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32 verbatim mandatory provisions from Veterans Treatment Court.
Eighteenth Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from the order's own text layer, harvested 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. Only sentences containing mandatory language (shall, must, may not, no later than, within N) are reproduced — the full document is in custody and is the controlling text. • To enter VTC, the State Attorney’s Office must first make a finding that you either suffer from a military service-related mental illness, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse disorder, or psychological problem, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or the experience Military Sexual Trauma, after consulting with the Veterans Administration. • You are required to bring this handbook to every court date so you can be successful in the program. • Any treatment your treatment provider “recommends” to you must be treated as if it is a direct order from the VTC Judge. • These may be suggestions from your treatment provider but for purposes of VTC they are direct orders and must not be disobeyed unless the VTC Judge, after consulting with the VTC Team, says otherwise. -- 6 of 22 -- - 7 - Transfer From Criminal Court to VTC You will be notified to appear in VTC for your case to be heard by the State Attorney’s Office to be transferred from the criminal docket to VTC. • You must give them an updated phone number and email address and notify them of any changes to your address or any contact information and always maintain effective communication with your officer. • There is a consent form you must sign which allows the team to share your information between team members only. • You are required to attend court at admission and otherwise as the court directs. • You must attend in person and cannot appear virtually without express permission of the Judge. • You are required to dress according to the dress code in this handbook whenever you appear in court. -- 11 of 22 -- - 12 - Treatment Plans Treatment is provided through the VA or other approved providers. • It is extremely important to be aware than any treatment provider may only “recommend” a course of treatment to you but to remain in VTC, those recommendations are to be treated as direct orders from the VTC Judge that you must to follow to be able to remain in VTC unless the VTC Judge states specifically otherwise. • You can get information about all these courses from your probation officer. -- 12 of 22 -- - 13 - Veteran Treatment Court Phases Phase One Approximately 4 Months – Assessment and Stabilization □ Court every two weeks □ Schedule and complete substance abuse and mental health evaluations as soon as possible □ Engage with treatment providers, the VJO, your Probation Officer and your Mentor □ Develop and comply with case plan from your treatment providers □ Drug and or alcohol testing fortnightly (approximately once every 2 weeks) unless otherwise ordered □ Assess housing and begin to change people, places, things and address financial issues □ Begin peer recovery groups, as instructed □ You need to have at least 60 consecutive clean urine days in a row, be 60 days past completing both evaluations to advance to Phase 2 and have the recommendation of the VTC Team to be able to advance to Phase 2. • Phase Two Approximately 3 months – Treatment □ Court approximately once a month □ Continue to engage with treatment/Probation Officer, the VJO and your Mentor □ Comply with supervision orders and suggestions □ Drug and or alcohol testing fortnightly unless otherwise ordered □ Complete DUI I or II and the VAP if you were arrested for DUI □ Complete the Strength at Home or the 26 Week BIP classes if you were arrested for domestic violence or any similar crime □ Continue peer recovery groups, as instructed □ Establish and maintain recovery support program □ Address ancillary services (i.e. parenting, family support) □ Demonstrate changing people, places, things □ From the start of Phase 2, you need to have at least 60 consecutive clean urine days in a row, complete your required classes and have the recommendation of the VTC Team to be able to advance to Phase 3. • Phase Three Approximately 3 months – Aftercare □ Court approximately every 8 to 10 weeks □ Continue to engage with treatment/Probation Officer, the VJO and your Mentor □ Drug and or alcohol testing fortnightly, unless otherwise ordered □ Complete relapse prevention □ Demonstrate continuing care plan □ Continue recovery support network □ Demonstrate changing people, places, things □ From the start of Phase 3, you need to have at least 60 consecutive clean urine days in a row, pay all financial conditions and have the recommendation of the VTC Team to graduate. -- 13 of 22 -- - 14 - Program Rules Appropriate Dress: • For example, undergarments, such as boxer shorts, must not be visible and short shorts should not be worn. • All participants, male and female, must have their midriffs and shoulders covered. • Any clothing displaying foul language, drug, alcohol, nudity, or gang symbols is prohibited. • If you are granted special permission to appear by video for VTC by the Judge, you must follow all dress regulations as if you were physically present in court. • You must maintain a controlled and civilized manner at all VTC functions. • Abusive behavior in any form, including insulting language, physical gestures, aggression, or other intimidating acts, will not be tolerated. • You are required to be on time for all VTC activities including court dates, urine testing and probation appointments. • You are required to bring your VTC handbook with you to all court appearances. • Factors to be considered are, but not limited to; your previous criminal history, your progress in VTC, facts of your new arrest, status of the prosecution of your new arrest, and your danger to the community and yourself. • If you are arrested for a new DUI, you will be automatically revoked from the VTC program if you are in VTC for a DUI and/or if you have a history of DUI offense(s). • An arrest for any crime that is statutorily ineligible for VTC, or an arrest for any violent offense, means you are presumed to be ineligible for continued participation in VTC • Revocation plus any other sanctions, including jail time, are available for any arrest. -- 15 of 22 -- - 16 - Drug Screening You are required to provide a fresh, clean, unadulterated, undiluted specimen of at least 1 oz (30 ml). • Throughout your participation in VTC, you are required to participate in random drug and or alcohol screening. • Some possibilities include, but are not limited to: • Cold and flu medications such as Sudafed, Contact, Tylenol Cold Plus, etc. • Allergy medications such as Claritin • Cough medications such as Robitussin • Cannabidiol (CBD) products • Diet pills, diet drinks (other than diet soda) • Herbs, herbal remedies, or herbal drinks • Kombucha • You must also refrain from eating any foods containing or made from poppy seeds which may cause a positive drug screen. • Additionally, you shall not buy, smoke, ingest, possess, or sell any herbal or other organic or chemical product, legal or otherwise, which may result in mood, consciousness altering, or similar physical effects. • You are not permitted to drink any fluids one hour before submitting a drug screen unless you have a valid medical reason that is documented ahead of time. • You are responsible for what you put into your body and if you a new medication, you must use it as directed. • If you are using anything at all, you must tell your treatment provider and your probation officer before you test. • When it doubt, talk it out. -- 17 of 22 -- - 18 - Court Participation Exceptions You must fully comply with all VTC requirements. • Are the date and the times correct? Is the diagnosis correct? Is your name correct? It is your responsibility to provide the discharge paperwork to your Court Manager within 24 hours of discharge. 2. • If you must take a drug screen on the same day as court you should do both, test in the morning and come to court in the afternoon. • Travel If you wish to leave Brevard County for the day or overnight, you must have pre-approval from your probation officer or approval from the Judge. • If you have tested positive for drugs and/or recently have been noncompliant, approval for travel may not be granted or even revoked if previously given.
To enter VTC, the State Attorney’s Office must first make a finding that you either suffer from a military service-related mental illness, traumatic brain injury, substance abuse disorder, or psychological problem, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or the experience Military Sexual Trauma, after consulting with the Veterans Administration.
Reviewer note: Document sha256: 5a2c77881e65f6a67ed86d928453240141680ab4c9d952101c56f8ea69a61f53 (615759 bytes). BenchPath harvested this circuit itself because no research corpus existed for it. Extraction is conservative: mandatory-language sentences only, so this rule is a faithful subset of the order, never a summary of it.
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