BTM165 - Virginia Wimmer - CalVet Women Veteran's Division

Behind The Mission

Show Summary

On today’s episode, we feature a conversation with Deputy Secretary for Women Veterans of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, Air Force Retiree Virginia Wimmer, in which we discuss the importance of supporting women veterans and the services available in California

About Today’s Guest

Virginia Wimmer was appointed on August 24, 2021, by Governor Gavin Newsom as Deputy Secretary for Women Veterans Affairs at the California Department of Veterans Affairs. Prior to her appointment, Wimmer was the Deputy Director of Veterans Services and the County Veterans Service Officer at the San Joaquin County Health Care Services Agency since 2014.

While serving veterans in San Joaquin, she worked with Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Kronlund, CalVet, and other veterans support groups to establish the county’s first Veterans Treatment Court, which debuted in 2015. It identifies veterans in the criminal justice system who are eligible for treatment and court supervision instead of jail or prison.

​Wimmer served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force as Security Forces, cross-trained to Health Care Services Manager, and finally retired as a Senior Master Sergeant (E-8) in 2012. She did tours in South Korea and Italy, and deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

​ Wimmer earned a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She has been the education and training chair at the California Association of County Veterans Services Officers. She currently resides in Vacaville with her husband, Mike, and two dogs. She has two children.​

Links Mentioned In This Episode

Deputy Secretary Wimmer’s Email: [e-mail]

CalVet Women Veteran Services Division

CalVet Website

PsychArmor Resource of the Week

This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor course Communicating With Veterans. This course discusses how to communicate effectively with Veterans using communication tools, such as open-ended questions, affirmations, and reflections.

You can see find the course here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/Hiring-and-Retaining-Women-Veterans

This Episode Sponsored By:

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor. PsychArmor is the premier education and learning ecosystems specializing in military culture content PsychArmor offers an. Online e-learning laboratory that is free to individual learners as well as custom training options for organizations.

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Theme Music

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.

Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com