The Veteran Supported Education Service Treatment Manual: VetSEd

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PART THREE: IMPLEMENTATION TOOLKIT FOR VETSED I. INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE The following section describes practices for implementing this VetSEd program including the organizational home in the VHA, the target population, the referral pool, staffing considerations, and supervision and fidelity processes. We begin with providing the background to both the service of supported education and the urgent need for recently returning Veterans for this service. II. BACKGROUND A. The Need for Education Services for Post 9/11 Veterans The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in an influx of Veterans with mental health conditions who aspire to use the GI Bill to advance their education. Education has long been the avenue to improved employment opportunities and stable community residence for civilians. A majority of Veterans have limited college experience or post-secondary degrees (Holder, 2010) and many see military service as a way to attain higher education (Wilson et al., 2000). Despite the promise afforded by the Post 9/11 GI Bill, many Veterans especially those with mental health conditions and comorbidities such as substance abuse, depression, or traumatic brain injury are challenged to succeed in their educational goals. As many as 60% of new student Veterans are returning from duty with significant Posttraumatic Stress Disorders and/or related psychiatric disabilities. These disabling conditions can challenge Veterans in successfully using the GI Bill and completing post-secondary education or training (California Traumatic Brain Injury Board Final Report; Radford, 2011; Taber & Hurley, 2007; Tanielian, 2008; Taylor, 2011; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2011). Consequently, while many Veterans with PTSD are pursuing their education dreams, many also are dropping out with some schools reporting Veteran student graduation rates as low as 3% (Alabama Veterans Initiative, 2010). Veterans with disabilities are growing in number on college campuses (Vance & Miller, 2009). However, the American Council of Education (2009) reported that no campuses were planning to expand services for students with disabilities, which includes student Veterans with disabilities (Miller, 2011). 147 | P a g e
The challenges posed by mental health conditions for Veterans who are students are formidable. For example, PTSD is associated with a variety of mental health and social role functioning impairments that can impact educational attainment including: depression, substance abuse, suicidal behavior, poor life quality, relationship violence, social avoidance, marital and family problems, and job-related impairment (Frueh et. al, 2001; Sareen et al. 2007; Smith-Osborne 2006; Smith-Osborne, 2009; Steele, Salcedo, & Coley 2010; Stein & McAllister, 2009; Vasterling et al., 2010; Vasterling et al., 2008). More specifically, psychological trauma, such as in PTSD, can result in impaired information processing essential to education advancement (Kotler et al., 2001). Researchers have noted neuropsychological impairment in persons with PTSD and the relationship of impaired cognitive and emotional impaired information processing to PTSD symptoms (Stein & McAllister, 2009). Veterans with mental health conditions and PTSD have been noted to experience challenges on campus, such as: cognitive skills deficits, medication side effects, and symptoms such as flashbacks (Church, 2009). While successful treatments for PTSD exist, PTSD can also be chronic and treatments are needed that address the persistence of posttraumatic symptoms (Schnurr, Lunney, Sengupta, & Waelde, 2004). B. Educational Supports for Veterans and the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The support of education goals for Veterans has long been of interest to VA, going as far back as the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1920, the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1943 and the Servicemen‘s Readjustment Act of 1944 (1944 GI Bill) which provided 2.2 million World War II (WWII) Veterans the opportunity to go to college or receive vocational training. The educational benefits of the 1944 GI Bill had exceptional impact on the economy of the United States (Altschuler & Blumin, 2009; Humes, 2006; Mettler, 2005). In 1997, Greenberg wrote ―…more than 2.2 million Veterans went to college, about half of who were the first in their families (p. 36) to attend college‖. Greenburg (2007) posited that by ―1956 the GI Bill produced 450,000 trained engineers, 240,000 accountants, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 doctors, 22,000 dentists, and more than a million other college-educated individuals‖ (p. 50). Volk (1968) asserts that it ―paved the way for the most dramatic enrollment explosion in the history of higher education‖ (p. 2). Similarly, Carter (1969) credited the 1944 GI Bill with raising the educational aspirations of Americans, making higher education a growth industry of that time. Similarly, Celis (1994) credits the 1944 GI Bill for the growth in the number of community colleges in America from 58 in 1943 to 328 in 1947, thus increasing the number of institutions of higher education (IHE) available to serve Veterans. Only five years after the end of World War II, four out of five Veterans utilized their benefits. According to a 1956 President‘s Commission report, ―Veterans who used their GI Bill 148 | P a g e
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The Veteran Supported Education Ser
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For more information about the manu
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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VI. D. Engaging Key People/The Vete
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VII. SUPERVISION AND FIDELITY MEASU
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FOREWORD By Walter Penk, PhD, ABPP
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INTRODUCTION TO THE VETERAN SUPPORT
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designers on topics such as staffin
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Veterans with a mental health diagn
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IV. CORE COMPETENCIES OF THE PEER V
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C. Variable Service Intensity, Cont
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VI. FOUNDATIONS OF THE VetSEd SERVI
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administrators having knowledge abo
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PART TWO: TRAINING MANUAL FOR PEER
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foundation for this collaboration.
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ainstorm together all the resources
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the postsecondary school of their c
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Identify schools with a wide variet
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iii. Considerations in Preparing an
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Veteran has liked and disliked abou
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Four-year Colleges or Universities.
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As a general rule, it is better to
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How to Identify Potential Barriers
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or hardship may qualify for the GI
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we provide basic information about
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vi. Using VR&E and Post-9/11 GI Bil
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Exercise Using Worksheet #8: Educat
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Financial Aid Packages Some Veteran
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which experiences may be useful to
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ii. How to Register for Classes Onc
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After registration, but before clas
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Arriving at School (adapted from Be
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i. Time Management for Large Projec
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Limited time spent on areas outside
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To obtain an accommodation there ar
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mental illness so I must be weak. T
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Some will be openly skeptical of th
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B. Engaging Schools The VetSEd mobi
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with enrollment brochures and other
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The following is a list of question
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Covered in this section are the fol
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his/her educational successes. Acco
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Exercise The Veteran you are meetin
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Key Elements of Sharing Recovery an
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Minimal encouragement - Short phras
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iii. Increasing Motivation The goal
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Worksheet # 9a/b: Ups and Downs for
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locating and maintaining an educati
Page 97 and 98: More efficient is consideration of
Page 99 and 100: solving attitude. ―I am hopeful t
Page 101 and 102: health coach or the like. Although
Page 103 and 104: In either event, depending on the l
Page 105 and 106: Maintain close contact with your cl
Page 107 and 108: not simply mean agreeing with every
Page 109 and 110: Social Skills Training (SST) SST wa
Page 111 and 112: Worksheet #1a: Intake: Academic His
Page 113 and 114: If you took college classes or had
Page 115 and 116: Worksheet #1b: Intake: Employment W
Page 117 and 118: Worksheet #1d: Intake: Support Netw
Page 119 and 120: In what ways have your experiences
Page 121 and 122: Worksheet #2: Educational Road Map
Page 123 and 124: Worksheet #3: Questions to Help Det
Page 125 and 126: Worksheet #5: My Personal Criteria
Page 127 and 128: Worksheet #7: School Schedule Fall
Page 129 and 130: Worksheet #9a: Ups and Downs for Go
Page 131 and 132: Worksheet #10: Current Resources/Ex
Page 133 and 134: Worksheet #11: Veteran’s Current
Page 135 and 136: Worksheet #13: Task List for Applyi
Page 137 and 138: Worksheet #15: Stopping Self-Stigma
Page 139 and 140: Person aware of my education goal?
Page 141 and 142: Worksheet #19: Ready, Able, Willing
Page 143 and 144: increase your sense of pride?......
Page 145 and 146: Worksheet #21: Education Change The
Page 147: Pick a Solution and Plan It - Who -
Page 151 and 152: At present, educational supports to
Page 153 and 154: VetSEd Eligibility Criteria Veteran
Page 155 and 156: VI. SETTING UP YOUR VetSEd SERIVCE:
Page 157 and 158: D. Competencies of the Peer Support
Page 159 and 160: F. Caseload This model posits a ser
Page 161 and 162: Example 1 During supervision, Sarah
Page 163 and 164: Stage of Supervisory Relationship.
Page 165 and 166: unique role in recovery-oriented sy
Page 167 and 168: Manual (U.S. Department of Veterans
Page 169 and 170: Managing Crisis and Emergency Situa
Page 171 and 172: and the Veteran will review the ind
Page 173 and 174: Bond, G. R., Becker, D. R., Drake,
Page 175 and 176: Haynes, R., Corey, G., & Moulton, P
Page 177 and 178: Sareen, J., Cox, B., Stein, M., Afi
Page 179 and 180: Volk, R. (1968). Alternative method
Page 181 and 182: Target date for Overall Goal: 3 to
Page 183 and 184: Situation including the benefits I
Page 185 and 186: What will I do to achieve this goal
Page 187 and 188: Who can help me with this goal, and
Page 189 and 190: Appendix B Type of Degrees Offered
Page 191 and 192: Appendix C Sample School Schedule 7
Page 193 and 194: Appendix D Sample Task List for App
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Page 197 and 198: Appendix F Sample VA Release of Inf
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Appendix G Supported Education Powe
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Appendix I Essential Practices for
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Appendix J 206 | P a g e A “Home
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E. Supported Education as a VA Reco
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Telling your personal recovery stor
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17) Did the Veteran complete Worksh
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