The Santa Clarita Valley Veterans Collaborative hosted a nationally renowned expert on issues facing veterans in transition, who spoke on the topic Friday at COC.

Dr. Carl Castro, who also a retired colonel, is the director of the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families in the School of Social Work at USC, one of the nation’s largest.

Click here to watch a live stream of the talk on the SCV Veterans Collaborative Facebook page.

The Fulbright scholar was there to reinforce some of what was known, as well as bring up a few notes  research being conducted by the center.

The SCV Veterans Collaborative is a local group being hosting by College of the Canyons at the moment, which is seeking to expand resources and information about those resources to the Santa Clarita Valley’s veteran community.

There were a few main themes everyone working in veteran advocacy should understand, Castro said:

The Santa Clarita Valley Veterans Collaborative hosted a nationally renowned expert on issues facing veterans in transition, who spoke on the topic Friday at COC.

“You have to be patient — don’t be discouraged if veterans aren’t immediately coming to you for support services. They’ll come in on their own — but be ready when they do come.

“It’s important not to judge veterans; people don’t like being judged, but in particular, veterans;

“Make sure that you understand that veterans usually don’t have one issue, they may come for a particular thing, but usually there are other things going on.”

Organizations such as the collaborative are the new model due to the understanding of this last point, Castro notes, the importance of a holistic approach to veteran services.

Dr. Carl Castro

Castro, who’s also the chairman of the NATO committee on veteran transition from military to civilian life, also discussed.this need.

“We need to be mindful of that,” he said, “that no matter how (the veteran comes into the collaborative), we’re not working in competition. Otherwise, we’re running from one whack-a-mole to another to address problems as they come up.”