Abstract
This paper explores the need for volunteer education in therapy aid outreach to soldiers and their families with a therapy 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Volunteers who seek to engage in outreach on behalf of a therapy aid organization targeting the military need to be well versed in the demographic that the charity is targeting. This includes understanding a soldier’s current belief system regarding existing mental health care and why the urgent need for care of returning soldiers is necessary. In addition to this volunteers should know current mental health statistics regarding soldiers and their families regarding mental health care in order to understand the depth of the need for care. Volunteers need to be aware of this …show more content…
The organization’s local chapter was fairly new and was keen to increase outreach efforts to neighborhood organizations that target soldiers and their military families since they did not have many candidates signed up for services. Being the daughter of a Vietnam veteran I eagerly signed up to volunteer and do what I could to assist. I quickly learned during my first few outreach attempts that veterans and their family’s stance regarding mental health care can be unique. There was a pervasive attitude that I experienced from some in my outreach efforts that civilians did not understand or care about the needs of our current military. I needed to do some research to better understand what this generation of veterans and their families were currently facing mental health wise before I could proceed with my outreach. This was important given that I had not been exposed to anything or anyone military related in New York City. In the future I also wanted to put together a primer for incoming volunteers with little to no experience with the military so that they would not be faced with the same obstacle that I had experienced. I wanted the new volunteer experience within the organization to be seamless so that any new joiners could hit the ground running with outreach. I set out …show more content…
I realized that my issue was not isolated to just myself. Darwin, Reich (2006) paint a picture of military culture that is very protective of its own and highly suspicious of the intentions of outside organizations offering help even if it’s free. This was not surprising given my previous experiences in outreach. How big was the mental health issue with soldiers though? Stecker, Fortney, Hamilton and Ajzen (2007) state that post-deployment a sizeable amount of current veterans, chiefly those that have experienced combat, will sustain mental health symptoms. From their study alone they found that many soldiers meet criteria for depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The article further states a staggering statistic in that around 25% of veterans that have sought out care at the Department of Veterans Affairs have indicated that they do indeed suffer from mental health difficulties. In addition to this Hoge, McGurk, Thomas, Cox, Engel and Castro (2008) mention that “the strong associations between mild traumatic brain injury, PTSD, depression and physical health symptoms in combat veterans reinforce the need for a multidisciplinary approach centered in primary care.” This data suggests a strong need for psychiatric services for soldiers and that the services my organization can provide can be critical. What I found to be most disturbing
This paper explores the need for volunteer education in therapy aid outreach to soldiers and their families with a therapy 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. Volunteers who seek to engage in outreach on behalf of a therapy aid organization targeting the military need to be well versed in the demographic that the charity is targeting. This includes understanding a soldier’s current belief system regarding existing mental health care and why the urgent need for care of returning soldiers is necessary. In addition to this volunteers should know current mental health statistics regarding soldiers and their families regarding mental health care in order to understand the depth of the need for care. Volunteers need to be aware of this …show more content…
The organization’s local chapter was fairly new and was keen to increase outreach efforts to neighborhood organizations that target soldiers and their military families since they did not have many candidates signed up for services. Being the daughter of a Vietnam veteran I eagerly signed up to volunteer and do what I could to assist. I quickly learned during my first few outreach attempts that veterans and their family’s stance regarding mental health care can be unique. There was a pervasive attitude that I experienced from some in my outreach efforts that civilians did not understand or care about the needs of our current military. I needed to do some research to better understand what this generation of veterans and their families were currently facing mental health wise before I could proceed with my outreach. This was important given that I had not been exposed to anything or anyone military related in New York City. In the future I also wanted to put together a primer for incoming volunteers with little to no experience with the military so that they would not be faced with the same obstacle that I had experienced. I wanted the new volunteer experience within the organization to be seamless so that any new joiners could hit the ground running with outreach. I set out …show more content…
I realized that my issue was not isolated to just myself. Darwin, Reich (2006) paint a picture of military culture that is very protective of its own and highly suspicious of the intentions of outside organizations offering help even if it’s free. This was not surprising given my previous experiences in outreach. How big was the mental health issue with soldiers though? Stecker, Fortney, Hamilton and Ajzen (2007) state that post-deployment a sizeable amount of current veterans, chiefly those that have experienced combat, will sustain mental health symptoms. From their study alone they found that many soldiers meet criteria for depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The article further states a staggering statistic in that around 25% of veterans that have sought out care at the Department of Veterans Affairs have indicated that they do indeed suffer from mental health difficulties. In addition to this Hoge, McGurk, Thomas, Cox, Engel and Castro (2008) mention that “the strong associations between mild traumatic brain injury, PTSD, depression and physical health symptoms in combat veterans reinforce the need for a multidisciplinary approach centered in primary care.” This data suggests a strong need for psychiatric services for soldiers and that the services my organization can provide can be critical. What I found to be most disturbing