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The invasion of Ukraine has been difficult to watch for individuals around the world. Feelings of disbelief and helplessness arise as violent images of murdered children, bombed apartment buildings and shelters, and fleeing families waiting in freezing temperatures at border crossings flash across our screens. This is especially challenging for survivors of World War II (WWII) and their descendants, particularly Holocaust survivors of Eastern European and Ukrainian descent. The impact, however, is not limited to this population and has been felt by survivors of war crimes committed in Bosnia, Syria, and elsewhere.

Social work providers are at risk of experiencing lower morale during disasters because of added emotional stressors, yet, dissemination of factors that impact a social worker’s ability to manage e...

Despite sharing similar job responsibilities, two distinctly different career pathways exist within the social work professorate in the United States: tenure-track and non-tenure track. Tenure trac...

Pop culture sources are effective tools in teaching content to Master of Social Work (MSW) students because they allow students to demonstrate sophisticated understanding of complex social issues a...

Academic literature exploring the experiences and needs among women in the social work professorate has yet to explore the ways in which work-life and family-life are compatible, including work-lif...

Disasters are a worldwide phenomenon. Social workers in mental health settings play a pivotal role in providing relief to individuals/families victimized by disasters, yet, how social workers ease ...

This article describes the development of a scale to measure how well U.S. military service members are transitioning to civilian life and reports an online survey of a sample of 197 veterans to as...

Research about social workers' impact during disasters is not widely recognized. Among the various roles social workers play during disasters are to handle asurge of clients and to support peers and leaders in their respective departments by filling in gaps in services. Dissemination of social workers' best practice approaches during actual disasters is important because their collective contributions facilitate their own resilience and improve their ability to care for their clients, which could inform other fields in the helping professions as well. Qualitative findings from (N = 8) US Department of Veterans Affairs social workers and social work leaders across the nation in regions that experienced hurricanes during 2017 and 2018 suggested the following best practices during disasters:1) adapting new roles;2) collaboration and organizational support; and3) practicing self-care. Findings suggest the need to enhance content in social work education and training with the knowledge and skills pertaining to providing services in disaster settings. During disasters, it is important for social workers to both collaborate with their team and to practice self-care in order to be most effective for their clients.

The US military–prostitution complex is a form of institutionalized sexual exploitation of women around American bases located worldwide. From the historical World War II “comfort women” in Japan to the Korean War “camptowns” used for service members’ rest and recreation and the current phenomena of global sex tourism and sex trafficking, the US military has played a role in not only imperialism and attempts at global domination but also the objectification of women. A feminist transnational perspective renders the patriarchy and hypermasculine military culture that involves an “othering” of women and examines the abuse of power in gender relations from an international and militaristic lens. Women, regardless of social and economic status, race/ethnicity, or nationality, can empower themselves to take action through various grassroots network organizations to resist militarism in its various forms, advocate for equity, and promote justice for women and girls worldwide.

This article provides a contemporary deconstruction of diversity, race and intersecting identities in America. The authors challenge current conceptualizations of race/ethnicity and difference via social constructionist, contextual and critical approaches through an essay format. Considerations for the helping professions (i.e., counselors, psychologists, social workers and psychotherapists) are offered through various lenses, including historical, political, social and economic perspectives, providing the opportunity for continued professional dialogue towards the promotion and understanding of social justice.

Combat veterans possess some attributes of differentness that may cause others in society to create stigmatized perceptions of them and devalue their skills. Direct interaction/contact allows targeted individuals—in this case, combat veterans—to demonstrate their value by dispelling negative attitudes or beliefs others may have of them. A previous study reported that the disaster relief setting facilitates contact among combat veterans and non-military civilians. This study applied Modified Labeling Theory (MLT) to assess if the stigma and labeling experience among combat veterans volunteering in disaster settings provides a nuanced understanding. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess perceptions of male Team Rubicon (TR) members (n=9) who provide disaster relief in civilian settings. All participants served in combat. Data were thematically analyzed. Findings suggest 1) combat veterans were not stigmatized by their label; and 2) personal contact with civilians impacted by disaster helped TR members a) to demonstrate their value, and b) feel more optimistic about connecting with civilians in other contexts. Our findings suggest that veterans working with peer combat veterans and civilians in disaster settings provided a destigmatizing condition whereby combat veterans felt less stigmatized by others and more interpersonally connected with civilians. It is recommended that since the majority of services for veterans come from civilian community providers, it is imperative that providers be sensitive to military culture and experiences of those serving in combat to avoid further stigmatization of veterans.

Volunteers serving in a disaster context may experience harmful mental health effects that could impede rescue operations. Exploratory research suggests that combat veterans who volunteer in Team Rubicon (TR)-a disaster relief social service organization with the mission of uniting the skills and experiences of military Veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams-have positive mental health responses when providing disaster relief. The objective of this qualitative study was to identify those nuances associated with combat veterans' mental health response in TR. The study consisted of (N = 9) male combat Veterans who volunteered with TR. Data was thematically analyzed. Results suggested that members did not experience negative mental health effects because of prior military training and preparedness relevant to disaster situations. Positive outcomes in mental health were associated with the uniqueness of peer support in TR and applying skills from military training. Veterans in TR reported that providing disaster relief afforded them the opportunity to continue serving others after having served in the military. Implications for public health social work are discussed as well as the need for further research.

This essay in “Notes from Field” illustrates the use of poetry therapy through a narrative lens into the inner world of a combat veteran. Through a poem written by a military veteran, a psychotherapist interrupts the poem with alternative possibilities as a means of narrative reconstruction with the client. Poetry, after all, befuddles the reader, not to mention the poet, with poetic devices: multiple-layered metaphor, altered cadences, vague allusions, and grand illusion. The reader is left with the question of what lies ahead of the therapist facing a poem-narrative and a combat veteran client struggling for meaning and hope post war.“War is ultimately life-destroying, but warriorhood and poetry are life affirming. Poetry can contain war's horror in its grace, chaos in its order, and senselessness in its search for meaning” (Tick, 2015, p. 328).

This qualitative single case study examines the lived experience of empowerment of a combat veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who engages in volunteer, peer-led disaster response ac...

Parental involvement plays a significant role in students’ social and academic outcomes. Nevertheless, systemic ways of gathering parental views have not been used or highlighted in the policy arena or the literature. Using data from the first major statewide survey of parents in California, drawn from the California School Parent Survey ( N = 15,829), this study examined parental perceptions of school climate, school problems, and school encouragement of parental involvement. The findings question the roles that schools, and federal, state, and local policymakers play in supporting active school involvement of parents and families from nondominant ethnicities in the community.

Nearly all public school districts serve some of the 4 million military-connected students in the United States. Little is known about the perceptions of school staff and their understanding of the challenges facing these students in their schools. Results from 4,616 California school staff in 2011 and 2013 indicate that many believe in their capacity to respond to the needs of these students. However, in many cases, they do not know whether particular challenges or assets exist. These results emphasize the importance of efforts to highlight the needs of this population and that school staff are integral sources of support.

This article addresses the destigmatization of mental health through health care reform by incorporating antistigma efforts—a destaining of mental illness—through prevention and early intervention in community-based programs that would be mandated and funded through the auspices of Patient Protection and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mental health care policies under the ACA and the Mental Health Parity Act are briefly described, following a definition of mental health stigma and its impacts. Recommendations for statutory mandates in stigma reduction at the community and federal levels and guidelines for mental health/behavioral health providers form the article’s conclusion.

American involvement in war has historically coincided with and caused large shifts in U.S. society. This is perhaps clearest in the roles that women embody, and the ways in which those roles and e...

The contextual factors and individual responses to the labeling of military-connected adolescents as “being in a military family” is an understudied yet important phenomenon. Minimal research construes the experience of being in a military family as a label applied to military-connected populations by people in society. However, social environmental factors associated with school setting among military-connected adolescents being in a military family have common components to the process of self-labeling. This article seeks to explore the concept and application of self-labeling by (a) providing a literature review of self-labeling among military-connected adolescents and (b) relying on modified labeling theory to identify any consistencies or potential nuances. The analysis of the process is strictly hypothetical, but could help to account for widely varying responses, sequence of events, and underlying reasons for the behaviors among some military-connected adolescents identified in the literature review and in light of the U.S. protracted military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Authors conclude by highlighting the need for future research to assess the adequacy of this self-labeling framework to ensure the healthy development of military-connected youths.

In the United States, military service encompasses the five branches of the Armed Forces and includes Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard forces. Military service for many veterans occurred du...

This article explores the conceptual question of how to best integrate military culture and issues into social work education. Military service members, veterans, and their families are returning to civilian communities with the ending of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and seeking community-based providers for health and mental health treatments. Civilian social workers need to have an appreciation for the unique psychosocial stressors and needs of this population to be able to engage and intervene effectively with them. The military lifestyle and its demands require an understanding of topics that include coping and adaptation to stress, ecological and systems theories, family roles and functioning, community capacity to support the population, and the effect of these across the lifespan.

This article illustrates the types of situations that U.S. uniformed social workers have experienced in combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the purpose of preparing current and future social workers to effectively serve military and veteran clients in either military or civilian settings. Vignettes demonstrate the application of the military social work competencies as delineated by the Council on Social Work Education based on the 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. Implications for social work education are discussed along with the use of case studies through a problem-based learning approach.

This article brings a postmodern philosophical perspective on the impact of U.S. media, cyber-technology, and the loss of the veteran hero in our current day American culture. Societal ambivalence, media depersonalization, and techno-war tactics along with the collusion of institutional under-responsiveness contribute to the metaphorical and real disappearance, or lack of recognition, and alienation of the veteran and his or her behavioral health needs. This phenomenon also speaks to the denial of community and governmental responsibility that in fact, we all as a society, share toward returning service members in helping them to reintegrate into civilian life with renewed sense of hope, health, dignity, and identity.

This special issue of Social Work in Mental Health focuses on the assets, challenges, and opportunities in improving the mental health and mental health care services for military service personnel...

This chapter addresses common elements of transition and how culture, identity, education, and re-entry into the workforce play a role in the success of service member transition from the military into the civilian sector. It offers community-based human services providers an opportunity to begin to understand cultural aspects with regard to the strengths and challenges that transitioning from the military to a civilian lifestyle can entail for Veterans. For many Veterans, the transition to civilian society creates a psychological invisibility which can be defined as a sensation of depersonalization and a feeling of being overshadowed by stereotypical assumptions and prejudices. Veterans are by the nature of their training a homogeneous group made up of common values and a military culture which guides their daily interactions. Providers need to examine the military population on a continuum, from active involvement in the military lifestyle to the wounded warriors to the Veterans transitioning into civilian society.