Addressing the needs of our veterans should be of the upmost importance. There are a lot of soldiers returning home from combat who have medical issues, emotional stress, no homes to go to and no jobs or job training to fall back on. Veterans have been returning home from war and transitioning back into civilian life with little to no assistance all the way back to before America was even discovered.
Since then, they have improved medical research, medical care, as well as having ways of assisting people who are in need of homes, jobs and medical care. However, veterans are at the bottom of the list when it comes to getting the care and support they need. Post-traumatic stress disorder, the emotional state and care, homelessness and finding employment for veterans transitioning from combat into civilian life are necessities that should be addressed.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotional care are very serious issues with combat veterans. They see so much overseas that civilians cannot even imagine. Certain sounds, objects, and sometimes even voices can trigger their PTSD. Sometimes veterans will get violent, shut down emotionally and/or mentally, it is not easy for them to live a normal life, yet they continuously get overlooked. The Veteran’s Health Association has developed a system for assessing mental health, the treatment of diagnosed issues, and management of mental health in primary care settings (Trivedi et al., 2015).
This program is called the Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) program (Trivedi et al., 2015). This program will benefit veterans tremendously if the right steps are taken to test, diagnose and treat the PTSD. There were 4,461,208 veterans who were seen in PACT in the first year following the PACT roll out (Trivedi et al, 2015). Approximately 1.15 million of these veterans were diagnosed with at least one of the five mental illnesses studied, depression, PTSD, SUD, anxiety, and SMI (i.e., bipolar disorder and schizophrenia) are the five mental illnesses that were studied (Trivedi et al., 2015).
The information from this research shows how many veterans need assistance with their mental and emotional health. Finding ways of helping them will lower the suicide rate and assist them with finding homes and jobs. It will also help them get back to the life they should have. They have done so much yet they receive little that they deserve.
Veterans transitioning into civilian life have a hard time finding a home, they either do not have anywhere to go back to or have issues finding employment which contributes to not having a home. A lot of the time veterans will come home and the family will not be able to handle the stress or changes and they will leave, giving the veteran nowhere to go. There are no listed homeless shelters just for veterans, most end up living on the streets and begging for help. Some won’t let their caseworker or family know they have no place to stay or are struggling. The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs started a new screening as of 2015 to help end homelessness in our combat veterans. They have also started a program called Supportive Services for Veteran Families. Through that program, they've provided more than $500 million in assisting veterans and their families with housing and expenses (Montgomery, Fargo, Byrne, Kane, Culhane, 2013).
The data recovered from this research shows the worldwide issue of homelessness and the risk of homelessness in veterans. It also helps the areas that need more research or more assistance in the future, and helps with prevention of these issues. The research conducted and the results found will be beneficial in the present and future to find ways of assisting and preventing homelessness or risk of homelessness in our combat veterans and their families.
Social workers have helped veterans and their families for a long time not just with finding employment but also finding homes, emotional support and financial help. Around 57,849 veterans are homeless on any given night, and over the course of a year, twice that many experience homelessness (Hoffler, Dekle, Sheets, 2014). These social workers help veterans with financial and housing assistance, applying for benefits, marriage or family problems, moving assistance, emotional support if someone close to them passes away, alcohol or drug abuse, medical assistance and other types of assistance. Social workers provide various services in communities around the United States, including direct services (in areas such as child welfare, homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide prevention), clinical practice, research and advocacy. These are beneficial to veterans and their families. Social workers help veterans and their families’ transition and continue living in normal civilian life.
The serious concerns for soldiers transitioning into civilian life are PTSD, the emotional state and care, homelessness and finding employment. Making sure our veterans have the smoothest and most comfortable transition into civilian life is key, and even after they have transitioned back making sure they are given the opportunities to continue with life. They deal with so much overseas during war, they should be able to come home knowing the assistance is there if needed.
