Vet Center outreach coordinator assists veterans like himself

Ronnie Johnson spent many years as a combat medic with the Army and later became a paramedic. When he started to endure mental health challenges, he turned to the Vet Center in Kalispell.  

These days, when other veterans are in similar situations and need help, he is one of the first people they talk to.  

“As an outreach coordinator, I'm able to say the same story, which is ‘Hey, I know a place. I went to that place and now I'm here,’ So, I'm able to give a good description of what our readjustment counseling services are, which are technically to readjust veterans back into the community. Because I think veterans are actually very, very good at that and have a lot of value,” Johnson said.  

Vet Centers, under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, nationwide offer community-based counseling for veterans and provide a connection to important resources.  

Johnson said it feels good to act as a sort of triage person for veterans who visit the center because he can set them on a path to success more quickly. He works with many different nonprofits and Veterans Affairs programs to help veterans, which could include talk therapy or getting involved with outdoor recreation.  

Veterans can carry the weight of their service with them long after they leave the military. It’s no different for combat medics like Johnson, who transitioned to doing his work domestically and continued to walk into hard situations as a paramedic. 

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, Johnson moved to Boise, Idaho to live with his mom at age 17. He would later join the military at the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in 2007. College was a struggle as he wanted desperately to help those fighting abroad.  

“I already knew that I wanted to help, and I knew there were people that were at risk of dying. It wasn’t necessarily the fight or the patriotism, it was more like the guys that I know that I went to school with — they're there, and is there any way that I could help them or be a part of just helping them? So, medic was a natural transition into the Army,” Johnson said. 

He was deployed to Iraq in 2009 through 2010 as a 68 whiskey combat medic specialist. He continued his career with the military when he returned to the U.S. by working in the emergency room at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.  

After that concluded, he worked to get his civilian license to be a paramedic.  

“I didn't think it was too bad, or anything that I wasn't ready for. I was able to be kind of neutral ... as far as how I felt about it. But I did come back as a single father, so then I had to endure that challenge with a military career,” Johnson said.  

He worked as a paramedic from 2013 to 2020. But that’s when he hit a wall.  

He was processing the secondary trauma he sustained working in health care. It’s a high-stress environment that he said feels great when people are in their 20s, but as time goes on it can wear on a person.  

"I think it happens to a lot of paramedics, medics, people in those fields in the military too. A lot of our veterans retire in the military, they retire at 40 and they are completely broken as far as occupationally, physically and mentally. It's a very difficult, high-stress environment, so to do that till you're 80 is just impossible,” Johnson said.  

Trauma can come out in ways that people don’t expect, so it can be hard to recognize when they need help. Johnson started having unexplained issues like insomnia and nightmares. He was working for the Smith Valley Fire Department in 2020 when he froze during a call. 

"There was a woman, and she had passed, and my entire military and paramedic career, I always felt like I had a good grasp of what to do. I kind of froze and I kind of did not understand what to do,” Johnson said.  

That was when he knew something deeper was going on. He also knew it was time to hit the brakes, but didn’t know where to start other than that as a veteran he could use the Vet Center.  

He started participating in talk therapy, which helped him realize he needed a career change. The Vet Center had him complete a psychological evaluation to explore other career pathways. Given he was recovering from secondary trauma, he decided against a career in law enforcement but selected social work.  

After finishing his degree, he was looking for an internship when it struck him that he could go back to the place that helped him too. But he also knew he needed to address his own trauma.  

“The Vet Center is about connection, camaraderie and community. So, I was able to get around people that I considered family. Veterans are only 7% of the U.S. population. This is a place that I could feel comfortable,” he said.  

Through individual therapy, he was able to process things that had happened in his life from childhood through his service in the military and beyond. He was able to work through those experiences to prepare himself for a new career as a social worker.  

Since then, Johnson has been assisting veterans. Through case management, he assists veterans with accessing their benefits through Veterans Affairs, while also putting them in contact with local nonprofits like DREAM Adaptive Recreation, which helps people with disabilities enjoy outdoor activities.  

The Vet Center in Kalispell is a little unique compared to others because they offer recreation groups, he said. It’s a focus for them because so many veterans who are from Northwest Montana or move here are eager to be outside.  

They’ve partnered with the Whitefish Veterans Support Team to offer free yoga and golf for veterans. Johnson said it’s part of a step-by-step process they use when working with people: they start in individual talk therapy, then move on to group therapy if they are ready, then to community-focused activities — which ultimately help them get readjusted to their new lives.  

In addition to recreation opportunities, he said talk therapy can be one of the most helpful tools for veterans working through mental health issues. It’s especially helpful when they are able to meet and connect in groups. 

“A licensed clinician will be in here running group counseling for other veterans in all age demographics. We have women's veteran group, we have post 9/11 veterans' group, a Vietnam group, among others,” he said. 

He said it’s exciting when veterans open up and become part of the community again.  

"The group therapy and recreation opportunities kind of lead them towards the process of being like, ‘oh, OK, this is, this is my community, this is where I live, this is what I get to experience,’" Johnson said.  

To learn more about the Vet Center in Kalispell, visit www.va.gov/kalispell-vet-center/ or call 406-257-7308.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com.