Let's Talk UNLV

0:00:00
Alright, welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNRV. On KUNV, you are with co-hosts Keith and Renee. Renee, how was your weekend?

0:00:15
It was great, but let's talk about Halloween. Because I went as a scarecrow. I was the cutest scarecrow. I had poncho, I had my little red nose with makeup, and I had things protruding to make my smile look like a scarecrow. And we actually had an office party. I actually brought in a photo booth expert, and we took pictures, and we had cupcakes. cupcakes and then for the staff that came in costume they got a specialty drink at Starbucks. So that was my Halloween. I don't have any kids and I don't want to do anything for the neighbors. My Halloween fun was on campus. But I know you have little ones, right? You have a whole household of family. So

0:01:10
what did you all do? Now if you see me looking sideways and around I'm trying to gather my thoughts Renee because I didn't get my office invite for.

0:01:19
I'm sorry.

0:01:20
That's all right.

0:01:21
I think Raven said you were busy.

0:01:24
Well yeah, you know, so, you know, I have a 13 and a six year old. So Halloween is still a big deal at our house, especially with the six year old. So, you know, he, he had two different costumes. He couldn't decide which one he wanted to wear so he sort of mixed them both. So he was okay he was the fireman when he went to school. When we actually came home trick-or-treating he was the fireman with the hybrid. He got this like this green sweatshirt with a hoodie that zips and it's like I don't know what it is. Then he had a mask underneath it then the mask over it with something he shooting had about five things mixed together so he was calling himself like the mega landing or something. He had a blast. He had a blast. I tried to tell him because he just learned how to ride his hoverboard. And so he's trying to ride the hoverboard while he go to the house to trick or treat. And I'm like, do you just a hospital visit waiting to happen? I'm not spending my night at the emergency room, especially while your mom is out of town. So I'm not explaining that. So you'll be in the emergency room.

0:02:32
Exactly.

0:02:33
So I was like, no, let's just walk. Let's walk it out. But it was great. The only part he didn't like, he didn't get to eat any of the candy. I let him pick two pieces of candy out of the bucket. Then the rest of the candy came to the office today.

0:02:46
So great Halloween.

0:02:47
But you know, I'm excited. You know, we have Veterans Day coming up as our next big holiday from work. We're in the month of November now. And so I'm excited that we have James Taylor, who's the project coordinator for the VITAL program out of the Veterans Office. So, James, could you tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got to UNRV and this position, and then we'll go into asking more questions about the actual program. Yeah, sounds great.

0:03:13
So my name is James Taylor. I'm a clinical social worker and I actually work for the VA. I ended up at UNLV through a program called VITAL, which we're obviously going to be talking about today. And really I've been in the VA for about 11 years. I was previously worked for DOD and I was in the Marine Corps and the Army both prior to that. So I've got a lot of experience with working with military and working with veterans and I'm just really happy to be a part of

0:03:39
this. Okay so I'm reading here that VITAL stands for Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership Program. Is that right James? That is correct. Okay so and

0:03:49
it's a little bit misleading because it's not specifically to put veterans into leadership roles but it is a program to help people become successful in their college career which will likely lead to something moving forward. Okay so what was the impetus to spearhead this particular program? Well I think that it's a great program and I had some experience myself going to a college and not knowing what I was doing and I there wasn't anybody there to really go to. There was people that were working for the school but I didn't feel very connected at the time and so I was one of those veterans that got out of the service, went to school initially and I because I was just a little confused a little off as to what was going on and I didn't ask for help right and so that was my own fault at that time but looking back had there been someone in a role like this where you know hey there's this is a VA person I can go talk to when I need some help or when I need some guidance I think I probably would have stayed at that time that was really the motivation to come work at the vital program as well as the population. When people are going to school, they're trying to better themselves and better their lives. And that's a great, great population to work with. You want to work with people who are out there trying to better themselves.

0:05:00
So I'm curious because we're always wondering how has COVID changed things. So for this particular population, do you find that veterans felt more vulnerable to explain or to ask, you know, for help, or did it make it harder? And then you have the virtual components. But then you have this student demographic that is resilient and trained and in many ways are heroes and might find it hard to ask for assistance, but still confused nonetheless, because college can be confusing. But I'm curious, how did COVID either help this program emerge or kind of present some challenges?

0:05:50
Well, I would say that it did present some challenges in the connectedness. So a lot of folks were isolated through COVID through this past year. And if you weren't already connected to the different programs or different things, it wasn't very easy to get to them. Once you were in programs, VA did a wonderful job overnight basically switching to a virtual platform and for years they had discussed and tried to get some different pieces going with virtual platforms but it all came right together. So people who were already involved in the process of whether it be mental health or groups or that connectedness with the VA were able to stay connected which is wonderful. The downside was if you weren't already connected, it was harder to get into the system because we were closed basically. You could come in for emergencies but to get enrolled and to do some of these other things was a lot more difficult. So we did notice that during COVID, it did impact both this program and the VA just in the connectedness piece of it and so that's something we're really working now. I'm on campus and happy to see people face to face whenever they're comfortable with that. And so I do think getting back together is a great part moving forward.

0:06:59
Within this new program, and now that we're back in person to some extent, sort of how have you run in a program as a hybrid program? And then what's been your sort of lessons learned

0:07:12
in this role thus far running the program? So lessons learned so far, I'm going to say I need to get out there a little bit more. So just like coming on the podcast today, I want to make sure that people are aware that I'm available. Ross is doing a great job with letting people know when he's face to face with them or when he's at different events. But I need to be out there as well. So promotion of the program is a huge part of it. Vital itself is really here to help veterans, one, get enrolled into the VA system, VA health care, but also to help weave through some of that red tape that comes with all government agencies. And so if they are aware that I'm here, it's a lot easier for me to help process and figure out what we need to get accomplished for them. As far as other lessons learned, for me personally, I'm in between two schools right now, so trying to make sure I'm identifying what's the best programming, I guess, for each school is something that I'm currently working to learn a little bit more. Both CSN and UNLV are a little different. They just operate differently. And so making sure I'm not trying to force feed anything to a program that may not match.

0:08:22
So what does success look like for you running this program, like veterans who are college students who come through and receive services through this vital program, what does success look like for them after they take advantage of all the opportunities and activities in the program?

0:08:39
For me, I would say that success, if we're gonna use just kind of a blanket term of the general success, is that they graduate. So a big part of the programming is to help people stay in college, stay on the campus, and accomplish what they're there to accomplish. And so when a person gets, if things come up in life that become overwhelming and distract somebody too much, obviously it's much harder to accomplish that goal. And so for me, for them to be successful, for the student veterans to be successful is graduation for the most part, but really it's up to them. You know, if somebody comes in, maybe they just want to take a few classes to figure things out and they decide, hey, this isn't for me. But I was able to at least experience this and go through the process and learn about myself and what matches for me. Really that successful. As a clinician, I can't really put what is successful for a person. It's up to them to let me know and I just want to help be a part of that process.

0:09:34
So talk to us about how this program is funded actually

0:09:40
through the VA. So there's no special funding for it. We had a group of people here in our behavioral health department that had worked with a vital program somewhere else and they started having a discussion about it and saying, you know, this is a great way to get out

0:10:11
there and be with the veterans, be with the school, and have a positive impact on both UNLV and the veterans without

0:10:05
So the funding is actually through behavioral health and I'm assigned to our behavioral health department.

0:10:09
But I'm basically loaned to UNLV. So that's kind of how that works.

0:10:14
So James, I'm the student life lady. Okay. So are there particular, I guess, events on campus, are particular signatory events that really attract veterans that I should know about? I mean are there things that that these are the events that you hear over and over that are either so memorable to veterans or they look forward to every year or you know they wish that an event was created because it would really make their experience so much more meaningful? I'll be honest with

0:10:53
you off the top of my head I'm not that familiar with it. That's kind of Ross's lane. Okay. I know currently he's talking about the Christmas party which I guess they do a Christmas party every year with the Vet Center and that's usually the talk of the year. Everyone's very excited about that. I know Friday we're doing the engagement breakfast with alumni and so that's So we're going to all be dressed up, suit and tie, and kind of mingling, talking with each one another, and seeing how everybody's doing after graduation, as well as promoting my services and the other services, as we want veterans that come through the programs here at UNLV and graduate and become alumni to feel that connectedness with UNLV and to come back, you know, to support in any way that they can. So I think that that's going to be a great time here on Friday morning.

0:11:38
Well, let's take it from another angle. Are there, I guess, stories or ways that veterans have come to you to say this is a need that is unfulfilled and whereby a program...

0:11:50
Yeah, I'm on the line, Ross. I can answer that.

0:11:53
Okay. So we got Ross Bryant joining us.

0:11:55
The true military man. Come right in and take the question.

0:11:59
Let's just let the audience know who Ross is. He's the Director of International Students and Scholars, Military and Veteran Services. Welcome, Ross. So, yes, is there a need that needs to be addressed that you hear over and over from our veterans that they wish UNLV in some way would provide?

0:12:15
Yes, absolutely.

0:12:16
So we've been running the Vet Center. I'm retired Army. We're so blessed to have the VA VITAL Program and James on board because over the last nine years, we have grown by 600% with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their family members attending UNLV. And many times what happens is in their transition, veterans have had numerous different kinds of struggles unanticipated during their transition suicides. Over a six-year period, we had six suicides. And despite our efforts to connect, there were times when a veteran would maybe not reach out for services at the campus even though those services were excellent because there would be this concept of, hey, they're not the VA and they don't know what I've been through kind of attitude, or they would be frustrated that the VA does a great job in serving veterans across the community, but sometimes it's hard to get a hold of someone to actually get the services going. So by having James in the VA Vital Program here, where he can be a personal concierge, a connection to help you, one, get the services you need, provide services for you confidentially, help you with the Vet Center which is a VA-funded counseling center for combat Vets that is confidential so that if you're concerned about maybe some of your issues and you're trying to get a job and those things. So there's been a need on many occasions where like any other Vet in the community we would try to get services in the VA community but we didn't have health services right here on campus. And so it is phenomenal to get this done. I'm just so grateful that we

0:14:12
have that partner now on campus. And then James, could you speak to, again, like for those veterans who are listening to the programming who want to reach out, make an appointment, or contact you, could you speak to like the days of the week that you're here on campus, where your office is located, or how they contact you, how they make an appointment to see you?

0:14:30
Yes, so I'm here on Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other Friday, but the easiest way is just to call my VA cell number. And I can, I don't know if you want me to put that out here or not, but that's at 702-250-3096. And they can call that number anytime,

0:14:46
whether I'm on campus or not. If it's after hours, I usually do my best to answer the phone and when I'm able to, I'll leave a message and I get back to you as soon as I can. The main piece of coming to see me is really, if you need mental health services, it's hard to go out and change our entire schedule and do all these things and still get the services that we need. So if you were to make an appointment out in town, this is whether you're a veteran or not. You have to take time off work, time away from school, you have to go to the location, you have to figure all that stuff out. Whereas this, if a veteran needs work on something, I'm right there. I will take walk-ins whenever I'm available. I'm over in the Greenspun building on the third floor in the social work area. I have a big sign on my door that says vital and that's room 3161. But the easiest way is to just give me a call and we can get something set up that way. Of course, she doesn't come over there if they need help, but I'm not available that day. I'd rather they just call me so we can set it up. If I need to come at a different day and I'm able to, I will. You know, the main thing is to be there and to meet their need. Could I also add that this has already had a positive impact. Starting this semester, we have such a great network, Keith, I know you're an Army vet, of veterans on campus, staff members who are looking for other vets, but we've had professors who've identified a veteran struggling in class. They've notified myself and then I've been able to contact James immediately where James was able to get resources to them immediately because they weren't even aware that we had that service to get that figured out and then help a student stay in school as opposed to have, let's say, a health issue that arises that results in them maybe taking a medical withdrawal or something like that.

0:16:34
And then Ross and James, could you maybe, or Ross, could you speak to some of those specific services or benefits that veterans receive specifically through the VITAL program that may not have been available to them in your general program offering through the

0:16:50
military and veterans office? Correct. So we have VA VetSuccess which is all education benefit oriented and if you are a disabled vet they have a special program for that but we never had VA veteran health services, therapy services directly on the campus. So we'd have to refer them out. So now with if you don't have a disability rating, so you're in the system and you can see what services are available. But he also has the ability to help us with some of our coursework for suicide prevention. He'll be part of that team and the outreach with CAPS, working in collaboration with them and us. He also has the ability to make appointments for those veterans, all confidential and all within the system. So it's just a whole new set of services that we never had before that we had to rely on trying to get connected to the VA off campus. And unlike any other vet, we would be in line or trying to get a hold of someone who could answer those questions.

0:17:58
So I have a two-part question. My first question is how are you using social media and your website to share with the UNLV community this vital resource? And are these services offered throughout the summer, whether veterans are enrolled or not enrolled? How is that service available year-round?

0:18:20
On our part, our website is in the middle of being updated, so all of that will be on there. But we'll also, through this ability to get the word out here, we also have posters at all the advising centers that currently show our services at the Vet Center and also services with Vet Success. So now it will have three categories. It will have the MVSC and certifying and what we do is the UNLV entity. It will have Vet Success, which again is education benefit oriented. And then they'll have a whole column of the VA vital services that are on campus including the hours and contact information. So those posters are in the middle of being built and then those posters will go out to all the advising centers. Everyone will have them in their advising center. They'll be all over campus and also on our website. So

0:19:09
uh...

0:19:10
I'd like to take the second part of that. They will be available during summer so I work year round if as long as I'm not locked out I assume they'll be away for me to get into the building. I'll be here and so if a person is not actively in a class but they still need services I will certainly be there and you know 365 days a year yeah we all have some days off we take vacation but you know somebody gives me a call they're going to receive a call back and that's a big part of what I want to promote is that I want to be that person that they can contact. Like Ross had said, if you call up to the VA right now, again it's a wonderful program but the communication piece has always been lacking. You call, you have to select, you know, press three for this, you go to the number three, then you're on hold and you may or may not actually get to speak to the person that you need to. And so with me being here, I can help alleviate a lot of that. I have direct access to a lot of people with a lot of programming. So if somebody calls me, I'm going to call them back and they are going to at least get the information that I have or I will work to find the best information I can for them. And this complements the VetSuccess component that we have family members with benefit, we have veterans with benefit, the laws have changed. So you can go to VetSuccess and actually talk to a person in Justin who has the ability to look you up in the VA system computer and literally print out your document that shows your benefits that you used to have to wait on someone to mail you a document from Oklahoma to allow you to then pay for your school. And that could happen within a couple seconds right next door to our main office. So those two entities that represent the VA to a veteran are huge. And any veteran on campus, not just a student, any veteran that comes here will be able to get services from Justin or James. So it's a wonderful program. We're just thrilled to have them on campus with us.

0:21:15
And then, Ross, I also want to give you some props for the recent article that was put forth in the new center, you know, the Paving the Way to a Degree for Student Veterans. And I see one of our staff was highlighted, Rayshawn Williams, in that program. He's a Marine Corps vet. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the student mentoring that's offered to veterans through your office and through other collaborative partnerships?

0:21:46
Yeah, so we're part of a Michigan program of 48 schools and we're a founding member in 2014. It's called TAVE, Peer Advising Veteran Education. It's run by my Air Force retired staff member, Dwayne Gordon. And so every semester he has 12 mentors. Many of them, like Ray Sean, are in the College of Social Work, and they are able to get their practicum experience and their learning objectives while they work in our PAVE office. And what happens is, in August, before the pandemic, roughly, we would have 300 new veterans and family members arrive in August, and about 100 in January. All 300 of those would be assigned a battle buddy, a wingman, a shipmate, whatever you want to call it, which veterans are used to in their service. And what happens is you have a coach who is a student peer who goes through training on resources and CAPS and VA Vet Success and VA Vital. success and being vital. And they go out and find resources all semester long and update our resource board and that will be on our new website that's being worked. And what happens is each one of these veterans who might find themselves struggling in their transition, they literally have a connection with a peer-to-peer mentor. And Ray Sean is a prime example. Combat Marine had some challenges. It's very well known that he had been justice impacted back in the day. He has done a phenomenal job. He works now with Keith. But that guy has been a phenomenal peer-to-peer mentor and he does all sorts of community events in town which then enhances his ability to connect people with resources in town. And it was such a wonderful article and an example of him becoming part of PAVE. He benefited when he first started with us and now he's in his master's program and he's hired with Keith. And it's really that one-on-one connection. So if a professor sees a veteran student struggling and they contact us, we might address the initial issue and then we assign them a peer mentor like Ray Sean who then follows up with resources and check-in and everything else to see how they're doing. Any of our students who hit the probation suspension list, Duane and I personally call them, find out the issue, could be something outside of school. We then assign them to a peer mentor like a Ray Sean who might have either the same degree, same gender perhaps, same branch of service perhaps, whatever the connection might be, to where they have then a battle buddy who is in their corner to help them navigate school and transition and try to work full-time while they're taking care of their family members. Keep in mind this population of vets, the average age is 30 years old, married with kids, trying to go to school. So we have the other categories of younger vets who are not married going to school too. But it's a huge transition trying to handle all of that. So having VA Vital, VA Vet Success, and the PAVE team, which we're going to talk at the breakfast tomorrow in detail, really just gives us this collaboration on campus. And our collaboration with the College of Social Work, that's a win for them too. Their students come over here, they can get mentored by James on how to get into the VA down the road when they get their degree, they also learn their learning objectives with us. It's just a win-win. And we're also, I'd like to do a quick plug, the reason I was late, I was on a call with Clay T. White at the libraries and the history department are trying to do a Library of Congress Veterans Voice Project that has not gotten off the ground because of the pandemic. And again, some of our student veterans that work for us will be part of the interview team with Clay Tee in the future next semester to where they capture those stories of World War II vets, Vietnam vets, and this generation of vets and those things will all be captured in audio and represent Nevada in the Library of Congress. So it's another indication of a collaboration. Now we're involved in that because we've learned when veterans tell their story it's a healing process for them in their transition and so the more that we can get that participate in that Congress Veterans Voice Project I think would be a benefit. Now Ross I

0:26:13
appreciate you letting us know why you were late but you know when I see you You don't have to drop and give me 10, right?

0:26:25
Yeah, you got it.

0:26:26
I'm on it.

0:26:27
I'm on it.

0:26:28
Renee, what was your takeaway from today's session?

0:26:34
I'm just always impressed at the way that UNLV is finding ways to connect students to that end goal of graduating and just holistically being successful. And the VITAL program is an example of that. And so glad to have James a part of the team with their experience and their passion and know-how. It's going to make a difference to our to our students.

0:27:02
What about you? Yeah. You know, being a veteran, you know, it just really makes me prideful to hear how Ross has come in and really stood up our veterans. And, you know, I just take my head off to Ross and I appreciate James representing the Veterans Affairs Office and bringing in the mental health and support services to students. And, you know, every time I meet with Ross, I'm always hearing about new programming, right? They're continually filling the gaps of our veterans, and I'm sure that, you know, we as veterans sometimes don't opt into those services. We don't make ourselves vulnerable, but I appreciate Ross's and James' commitment to establishing that rapport and showing up in the spaces where our veterans are to connect them to these vital services, to ensure that they reside post-graduation, and they fall into successful career paths post-military. So, Ross and James, thank you for your service, and also thank you for your effort in supporting veterans. I just want to add that I think it's important that the services be put as the foundation,

0:28:21
and the stories will come, because as Ross has talked about this project with Clay T. White and UNLV Libraries, we're going to hear from veterans that found themselves in a period of adjustment and needing that help. And now, as a result of services like this and more, they've been very, very successful. And so I think that services and the storytelling go hand in hand. And knowing that we're a minority-serving institution, and I know you're the money man, you know, Keith, when you think about the ways that we're able to show from a comprehensive way that we're addressing mental health, that we're addressing student adjustment, that we're addressing how students have risen out of the ashes from COVID, I mean, it's just a powerful story. And so I can see future grants and and future donors coming to UNLV to say, how can I be a part of this? Because this is so, so, so very important work that's being done. And really, we're being front runners in this work.

0:29:25
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode

0:29:28
of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. I'm my co-host, Keith. I'm Renee. I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12 on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. That's a wrap.

Transcribed with Cockatoo