Military Social Work Essay Example

Military social work is a field that specializes in spanning of the continuum micro-Macro practice and which requires advanced skills and knowledge in social work. (Wooten 6- 25) .A military social worker helps the veterans and service members manage and address emotional, social, psychological changes that they may face as a result of their day to day job. This individual offers counseling and support service. However, the human diversity issues among veterans and service people that will be discussed in this report are the physical and mental disability that leads to post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Health problem is common among the veterans and military personnel and this has been linked to family and individual psychological difficulties and has led to a decrease of military readiness. Among the veterans, these health problems have been associated with absenteeism, suicide, work productivity , interpersonal violence, risky behaviors, marital discord, child maltreatment, separation from the service and criminal activities. Post-deployment problems that are associated with health have received great attention and a lot of military personnel have low posttraumatic symptoms stress level or are resilient about deployment stressors.

Post-traumatic stress disorder among the military service personnel can be termed as an anxiety that may develop due to exposure to an ordeal or an event that is traumatizing. The traumatic event that any trigger this disorder include human or natural caused disaster, military combat, accidents. People with this disorder have persisted memories and frightening thoughts of ordeal and feel of being emotionally numb. They may experience poor concentration, sleep problems, irritable or anger,extreme physical reactivity, hypervigilance, distressing and recurrent nightmares of traumatic events and feeling numb. (Social Work Policy Institute).

Resilience among veterans or ,military personnel and their families is so much associated with the increased readiness of the military and therefore a number of military programs and organizations have been developed to help increase post and pre-deployment resilience and human diversity issues.This programs and policies have helped provide services to families and members with a strength-based screening, prevention, brief intervention, multidisciplinary service,and referral to treatment involving veteran, community agencies, and military collaborations.

There has been a dramatic increase in Afghanistan and Iraq a number of war and veterans are seeking for Post-traumatic stress disorder help. Although the problem extends beyond the military, therefore, it has affected about 8 million Americans. This problem is also acute in war veterans. However, there are approaches that have been employed to diagnose this PTSD among veterans .One is the use of psychological interventions there has been a wide variety of this therapies that have been made available, a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which has found to have helped reduce the symptoms of PSTD among the veterans. This has shown to be the most effective than any other treatment of nondrugs. There is also prolonged exposure therapy( PE) which helps the patient reacts to memories of traumatic experience and learn about mastering stress and fear-inducing situations. (Reisman 623-627).

The internet has provided a cost-effective training and ideal vehicle of mental health provides a means that address some challenges which may be associated with training initiatives that are face to face. After establishment, this online training programme is delivered to a large number of providers on a continuous basis with no or little cost. (Ruzek et al. 3).

At the macro level of practice, the military social worker should effectively advocate, assess and intervene on behalf of the military person and his or her family with an organization that is highly structured and hierarchical and which employs, trains , and sustains warfighters. New social worker in the military, need advanced education and training so that they may understand evidence-based interventions and services provision to group, individuals, communities, and families affiliated with veteran and military organization and how to assess coordination and care and determine how quality of care is influenced by social policy-making and defense within multiple military organization, civilians, and government.

Military social worker formulates , analyzes and advocates for policies that help to advance social well being. They also collaborate with other clients and colleagues for effective policy action. Advanced military social work practitioner understands major issues in equity distribution, problems assessing the service which is evidence-based and distribution equity and service quality provided by veterans or service members.They thus recognize the implications and the main concepts of the of service members.They are also knowledgeable in policies and legislation implementation that affects the veterans and service members and are able to distinguish between lobbying and advocacy.

The military social worker has a key role to play in the behavioral service to veterans and thus provide informed education and training on how to implement and assess evidence-based interventions that are relevant to military service. Advanced military social worker practitioners practice self-reflection and address personal stereotypes and personal biases that help build dispel myths and build knowledge. regarding veterans, service members communities and their families. Engages in lifelong supervision, learning, and consultation that enhances the skills and knowledge required to effectively work with the veterans, families, communities and service members. They also demonstrate some professional demeanor which reflects awareness and respect of veterans and military cultures. They also help recognize integration issues and boundaries between veterans cultures and military and social work ethics and values. (Advanced Social Work Practice In Military Social Work 5)

Military social workers are keenly aware of the importance of oneself professional use , knowing oneself and the significance of the therapeutical relationship. Throughout their work, they employ bio spiritual-psycho-social perspectives and strength based individual in the environment across the life course while working with their clients. They also continue to assess , reflect and supervises what prepares them to confront value conflict and biases regarding with veterans and service members. They help to identify, explore and resolve myths, biases, and stereotypes that exist in the veterans and military cultures and how they interfere with civilian communities.

Conclusion

A military social worker applies critical thinking in informing and communicating professional judgment. This is because they are knowledgeable of logic principles, reasoned discernment and scientific inquiry. They use this skill with curiosity and creativity. This skill requires communication synthesis of important information. This is through analyzing assessment models, prevention , evaluation, and intervention. Demonstrating effective written and oral communication in working with groups , individuals, communities, and families of the veterans or military service members. And in appraising, distinguishing and integrating numerous knowledge sources that includes practice wisdom and research-based knowledge.The military social worker should engage differences in practice and diversity. This is because they understand the shape of human experience and how diversity characterizes and that it is critical to identity formation. They recognize intersectionality impacts of various factors of diversity, racial status, service practice and culture and family definition and compositionThey apply human behavior and social environment knowledge. The military social worker understands organizational worldviews which are relevant and influences veterans, communities and family members. They can also critique and understand relevant psychological and social practice models that help to inform social work to adapt them to veterans and service members. They have a key role to play in engaging in advance social economic and policy practice well being and thus deliver effective service.

Works Cited

Wooten, Nikki R. "Military Social Work: Opportunities And Challenges For Social Work Education." Journal of Social Work Education 51.sup1 (2015): S6-S25. Web.

"Military Service-Related PTSD | Social Work Policy Institute." Socialworkpolicy.org. N.p., 2007. Web. 14 July 2018.

Reisman, Miriam. "PTSD Treatment For Veterans: What's Working, What's New, And What'S Next." Peer Reviewed Journal for Managed Care of Hospital Formulary Management 41.10 (2016): 623-627, Print.

Ruzek, Josef I et al. "Online Self-Administered Training For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Providers: Design And Methods For A Randomized, Prospective Intervention Study." Implementation Science 7.1 (2012): 3. Web. 14 July 2018.

Advanced Social Work Practice In Military Social Work. Cswe.org. N.p., 2018.5 Web. 14 July 2018.