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From Service Member to Civilian: Supporting Current and Former Military Personnel

Schools of Social Work

By Peter Craig

When Eugenia L. Weiss opened her social work practice in Southern California in 1995 after getting an MSW at the University of Southern California, she knew little about military social work. But being near Camp Pendleton, she soon had active-duty service members, veterans and their families as clients. “I just fell in love with the population,’’ says Dr. Weiss, PhD, PsyD, MSW, LCSW, who is now associate dean at the University of Nevada-Reno School of Social Work.

service member and civilian talking at a table

On the other hand, Adam Preston, who recently got his MSW from Monmouth University in New Jersey, already had close ties to the subject matter: He was an army combat veteran. When Preston returned from Iraq in 2004, he “had issues with reintegration into society, and had a hard time finding specific programs geared toward veterans.” He also held great empathy for fellow vets going through the same thing. “That’s what got me started with military social work.”

Another veteran-turned-social worker is Aubrey Sutherland, who left the Marine Corps after a year because of health issues and a traumatic personal experience. Later, while working as the student veteran administrator at the UCLA Veterans Resource Center, she gained an appreciation for other vets’ experiences and also came to terms with her own. So Sutherland went to USC for a military-focused MSW and is now pursuing her PhD there.

Military Social Work Programs

When the first wave of service members started coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s, says Dr. Robin Mama, MSS, LSW, Monmouth University School of Social Work professor emerita and dean emerita, one faculty member was seeing a number of veterans in her private practice and “realized that a lot of social workers may not be ready to do counseling with people who’ve just been overseas and in the midst of a war zone.”

Monmouth University School of Social Work Dean Robin Mama with students638769822601483767

The faculty held a conference that included service members, community organizations and a social worker who had worked at Fort Monmouth. Out of it came the Coming Home Project, which created an MSW military sub-specialization under the “Clinical Practice for Families and Children” specialization; established a continuing education program to cover areas like PTSD and caregiver support; and involved student veterans in art projects and other efforts. There are related MSW courses like “Social Work with Military Families,” and internships are required. (Pictured at left: Monmouth University School of Social Work Dean Robin Mama (center) in April 2023 with MSW students Adam Preston and Jacklyn Henry, who are holding their Impact Awards from the university’s Student Veterans Association for dedication and commitment to veterans in New Jersey’s Monmouth County.)

In 2022 and 2023, then-MSW student Jacklyn Henry did an internship with the Coming Home Project itself. Henry says she organized such events as “Thera-Paws,” where therapy dogs helped alleviate anxiety and depression among student veterans, and the “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Challenges to Warriors, Warrior Families, and Practitioners Workshop,” conducted by Col. (Ret.) Jeffrey S. Yarvis, PhD, LCSW, ACSW, BCD, senior professor of practice, Tulane University School of Social Work.

Adam Preston also had an internship with the Coming Home Project and another with Monmouth’s Student Veterans Association. At the latter he conducted events like the “Warrior Talking Circle,” where six to 12 veterans would discuss different topics. “Nobody is too cool to get into a circle and really just get deep and raw about their emotions,” he says.

Challenges to Warriors team

USC also has a full-fledged military social work program, which launched in 2010, says Dr. Carl A. Castro, professor, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, and a retired army colonel. It features such courses as “Theories and Concepts of Military Social Work Practice” and practicums at sites like the Veterans Administration and the Cohen Veterans Network. “The main thing,” says Castro, “is understanding the military culture and language; how issues around mental health, pain or substance abuse might have arisen; and how to treat them in a culturally sensitive way.” (Pictured at right: At Monmouth University’s “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Challenges to Warriors, Warrior Families and Practitioners Workshop” in February 2023: (from left) School of Social Work Dean Robin Mama; workshop presenter Col. (Ret.) Jeffrey Yarvis; then-Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Pamela Scott-Johnson; and MSW student and Coming Home Project intern Jacklyn Henry.)

One professor who helped start that program was the University of Nevada-Reno’s Weiss, who had gone back to teach at USC after earning her doctorate. Now she would like to create a similar program at her current school. There are no dedicated courses yet, but Weiss is planning to integrate military-related lessons such as on trauma-informed care into clinical courses. She’s also helped arrange practicums at the on-campus Veterans Military Center as well as promoted events such as a Smart Veterans workshop, which provided education on military culture for faculty, staff and students.

Improving Delivery

Southern California Veterans Conference in October 2024

At the University of South Carolina College of Social Work, Dr. Nikki Wooten, LISW-CP—a retired army colonel—is associate professor and coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Social and Behavioral Health with Military Members, Veterans and Military Families. Among the courses she teaches is “Military Mental Health and the Impact of Trauma,” which she recently revamped with new textbooks, readings and policies like an update of the clinical practice guidelines for suicide prevention from the VA and Department of Defense. (Pictured at left: At the 2024 Southern California Veterans Conference in October, titled “State of the American Veteran”: (from left) USC military social work research professor Sara Kintzle; MSW-PhD student Liv Canning; military social work professor Carl Castro; PhD student Aubrey Sutherland; and PhD student Vanessa Goncalves.)

Wooten has been focused not only on course material but on how it’s delivered. “We now use distributed learning applications where students, based on prompts, can respond to readings or to topics in the mainstream media related to military and veteran populations,” she says. “It helps the instructor engage the students around that particular topic.”

Veteran-Focused Social Work Research: Reliable Reconnaissance

solider hugging a parent or elder


Although the American Red Cross had supplied social services to the U.S. military since the Civil War, formal military-related social work education got its start in 1919, at the end of World War I, when Smith College created a program to help offer mental health assistance to service members in army and navy hospitals. In November 1943, during World War II, the Pentagon officially launched Army Social Work, though social workers were already being utilized in the service, whether as enlisted personnel or officers, to support active-duty soldiers and their families.

Still, plenty of emphasis in related practice, education and research over the years has been on transitioning out of the military. For example, at the University of South Carolina College of Social Work, associate professor Dr. Nikki Wooten, LISW-CP, coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Social and Behavioral Health with Military Members, Veterans and Military Families—and a retired army colonel—is currently researching the continuum of care for those retiring service members who are transitioning from the military health care system to the VA health care system.

And at the University of Nevada-Reno School of Social Work, Associate Dean Eugenia L. Weiss, PhD, PsyD, MSW, LCSW, says she recently conducted an impact study for the university’s Veterans Military Center funded by the Nevada Department of Veterans Services “to look at how GI Bill student veterans, dependents and veteran alumni are benefiting from the center, and what might be the gaps in services.”

Following are some published articles on veteran-oriented research:



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