Counseling Veterans: A Practical Guide

Counseling Veterans: A Practical Guide equips readers with foundational knowledge of military culture and common issues experienced by service men and women. This crucial text helps future and practicing counselors compassionately and competently treat individuals who serve or have served in the United States armed forces. The book opens with chapters that discuss military culture and building a therapeutic alliance, providing readers with rich context for treating service men and women and guidance for relationship-building with this specific population. Additional chapters cover common issues veterans face, including war trauma and PTSD, suicidal ideation, traumatic brain injury, depression, and substance use disorder. Female veteran issues, family issues during deployment, and moral injury are addressed. The final chapter provides guidance for counselors with regard to personal wellness, secondary traumatic stress, and imperative self-care measures. Each chapter features learning objectives, definitions, research-based literature on the topic, treatment options and programs, a clinical vignette, perspectives from veterans, and discussion questions. Designed to help readers build critical competencies, Counseling Veterans is an ideal text for advanced courses in counseling. It can also serve as an essential guide for practicing counselors.