Abstract
Abstract
 This article describes one school of social work’s innovative online elective course to prepare Masters of Social Work (MSW) students for practice with the military, veterans, and their families. Developed as part of a university-wide Veterans Initiative, this online course keeps the focus on the student veteran and uses best practices of online education. The authors share their strategies and make recommendations for future trainings.
Highlights
Veteran service organizations such as the Veterans Administration (VA), community-based agencies, higher education institutions, workforce and other governmental services report a growing demand for services to meet the needs of over 2.4 million military personnel who are transitioning into the community after over a decade of war (Dao, 2012; Franklin, 2009; Selber, in press)
Social work education has been slow to respond to the need to serve military, veterans and their families during the recent wars and this slow response has produced calls for action that have resulted in a list of advanced practice standards for military social work to guide educational and training efforts (Council on Social Work Education, 2010; Rubin, 2012)
The objectives of the course are designed to cover an array of information on veteran’s services and military social work. These include learning about military culture: the transitional challenges of military personnel; the needs of a range of special populations, such as student veterans, women, and military widows; treatment issues, such as post-traumatic stress; and systems of care and policies involved with providing services
Summary
Veteran service organizations such as the Veterans Administration (VA), community-based agencies, higher education institutions, workforce and other governmental services report a growing demand for services to meet the needs of over 2.4 million military personnel who are transitioning into the community after over a decade of war (Dao, 2012; Franklin, 2009; Selber, in press). Part of this challenge is increasing the number of culturally competent veteran service providers who can care for this population (Coll & Weiss, 2013; Luby, 2012; Newell, 2012). The article describes lessons learned: outcomes associated with the social work course and suggested recommendations for online efforts for social work education and practice with veterans
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
