40
Speaker 3: a gentleman call me and he was in the process
22:43
Speaker 3: of getting a voucher for housing and it was like
22:46
Speaker 3: two weeks before he was able to move in. And
22:48
Speaker 3: during that time, he's living on the street with his dog,
22:52
Speaker 3: and there's not a lot of places it'll take someone
22:54
Speaker 3: with a dog or a pet in general, and so
22:57
Speaker 3: he's like, I just need some food and some clothing.
22:59
Speaker 3: And I can't provide him with clothing. I don't have
23:02
Speaker 3: those resources personally. But I was able to call support
23:05
Speaker 3: the Enlisted Project and Tony Treverian and his team were like,
23:09
Speaker 3: what can we what does he need? Let me know,
23:12
Speaker 3: come by the warehouse, pick up whatever you think the
23:14
Speaker 3: shettleman needs. And I was able to deliver a box
23:18
Speaker 3: of goods and this guy was, you know, overwhelmed with
23:22
Speaker 3: the generosity of the community and that kept him afloat
23:27
Speaker 3: until he was able to get into housing. And I've
23:28
Speaker 3: checked in on him a couple of times and he's
23:31
Speaker 3: got an apartment. He's happy, and he's he's stabilizing and
23:34
Speaker 3: he's waiting for an opportunity to pay it forward. So yeah,
23:37
Speaker 3: that's that's something the community can do, is just give
23:40
Speaker 3: people things.
23:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I just we don't have that ability
23:44
Speaker 4: as government employees, right, Yeah, you.
23:46
Speaker 1: Know, our courage to call program we do that. I think,
23:49
Speaker 1: as you know, two times a month we're feeding, right,
23:52
Speaker 1: anybody who needs food can come by. We team with
23:54
Speaker 1: Feeding San Diego. We've had four hundred people come through
23:58
Speaker 1: in a weekend. Well, when we talk earlier about it
24:00
Speaker 1: food and securities today, it's a real need out there
24:03
Speaker 1: in our communities to be able to feed and be
24:06
Speaker 1: able to hand out food. We're expanding our feeding. We're
24:10
Speaker 1: putting in new refrigerators and freezers at our office building
24:13
Speaker 1: in Kearney, Mesa, so when we can get fresh food
24:16
Speaker 1: during the week because a lot of times we'll get
24:18
Speaker 1: people coming to us from the VA. I'm brought over
24:22
Speaker 1: for groups and for therapy and stuff, and we can
24:24
Speaker 1: clothe them, we can feed them. So I just, you know,
24:27
Speaker 1: I hear that all the time that there's such a
24:29
Speaker 1: need for all of that out in the community to
24:31
Speaker 1: be great, to be able to coalesce a lot of
24:33
Speaker 1: these groups together, and we pick a Wednesday or pick
24:36
Speaker 1: a Saturday of the month where veterans could go to
24:39
Speaker 1: different areas or maybe even shuttle buses to take them
24:42
Speaker 1: around get clothing, get food, and.
24:44
Speaker 2: Stuff like that. So it's interesting. Thank you for sharing that.
24:49
Speaker 1: So now this is one of my favorite parts of
24:52
Speaker 1: the show. We get community questions. We can draw right out.
24:55
Speaker 7: Of out of the cup here and we have our
24:59
Speaker 7: first question, and our first question is from Brandon from Escondido. Ask,
25:08
Speaker 7: how did your own transition out of uniform, although you're
25:11
Speaker 7: not fully out of uniform yet, shape the way you
25:14
Speaker 7: now approach advocacy and decision making for veterans.
25:18
Speaker 2: Here in San Diego. So I.
25:22
Speaker 3: My Navy personal career, all that's kind of convoluted. I
25:26
Speaker 3: was a police officer for a while, and so you know,
25:29
Speaker 3: that's like serving in the military. It's a very specific
25:32
Speaker 3: set of skills that you're trained into and you to
25:36
Speaker 3: a bunch of random things. And then I went on
25:40
Speaker 3: some period of active duty where I was working with Jaysock,
25:44
Speaker 3: which is a great organization in the military. And at
25:48
Speaker 3: that point I was ready to start a new term
25:51
Speaker 3: in my life and look into a new career, and
25:55
Speaker 3: I was trying to get into human resources and recruiting,
25:58
Speaker 3: and every door was just shutting.
26:00
Speaker 4: And so.
26:02
Speaker 3: That experience led me to start networking and working on
26:07
Speaker 3: my resume and like, what's wrong with what I'm presenting
26:10
Speaker 3: that's turning people away from my applications? And so I
26:14
Speaker 3: really did a lot of work on myself. But what
26:18
Speaker 3: I heard a lot was like, we don't see how
26:20
Speaker 3: this experience is translating into this job and whatever. So
26:26
Speaker 3: I learned how to network and I started finding other
26:29
Speaker 3: groups that were really good at helping people network. And
26:32
Speaker 3: so once I got into local government and into a
26:37
Speaker 3: recruiting type position, I didn't want to pull the ladder
26:40
Speaker 3: up after me. I was like, how can I help
26:42
Speaker 3: other people? How can I make this easier for them?
26:45
Speaker 3: So that's how I got into this space.
26:48
Speaker 1: Well, I have a question, but I'm not going to
26:50
Speaker 1: pull it out of the coffee mug there, But how
26:53
Speaker 1: did you end up at Mary Gloria's office? How did
26:55
Speaker 1: you connect with Todd? And I've known Todd for years
26:58
Speaker 1: and supported him since he was any council member, and
27:02
Speaker 1: uh so how did you get connected with Todd? And
27:05
Speaker 1: they opened a door for you?
27:06
Speaker 2: So that's true.
27:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, they definitely did.
27:07
Speaker 3: This position didn't exist before I stepped into it, so,
27:11
Speaker 3: but they had posted it on like a local job
27:13
Speaker 3: board and a marine friend of mine, she and I
27:17
Speaker 3: worked together at the City of Carlsbad, she came across
27:20
Speaker 3: this job description. She's like this, this sounds like exactly
27:23
Speaker 3: like what you talk about all the time.
27:26
Speaker 4: You should you should apply.
27:27
Speaker 2: So I applied.
27:29
Speaker 3: I think they had like two hundred applicants, and wow,
27:32
Speaker 3: I made it to the short list and interviewed and
27:34
Speaker 3: apparently I said something right, Yeah, it resonated, and like
27:39
Speaker 3: within within a day or so, I got a call
27:41
Speaker 3: asking me to like, can we call your references and
27:43
Speaker 3: like yes, like if I'm definitely interested in this role.
27:47
Speaker 3: So my my position like sits in HR, but I
27:52
Speaker 3: report to maryor Glory as well.
27:53
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:54
Speaker 1: Interesting, what's the most exciting thing in your job?
27:58
Speaker 3: It's a lot of job descriptions have like other duties
28:01
Speaker 3: as assigned. I think that's probably that should have just
28:04
Speaker 3: been the only job description part of the job description,
28:07
Speaker 3: like it do so many like random things that I
28:10
Speaker 3: never would have thought about. You know, I'd never met
28:13
Speaker 3: the mayor before I started this role, and I'd worked
28:16
Speaker 3: in local government at the county level or other cities.
28:20
Speaker 3: But being able to work with such like a great
28:21
Speaker 3: leader has been amazing. And then just being in the community,
28:26
Speaker 3: being able to help people, being in that point of
28:28
Speaker 3: contact for people to direct them to resources.
28:31
Speaker 4: It's just been it's been great.
28:33
Speaker 2: That's great.
28:33
Speaker 1: Well, let's take one more question here. I think we
28:36
Speaker 1: have one more left. Okay, So this question comes from
28:40
Speaker 1: Adrian and Powway. San Diego has an incredible number of
28:44
Speaker 1: veteran resources, but it can still feel overwhelming. What do
28:47
Speaker 1: you see as the biggest gap veterans and families face
28:51
Speaker 1: when trying to find help? How does local coordination actually
28:55
Speaker 1: make a difference.
28:56
Speaker 2: There's a lot in that question. Yeah, there's a lot.
28:58
Speaker 2: That's a past question.
28:59
Speaker 4: Let's see if I can answ.
29:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are a lot, and yes, it can feel overwhelming.
29:04
Speaker 3: I think for an individual, they just have to be
29:09
Speaker 3: willing to ask for help. I think that's a big barrier.
29:12
Speaker 3: Is that that people they don't ask or they take
29:16
Speaker 3: one shut door as like the final answer, because there
29:21
Speaker 3: are so many folks out there. If one group can't
29:24
Speaker 3: help you, another group can. For instance, I keep mentioning
29:29
Speaker 3: the Wounded Warrior Project. Yeah, but they have like financial
29:32
Speaker 3: counseling and financial services, but they have limitations based off
29:36
Speaker 3: of their donors and what they're able to do. And
29:38
Speaker 3: if you are not eligible for their resource. The people
29:42
Speaker 3: that assist, like the actual human being that works on
29:46
Speaker 3: those teams. They're often connected to other resources. It can
29:49
Speaker 3: use those resources that are similar but through a different organization,
29:52
Speaker 3: right or you know, if you go to Feeding San
29:56
Speaker 3: Diego for instance, like they're connected to a bunch of
29:59
Speaker 3: other organizations here. So if you're struggling to pay for food,
30:05
Speaker 3: you probably have some other financial issues as well. Perhaps
30:08
Speaker 3: you don't have a job, perhaps you're not managing your
30:10
Speaker 3: finance as well, perhaps you're in a lot of debt,
30:13
Speaker 3: a lot of things that could be. Not being able
30:16
Speaker 3: to pay for food is a symptom probably of a
30:19
Speaker 3: larger problem.
30:20
Speaker 4: And so.
30:22
Speaker 3: Being willing to have those conversations about like what's the
30:24
Speaker 3: illness here, what's actually causing you to have to go
30:28
Speaker 3: get food?
30:28
Speaker 1: You got to ask for help if you need help, because,
30:31
Speaker 1: like you said, there's a bigger picture here that's going
30:33
Speaker 1: on with the individual.
30:35
Speaker 2: If they're hungry, and I.
30:36
Speaker 1: Like what you said about FIDE San Diego, go to
30:38
Speaker 1: their office and it's like a wall of you can have.
30:41
Speaker 1: You can find a job, you can find somebody who's
30:44
Speaker 1: got these services or those services at Admiral Bob's location.
30:49
Speaker 1: So one more question today. Oh and this one's from
30:55
Speaker 1: Jeanie and La Joya for veterans or family members listening
30:59
Speaker 1: whom might be struggling but unsure where to start. What's
31:03
Speaker 1: the most important thing you want them to know right now?
31:06
Speaker 4: They're not alone.
31:08
Speaker 3: There's so many veterans in this area. Like, your experience
31:11
Speaker 3: is unique, You're an individual, but there are so many
31:15
Speaker 3: people that have experiences that are probably close to something
31:19
Speaker 3: that you're dealing with. So going to a place where
31:24
Speaker 3: veterans are your VFW or your go on the internet
31:29
Speaker 3: and look for Wounded Where Project's website and see what
31:31
Speaker 3: they have listed as available resources.
31:33
Speaker 1: Like the Sandio Veterans Coalition exactly right, it's pretty big
31:36
Speaker 1: in town.
31:38
Speaker 3: Like, once you start peeling back that onion, you'll realize
31:40
Speaker 3: there's a lot of resources. And so I think just
31:43
Speaker 3: being willing to ask for help is just probably the
31:47
Speaker 3: best first step.
31:49
Speaker 1: Well, John has been great to have you today. Really
31:52
Speaker 1: want to thank you for coming on our podcast and
31:54
Speaker 1: sharing about the Invictus Games and sharing your experience and
32:00
Speaker 1: appreciate your service and your continuous service. Have one final
32:03
Speaker 1: question for you, what do you want to leave our
32:05
Speaker 1: audience with today.
32:08
Speaker 3: I want to be a point of contact of resource
32:10
Speaker 3: for anyone in the community. And so if there's someone
32:14
Speaker 3: struggling and they just need someone to talk to, or
32:16
Speaker 3: they're looking for a job or then help with a resume,
32:18
Speaker 3: or they're struggling with food, reach out. I'm willing to help.
32:23
Speaker 3: I'm willing to connect you.
32:24
Speaker 4: And you know, I.
32:29
Speaker 3: Love what I do and being able to help people.
32:31
Speaker 3: It really brings me a lot of joy. So there's
32:34
Speaker 3: no there's no burden to being asked for help. Well
32:37
Speaker 3: that's great, and thank you again, John for being here today.
32:41
Speaker 3: As I close today's episode, I want to pause and
32:45
Speaker 3: practice something essential to well being and perspective, and that's gratitude.
32:52
Speaker 3: And I'm grateful for our veteran partners and community organizations
32:57
Speaker 3: supporting both active duty service members.
33:00
Speaker 2: And veterans across San Diego County.
33:03
Speaker 1: Special appreciation goes out for Feeding San Diego and Admiral
33:07
Speaker 1: Bob and his team for the great job that they're
33:10
Speaker 1: doing out there and feeding San Diego County and the
33:13
Speaker 1: whole community for their continued dedication and our courage to
33:18
Speaker 1: call program. And to the incredible staff at turn Behavioral
33:23
Speaker 1: Health Services, thank you.
33:25
Speaker 2: Every day you show up with.
33:26
Speaker 1: Compassion purpose, supporting more than fifteen thousand clients who depend
33:31
Speaker 1: on us. I'm deeply grateful for this team. To our listeners,
33:36
Speaker 1: thank you for spending time with us today. Please like, share, subscribe,
33:41
Speaker 1: and as I close, I'll answer with the question that
33:44
Speaker 1: I opened with. There's nothing more important than improving lives,
33:49
Speaker 1: and together we are improving lives. I'm Jim Callahan. This
33:55
Speaker 1: has been the Behavioral Health Brief. See you next time.