The Butte-Silver Bow Veterans Treatment Court celebrated its two-year anniversary Tuesday with two new graduates, two new mentors and an extended federal grant to keep everything going for another year.

"Seventy percent of people that complete treatment courts do not re-offend," said Mike Clague, a Navy veteran, prosecutor and court team member. "They do not get involved in the criminal justice system again.

"So treatment courts work, and we know as a veterans treatment court, because of our veteran mentors, our success rate is going to be much higher," he said.

Dozens of people attended the ceremony in District Judge Robert Whelan's courtroom. Whelan and Butte City Court Judge Jerome McCarthy oversee the court's cases and a team of prosecutors, veteran mentors, mental-health and addictions counselors, coordinator Susanne Clague and others make it work.

Veterans courts across the country have proven successful in helping veteran offenders address addictions, mental-health problems and often co-occurring disorders. Fifteen offenders have been in Butte's court, and seven have graduated since it started two years ago.

In Butte, a screening committee identifies veterans who might benefit from the program and as part of their criminal sentences, they are sent to the new court and agree to its rigorous standards and commitments.

The commitments often include intense supervision, alcohol and drug testing and treatment, mental health services and case management. For 12 to 18 months, participants meet with probation officers, police officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys, and they talk weekly with McCarthy or Whelan.

Their closest partners are often their mentors — fellow veterans who join them for court sessions and group meetings and lend encouragement and guidance as needed. Mentors know what the veterans have seen, felt and been through because they have been through those experiences, too.

Veteran Mike Vincent, who coordinates the Butte court's mentor program, swore in two new mentors Tuesday — Guy Perkins and Rick Kenison.

"Our mentors served once and willingly offered to serve veterans again," Vincent said. "Their mission is to engage, to encourage and empower the veteran to successfully return to the community. We thank the mentors for the time they contribute to make this program a success."

But more than anyone, the ceremony honored the program's two newest graduates — Beau Bernhardt of Deer Lodge, and Robert Shearer of Helena. Their counties don't have veterans courts yet, but they qualified for Butte's program.

Bernhardt scanned the courtroom and said everyone had helped him.

"Everyone has helped in a little way or in a big way, one way or another," he said. "It's a tough program."

He gave special thanks to his mentor, veteran Dan Gardipee.

"I don't think either one of us really knew where we were going for a while," Bernhardt said with a smile.

Gardipee noted the rounds of golf, lunches, dinners and other times he spent getting to know his mentee and becoming part of his life. He said he got as much out of the experience as Bernhardt did.

"It was more like you were teaching me more," he told Bernhardt. "You inspired me, and I want to say thank you."

Shearer thanked his mentor, veteran Mike Lawson, and everyone else who is part of the court.

"It's a great program," he said. "I came all the way from Helena for this program. I wish we had one in Helena. I'd like to see them get one started, and I'd like to help out over there and get one going."

A $498,450 federal grant helped establish the program and even though there is money left, the grant was set to expire in September. But Clague announced Tuesday that it has been extended another year.

"So we have the resources to continue to make sure no veteran is left behind," he said.

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