By Melanie Dallas, LPC
If you visit the Highland Rivers Behavioral Health website and scroll down our homepage to the Our Services section, you’ll notice there is a link specifically for Veterans Services. If you read the ‘Our Agency’ statement under the About Us menu, you’ll notice it says we serve adults, youth, families and Veterans. We have been purposeful about making sure Veterans know they are welcome at Highland Rivers, and that we have services designed to meet their unique needs. In fact, serving Veterans is a priority for our agency, and me personally.
As we celebrate Veterans Day, and the millions of men and women who have served in the United States armed forces, I want to share some highlights of our work for and with Veterans, because I feel it is important for everyone to be aware of what resources are available in our community for Veterans. You may not be a Veteran, but you almost certainly know someone who is.
One of the most important developments in 2026 concerns our Cobb Veterans Outpost in Marietta. We opened the Outpost in 2025 as a drop-in Veteran peer support center, but this year we began offering clinical behavioral healthcare services onsite. We also hired a second clinician, a woman, because women may also experience trauma during their service, for different reasons than their male counterparts. There is also a case manager and Veteran peer specialist at the Outpost to help Veterans find local services and resources. And although the Outpost is in Cobb County, it is open to any Veteran or family member.
We also prioritize linking Veterans with our services. Veterans who call Highland Rivers’ main service line (800-752-5700) are quickly connected with a member of our Veteran Engagement Team (all of whom are Veterans themselves) to help them navigate services, and referrals if needed. That could include our outpatient services, residential substance use treatment (which we have for men and women), weekly Veteran groups that we host in Cherokee, Paulding and Floyd counties, or other local services depending on the needs of the individual Veteran.
One area I am especially proud of is our partnerships with other Veteran-serving organizations such as the Warrior Alliance, an Atlanta-based organization that links Veterans to a wide variety of services. We have been the behavioral healthcare service partner for Warrior Alliance for several years, and this year, the organization asked Highland Rivers to provide Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training to all of its other service partners. It is a big job, but shows that suicide prevention among Veterans continues to be a priority.
Highland Rivers is also the designated treatment provider for two large Veteran courts – the Cherokee County Veterans Treatment Court and the Cobb County Veterans Accountability and Treatment Court. These courts help Veterans with mental health or substance use challenges who have become involved in the legal system receive needed treatment and rehabilitation – and also help Veterans build an ongoing relationship with Highland Rivers once their court program is complete.
There is one more commitment I want to make sure our communities are aware of, which always bears repeating: Highland Rivers Behavioral Health will serve any Veteran regardless of discharge status or ability to pay. Last year, Highland Rivers provided more than 6,600 individual services to nearly 600 Veterans, nearly 60% of whom qualified for some level of state-funded services. These funds, which originate in the Governor’s budget, help us continue to serve Veterans who might otherwise go without the help they need and deserve.
This Veterans Day, I want to say thank you, again, to all of our Veterans and their family members – for your service, commitment and sacrifice. We can never repay you, but we will always be here for you.
Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.