Minot Vets for Vets opened its doors at 720 Western Ave., near the Minot Police Department.

Minot Vets for Vets is affiliated with Peer Vision, a not-for-profit organization for those who self-identify as having a mental health concern or concerns that significantly impact their day-to-day lives. Vets for Vets is offered specifically for former service members, which, according to the Census Bureau, make up about 10% of Minot’s population. It is a program that serves adults only, and membership and participation is free.

A grant for suicide prevention, along with other funding, allowed Vets for Vets to lease a previous architect’s office and renovate it to suit its needs, giving it a comfortable atmosphere.

A year ago, Minot Vets for Vets began holding peer support meetings, at which former service members gather and provide support and encouragement as well as listen to each other, said Tamra Huesers. Though she is not a veteran herself, Huesers has a background in peer support and helps veterans become facilitators for the program. The support groups hosted by the organization offer a chance to bring forward challenges the former service members are facing and talk through them with peers, she said.

Submitted Photo. An organization whose goal is to bring former service members together for peer support began offering services in a new facility Monday.

Peer Vision took charge of the group last November, giving it structure and some continuity.

Sarah Lewis, an Army veteran and now a project manager for Peer Support, said when she left the service, she didn’t have a group of people to communicate and interact with who had gone through similar struggles.

“It’s so different to leave the military. Whether (National) Guard or active (duty), it doesn’t matter. You’re leaving a group of people that have similar mindsets and backgrounds, and then you’re alone,” Lewis said.

She said she wants to incorporate service members leaving the military into the Vets for Vets program to “give them a new family, new people, people they can relate to.”

She pointed to Vernna Anderson Jr,. a member of the group, explaining he has a wide knowledge of the opportunities and benefits provided to veterans. She told how he makes his knowledge a resource for anyone to use. Any other veteran can do the same in the group, she said.

Submitted Photo. Vernna Anderson Jr. and David Van Lith speak about the benefits of the Minot Vets for Vets organization.

When attending a group meeting for the first time, people can expect “a welcoming and open environment that is going to be a safe place to talk about wherever someone is feeling, if they want to, or just to listen to other veterans … to really just have a family,” Lewis said.

Some people come to meetings to just watch, said Anderson Jr. He told about a man who came to a different group and sat in the parking lot for six months. The man eventually came inside and watched meetings for another six months. After a year, he finally started participating. Anderson Jr. said when people like him step in and speak, it inspires others to do the same.

Sherry Brinson, who brought her service dog, S.D. Jackson, with her, talked about Jackson acting as an ice-breaker at meetings. S.D. Jackson is able to detect if someone is having a rough time, and he will say “hi” to people he thinks could use some pets as much as him.

“He’ll give someone a hug,” Brinson said.

Eventually Vets for Vets hopes to branch out to include not just service members, but their families as well, because families of service members also encounter unique challenges and obstacles, whether in the service or after, Lewis said.

Peer Vision also is working to be able to facilitate an expanded individual support program, in which veterans also can receive one-on-one support. That is partially why the program now has open hours through most of the week, Huesers said. They also are planning on adding the ability to hold meetings over Zoom, so people can attend while traveling, snowed in or occupied elsewhere.

Eventually, the organization plans to offer a women-only peer support program. Lewis said the organization hopes to spread the program to a wider community, looking to reservations and rural communities in the area, eventually having satellite locations.

Veterans involved in the program can become state-certified peer support specialists. Peer support specialists are not counselors and cannot provide medical or legal advice, but they are made knowledgeable of the resources in the community available to veterans.

The group gathered at the facility’s opening Monday acknowledged the difference can be easily mistaken. The term “civilian battle buddy” was used to describe a peer support specialist. Battle buddy is military jargon for a partner assigned to a person to assist them both on and off the battlefield.

David Van Lith, a peer support specialist, said counseling is a powerful tool but also asked, “What do people do the rest of the month?” He offered the Vets for Vets program as a helping hand to someone who may need support but can’t access it.

“We’re not trying to replace anybody else out there. We’re trying to be another option, another means of help,” Van Lith said. He also suggested that visiting the group regularly could lead to someone seeking more formal assistance.

“If someone doesn’t know where to go, and they are in crisis,” Heusers said, “we can make sure they find the resources they need.” She said the people in the organization know where their “pay-grade” is and know when to contact outside help.

Anderson Jr. said Vets for Vets is designed for veterans who are “basically sort of suicidal, or in crisis, That’s the basis of it, but they don’t have to be, because if they’re coming here on a regular basis, hopefully, that prevents the suicide and the crises.”

He went on to say if someone is in need, the people in the organization are not afraid to reach out to higher level care. He said the peer support specialists are willing to accompany people to higher level care as well.

“Connection is job one,” Huesers said. “That’s the first thing we have to do, get people connected to each other. That’s the first, most important thing that leads to all the other good things that follow.”

The group meets twice each month, on the first and third Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m, and invites any former service member or first responder to stop in and see what the group is all about.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 5:30 p.m., and an organization providing healing through music, called Guitars for Vets, will be there. Minot Vets for Vets also will join the Patriot Ruck on Sept. 6 at the Minot YMCA and participate in the Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk on Sept. 8.