What are your thoughts regarding your ability to work with military families and children as a social worker? I personally would be “fine” maybe even a bit too comfortable working with military families and children as a social worker because I grew up with an alcoholic father and I am starting to see the similarities, which honestly took twenty-five years all because everyone is afraid to face the truth; therefore, things just get swept under the rug and open communication is forbidden in order to protect the toxicity of the household.
One quote from Park (2011) that struck me states, ‘‘a common saying in the military is that when one person joins, the whole family serves’’ (p. 66). This unfortunately reigns true with addiction. Alcoholism is a family disease that tears away at the family unit. As one can see, alcoholism can affect relationship building and most likely cause harm to the family. One can also witness this in a military family, as there is a shift from a two-parent household to being a single parent household. It is a fascinating shift in the family unit, especially if children are involved. Like the family unit of addicts, children …show more content…
What actually happened was while volunteering, I became very familiar with the benefits the veterans are entitled to. If you are wounded in Iraq, you get this set of benefits, wounded in Afghanistan, you get this set of benefits and so on. One day, as I stepped forward to rattle off my list of benefits to a veteran, a more seasoned volunteer pulled me aside and said, “Don’t tell him that! He has to find out that information for himself!” Needless to say, that was my “Aha moment!” I knew that I wanted to help veterans get the benefits they are entitled to. Many are incapable of getting them due to the bureaucratic nightmare with the filling out of forms, etc. Many have PTSD and simply don’t have the perseverance and know how to get what they are entitled
One quote from Park (2011) that struck me states, ‘‘a common saying in the military is that when one person joins, the whole family serves’’ (p. 66). This unfortunately reigns true with addiction. Alcoholism is a family disease that tears away at the family unit. As one can see, alcoholism can affect relationship building and most likely cause harm to the family. One can also witness this in a military family, as there is a shift from a two-parent household to being a single parent household. It is a fascinating shift in the family unit, especially if children are involved. Like the family unit of addicts, children …show more content…
What actually happened was while volunteering, I became very familiar with the benefits the veterans are entitled to. If you are wounded in Iraq, you get this set of benefits, wounded in Afghanistan, you get this set of benefits and so on. One day, as I stepped forward to rattle off my list of benefits to a veteran, a more seasoned volunteer pulled me aside and said, “Don’t tell him that! He has to find out that information for himself!” Needless to say, that was my “Aha moment!” I knew that I wanted to help veterans get the benefits they are entitled to. Many are incapable of getting them due to the bureaucratic nightmare with the filling out of forms, etc. Many have PTSD and simply don’t have the perseverance and know how to get what they are entitled