Operation Veterans to Social Workers: A Military Social Work Certificate Program

Service members, Veterans, and their families have special needs for mental health services, but the nation lacks a sufficient pool of social workers competent in military culture. Noting the need for military cultural competency and an increasing number of student Veterans, a graduate school of social work created a military social work training program embedded in an existing MSW program. Operation Veterans to Social Workers (OVSW) were designed to increase culturally competent mental health services to this population by recruiting Veteran MSW students into a Military Social Work certificate program that included a specialized field placement with a trauma-informed clinical focus.