Skip to main content

Becoming Veteran Ready

This summer I begin my formal training as a mental health counselor. I am starting early by signing up for professional development opportunities on my own. The first of these opportunities includes getting a Veteran Ready Organization Certification. This course is called, PsychArmor, created in collaboration with the Wounded Warrior project. As part of this professional development, I watched four videos and took notes to refer to later. The four videos include:
  1. 15 Things Veterans Want You to Know (video duration: 15m 56s)
  2. Helping Others Hold On (18m 44s)
  3. Communication Skills with Veterans (17m 39s)
  4. How to Talk to Someone with a Disability (10m 21s)
The first video stressed military cultural competence. Just like any major organization or institution, the five branches of the military and the reserves have their own culture. Working in higher education in a military town makes it very likely that I will encounter a veteran, active serviceperson, or someone from a military family. 

In the first and second video I learned a new term, called invisible wounds. This includes anything from PTSD, brain injury, depression, or suicidal ideation. Interestingly, the majority of even combat veterans do not develop PTSD. However, those that do are at a higher risk for suicide. This is especially serious given the help seeking is not part of military culture. Being that the highest rate of suicide among veterans is among men, ages 18-35 (college-aged), veteran college students may be at risk. 

The third video on communication skills supported the need for military cultural competence by describing the veteran/military lens or the way that they see the world. As in conversations with any student or client, we should never assume that the other person sees the world the same way as we do. Therefore, it is important to establish mutual understanding through compassion, acceptance, and partnership. Consistent with the technique of motivational interviewing, the use of open-ended questions, positive affirmations, and periodic summarizes are very important in conversations with veterans because they may not be as forthcoming with needs or problems that they may need help with. 

The fourth video was a review of best practices when communicating with students or clients with a disabilities. As an instructor, I am familiar with universal design principles which include People First language. For example, we say students with Autism as opposed to Autistic students. One that is not recognized as frequently is the preference for the term deaf or hard of hearing as opposed to hearing impaired. I learned this from a deaf student this semester. 

Overall, this information was a great reminder as I begin my training in mental health counseling and continue my research interviewing military dependents at college. I encourage you to learn more about military cultural competence and participating a PsychArmor training. Below is a picture of my former student and research assistant who is from a military family herself. Thank you for all your insights, Breanna!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Help with Homework - a Southside Library Success!

In case you have been following what my EDUC 2130 students have been doing at the Southside Library , here is another update . Last week was the last time the preservice teachers met with the K-12 students at the Southside Library. On the very last day, families and volunteers celebrated with food donated from a local Chick-fil-a and custom certificates for each participants. Over 100 kiddos were tutored in the 20 sessions at this semester with over 80 tutors volunteering as part of their field experience. Now I am reading all of the VSU students' reflections about their experiences. Every single student has admitted to having a positive experience. They noticed things about their own learning and the learning of the kiddos they helped. They noticed social processes and peer relationships forming. They also noticed the impact of socioeconomic status, food scarcity, and relative poverty in the Valdosta community. I think it is really telling that every student, faculty, staff, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Donuts and Intuitive Eating

On my commute to work each day, I pass by not one but two donut shops. I'm not talking about Krispy Kreme or Dunkin. These are two distinctly homemade donut shops - one in Thomasville, called  Nanee's Donut Hole  and the other in Valdosta, called  Dixie Cream Donut Shop . Each morning I have to fight the urge to stop in and buy a donut, not once but twice on my way into work. Often I think that if I stop in and buy a box of donuts for my students that it is in some way more altruistic and maybe that will pardon the unhealthy decision. The truth is that many of my students don't eat sweets. It seems that college students are a lot more  health conscious  than they used to be. Whereas, I remember eating just about anything that was free on campus as a student, some of my students routinely decline the free pop tarts the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministry) hands out every Wednesday. But I digress... Back to the donuts... Nanee's has a few specialities that can't go unm...
Post a Comment
Read more

Orientation at Southside

Being a professor can often be rewarding. This isn't to say that the salary is high or that the thank you notes pile up every day. It's all about the small victories and the change overtime. This past week I have had both! The small victory included a student coming into my office and exclaiming that they changed their major to education! This is the same student that had come in earlier in the semester having trouble applying educational psychology to her field. Instead, she just changed her field to education... More importantly, this week I have gotten to be apart of some change overtime. Over the past few months I have made it a mission to connect with the Valdosta community. This involved volunteering for the attendance matters campaign at Maceo Horne Learning Center (the alternative school in town), participating in Family Fun Night with my counselor education students at Pinevale Elementary, and working with Valdosta City Schools on their social emotional learning init...
Post a Comment
Read more