COOS BAY — They are warriors. They see themselves as strong. They don’t realize — or don’t want to believe —  they need help.

Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder discover months or years later it takes more than time and a few drinks to chase their problems away. A group of local organizations and volunteers wants to be there for those vets and their families when they ask for a helping hand.

Veteran and retired physician John Mesquita said many vets are brought back home and dropped into society without much of a transition. They go through a period when they feel they just need to “man up” and handle service-related problems on their own. Family and friends are more likely to notice the signs of  PTSD before the vet.

“The common denominator is do they ask for help,” he said.

Mesquita helped built a partnership between the Coos County National Alliance on Mental Illness, local Department of Veterans’ Affairs mental health professionals and the Nancy Devereux Center to start weekly PTSD group counseling sessions in Coos Bay. The sessions are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The goal of the sessions is to offer a comfortable place for vets  and their families to find helping and understanding.

“We want to give more than lip service,” Mesquita said. “We want this to be a step up, stand up and do the right thing kind of service.”

Monday sessions are for all veterans seeking counseling. Wednesday  sessions are directed at vets who have served and returned in the last 10 years, and each Friday special support groups are scheduled for families of vets suffering from PTSD.

The first group counseling session is on June 29 at the Nancy Devereux Center, 1200 Newmark Ave. in Coos Bay.

Mesquita said the idea started when VA Addiction Therapist Melvin Tucker told him one of the of missions to the VA is community outreach. The retired doctor knew largely unused Nancy Devereux Center would be a perfect setting.

“Here we’ve got this facility just sitting there,” Mesquita said.

Tucker added that sessions wouldn’t be directly connected with the VA, though North Bend VA Clinic counselors would facilitate the sessions following NAMI’s peer-to-peer counseling format. He said sessions will offer help to those who don’t want or don’t qualify for VA assistance.

“Sometimes they don’t feel comfortable with the VA,” Tucker said. “This is a neutral place where they can meet.”

Barb Anderson, the center’s volunteer director, said holding the group counseling at the center is in line with its mission in the community.

The center formed in 1979 to help community members suffering from mental illness. Mesquita said it started in the home of a concerned parent, Nancy Devereux, and eventually grew to the point where the group could buy the building on Newmark. It had paid staff until 2007, when county support ended.

 “This is just marvelous to put this building to work,” Anderson said. “It’s just something that happened and it is so good for everyone involved.”

Tucker and Mesquita want the counseling sessions to give PTSD sufferers a place to build relationships with professionals and other people who understand their circumstances.

“There just isn’t the kind of revenues there once was, so we have to work together,” Tucker said.

For more information, call 888-3202.