Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Tennessee benefits
otherstate

Veterans Treatment Courts — Twelve Named Programmes, Six of Them Outside State Funding

The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services publishes Tennessee’s recovery court contacts, including twelve veterans treatment courts by county and judicial district. They are hybrid drug and mental health courts using volunteer veteran mentors and family support organisations, and partnering with local VA offices so participants get their benefits.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services publishes Tennessee’s recovery court contacts, including twelve veterans treatment courts by county and judicial district. They are hybrid drug and mental health courts using volunteer veteran mentors and family support organisations, and partnering with local VA offices so participants get their benefits.

What it's worth: A recovery-court track built for veterans, with a volunteer veteran mentor and a route into VA benefits

  • The department states: "Veterans treatment courts are hybrid drug and mental health courts that use the recovery drug court model to serve veterans struggling with addiction, serious mental illness and/or co-occurring disorders."
  • The department states: "The veterans treatment court model uses volunteer veteran mentors and veterans' family support organizations to help defendants engage in treatment and counseling, as well as partners with local Veterans Affairs offices to ensure that participants receive proper benefits."
  • The department’s treatment court contacts page names twelve veterans treatment courts: Williamson County, Knox County, Davidson County, Shelby County, Hamilton County, the 10th Judicial District, the 16th Judicial District, Gibson County, the 8th Judicial District, the 13th Judicial District, Blount County and Montgomery County.
  • The same page states: "Courts marked with an asterisk (*) do not receive funding from TDMHSAS." The asterisked veterans treatment courts are Williamson, Knox, Hamilton, Gibson, the 8th Judicial District and Blount.
  • No eligibility rule, offence bar or completion outcome is published on either departmental page, and none is stated here.
  • The Department of Veterans Services’ own "Tennessee State Veteran Benefits" page was read in full this session and does not mention veterans treatment courts.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served, which is what this route is written around.
  • Your home is in Tennessee.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: Raise it as early in the case as possible
  1. 1Tell your lawyer you served. Nothing in a Tennessee charging document discloses military service, and the court will not route you to a programme it does not know applies.
  2. 2Find your court on the department’s treatment court contacts list, which gives the coordinator and judge for each programme. Twelve veterans treatment courts are named there.
  3. 3Check whether yours carries an asterisk. Williamson, Knox, Hamilton, Gibson, the 8th Judicial District and Blount are marked as not receiving TDMHSAS funding — the docket runs, but the wraparound services are funded elsewhere.
  4. 4Ask for a veteran mentor by name. The model the department describes uses volunteer veteran mentors, and that is the part participants say does the work.
  5. 5Ask the court to loop in the local VA office. The department’s description has the courts partnering with local Veterans Affairs offices specifically to make sure participants receive proper benefits — a claim can be started while the case runs.
  6. 6If your county has none of the twelve, ask counsel whether the case can be heard in a judicial district that does. Four of the twelve entries are judicial districts rather than single counties.
  7. 7Ask what completion achieves in that specific court. Neither departmental page states an outcome, so it is set locally.
Form
None — raised through counsel in the case
File with
The court hearing your case, through defence counsel; the recovery court coordinator listed by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is not on the Department of Veterans Services’ benefits page. That page was read in full this session and lists property tax relief, recreation, motor services, burial, state homes, wine shipping, discharge registration and the medal protection programme — and no court programme at all. A veteran looking only there will never find this.
Worth knowingHalf the veterans treatment courts on the state list are marked as not receiving TDMHSAS funding. That is a fact about where the treatment money comes from, not a sign the docket is closed — but it is worth asking what services are actually attached before entering.
Known gapNo eligibility criteria, offence bar, programme length or completion outcome is published on either departmental page, and no Tennessee Code section was reachable this session. Those are questions for the court coordinator named on the contacts list.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.