Social Work with Military Populations (Advancing Core Competencies)

A user-friendly approach to practicing social work with military members, veterans, their families, and their communities—complete with case examples from practitioners who have worked extensively with military populations.

Social workers with prior knowledge of the military and those who are new to the culture and lifestyle will find Social Work with Military Populations an invaluable resource for working with military members, veterans, their families, and their communities. Designed specifically with these populations in mind, the book helps readers learn and apply existing research-based and emerging material about assessment and intervention as they engage with realistic military social work case and community scenarios in every chapter. Significant attention is focused on helping readers understand military culture, the important/unique roles that social workers play within the military, and the ethical challenges often faced by practitioners in this field. Chapters highlight specific areas of military social work knowledge ranging from assessing suicide, substance abuse, and trauma responses to community practice and helping members and families deal with military deployments, injuries, family maltreatment, and much more.

Diane Scott is a Professor in the Department of Social Work and Associate Dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of West Florida. Prior to joining the social work faculty at UWF, Dr. Scott worked as a social worker for Department of Defense serving military service members and their families. Dr. Scott authored the chapter “War-related deaths in the family” in N. Webb’s book, “Helping Bereaved Children” (2010) published by Guilford Press. Dr. Scott has received grant funding and has numerous journal publications for veteran related project.

James Whitworth is the Associate Dean of the School of Education and Social Services at Saint Leo University. He has taught graduate clinical social work courses at Saint Leo since 2011. Dr. Whitworth has provided extensive private practice counseling for military members, veterans, and their families with depression, anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Lt Colonel (Ret) Whitworth served as a clinical social worker and mental health officer in the US Air Force for 21 years. He is the former Chief of Air Force Family Research at the Pentagon and also worked three years as the Chief of Air Force Family Advocacy Operations and Research. Dr. Whitworth taught behavioral medicine and research to Family Medicine Residents at Eglin Air Force base for six years.

Joseph Herzog is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of West Florida.  He has 10 years of experience working with military families as a clinical social worker at a non-profit counseling center located near Ft. Stewart, Ga. Dr. Herzog received a PhD from the University of South Carolina and his dissertation research was on secondary trauma in military families. He continues to be involved military family research and is currently evaluating Veterans’ Treatment Courts in the West Florida area.