Toward military cultural competence among new civilian mental health providers

Abstract: The U. S. military requires culturally competent practices in clinical mental health. This article aims to affirm that our military has a language, system of rank, norms and values, identity, ethics, and rapport that are distinct from U.S. civilian culture. Civilian mental health providers hired to work with the military must become familiar with military culture. Chronic mental health staffing shortages at both the Veterans' Administration and Department of Defense have resulted in a hiring surge. Therefore, the burden to meet the overwhelming mental health needs of military populations is essentially passed onto civilians and newly uniformed providers. During this campaign to fill the staffing shortages, we would like to offer 11 trainings for new practitioners without prior military experience or exposure. Those that were cited and thoroughly discussed are: Uniformed Services University—Center for Deployment Psychology. Uniformed Services University—Star Behavioral Health Providers. Uniformed Services University—Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS). National Alliance on Mental Illness—Homefront. Massachusetts General Hospital—Home Base Program. Veteran's Health Administration (VHA) TRAIN. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration—Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Technical Assistance Center. Psych Armor. Volunteer/Experiential Exposure. VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines. Although other research articles have argued for the military to become part of the conversation regarding cultural competence (Hobbs, 2008; Meyer, 2015; Reger et al., 2008), no other article to date has provided an exhaustive list of current trainings.