The Veterans Navigation Center Team has been assisting San Diego County Veterans since 2019, and is a pivotal member of the San Diego Veterans’ community.
The genesis of The Veterans Navigation Center comes from the work that Veteran-in-Recovery Jay Wylie (pictured, right) and addiction expert Scott H. Silverman (pictured, left) has done at Confidential Recovery. Confidential Recovery is an intensive outpatient treatment program for substance use disorders in San Diego that has been in operation since 2014.
Our journey with Veterans began in 2019 when we connected with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs Alcohol and Drug Treatment Program (VA ADTP). There was a huge unmet need for substance use counseling and treatment in the San Diego Veteran community. And because Confidential Recovery was certified by the California Department of Health Care Services (CA DHCS)and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Confidential Recovery was able to rapidly meet the needs of the VA ADTP, who had a waitlist of over 13 Veterans seeking treatment for substance abuse issues.
Since that time, has provided treatment and mental health support to up to 40 Veterans a week, working hand in glove with the VA to ensure the seamless integration of recovery and support services to help Veterans overcome their substance abuse issues and embark on a successful recovery and reintegration into civilian society.
However, the Confidential Recovery team rapidly realized that our Veterans were not facing only issues related to substance abuse. Most of our veterans were experiencing concurrent challenges, such as co-occurring behavioral health issues (PTSD, Anxiety, depression, etc.), or life challenges such as legal, family, housing, employment, or other issues.
Confidential Recovery Staff began to work with our partners to help our Veterans to overcome these challenges, but we realized that a more formal process was needed to meet these disparate needs, and out of this need the Veterans Navigation Center (VNC) was born.
