USC to train social workers on military issues

COLUMBIA -- Army Reserve Capt. Chad Lauro wants to use his military experience to help those who bear the mental wounds of war. Kina Wilkening, an Air Force spouse whose pilot-husband was deployed for 273 days last year, calls military families “silent heroes” who need help, too.

Both are graduate students at the University of South Carolina, which is starting a new program to train social workers to assist the military, veterans and their families.

“I see it as my way of giving back,” said Lauro, 35, originally from Mechanicsburg, Pa., who served as a military logistics specialist and has been in two years of full-time course work to enter a new career.

Lauro, who works at Veterans Administration clinics as part of his studies, said he's able to “speak the military language” after 18 years with the military and a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.

“I think there's a great need. Not everyone comes back with (post-traumatic stress disorder), but there are many things I can do to help the military and veterans' community,” Lauro said.

Wilkening, who lives near the joint Air Force and Navy base in Charleston and is originally from Austin, Texas, said she has seen firsthand how spouses and children of the military may need the assistance of social workers.

“You feel so alone. You just don't know where to turn,” said the 27-year-old. “I think military spouses and families are the silent heroes on the home front.”

Mental health counseling, addiction treatment, behavioral health issues and transitional counseling are areas where social workers can help, said Nancy Brown, the USC professor who has been pulling the program together.

“There is a growing need for social workers in this field,” said Brown, an associate professor in the College of Social Work.

Brown said the program is in its final stages of academic approval. It will be an 18-hour graduate level certificate program that is part of the college's two-year master's degree program. Four courses will be available by the summer.

Over the next decade, the college could prepare as many as 3,000 social workers in the field, said Anna Scheyett, dean of the college.

Scheyett said two other elements of the program include an academic position so research will be conducted. Professors also will train doctors, nurses, teachers and others who may interact with veterans or military members in their communities, she said.

“We must think about how to best serve these military men and women, many of whom we are welcoming back now, but who also will be with us for the next 50 to 60 years,” Scheyett said.

Army Lt. Col. Jeffrey Yarvis, the deputy commander for behavioral health at Fort Belvoir Hospital in Virginia, said he was consulted when the University of Southern California developed a similar program.

“South Carolina is uniquely positioned to do this kind of work,” Yarvis said, pointing out that several other states have had National Guard and Reserve units deployed repeatedly overseas, with members returning to rural areas where services might be less available.

Several colleges and universities in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Montana and Texas are looking at expanding training for social workers, Yarvis said, “but Southern California and South Carolina are the furthest along in this process.”

In South Carolina, more than 13,000 members of the Army and Air Force National Guard deployed overseas since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Guard officials said.

Reaching out to military members who reside in rural areas is a major concern for Col. Ronnie Taylor, the officer in charge of service member and family care for the South Carolina National Guard.

“If a service member is on active duty, they return to a military facility where resources may be available to them, unlike a National Guardsman or reservist who may live as much as two to three hours away,” said Taylor, who has been working with Scheyett.

He said he is trying to set up mobile “one-stop shops” to get information to outlying units and Guardsmen about employment assistance, military medical insurance, psychological assistance and even educational benefits. USC may be able to provide internships for students so they can get training, and help his organization reach out to its members, he said.

South Carolina's Department of Veterans Affairs estimates there are about 413,000 military veterans in the state.

According to a recent release from the nonprofit research organization the RAND Corp., more than 2.2 military members were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2010. The high tempo of operations has included longer and more-frequent deployments, which have “resulted in significant mental health problems among service members,” the research group said.