So I've been active duty Infantry for about 6 year and stay with the branch for another 3 years. (3 year ADSO). I've had a calling to change my career and really help Soldiers/Vets with their mental health issues and overall surroundings. I'm tired of seeing old Soldiers from my unit take their own life. I feel like I can make an impact on their situation at home. I plan on getting out and going back to school, then coming back into the Army as a mental health counselor. I would be leaving the Army as a CPT with roughly 9 years in.

My question for you guys....What role has a bigger impact on a struggling Soldier? Psychologist? LCSW with possibly a focus and certification in Substance abuse?

Thanks guys.

Brigades started to get MTOEd behavior health docs a few years ago. Also the social worker. My experience integrating them into the overall scheme of unit health was this...Soldiers liked seeing the doc for behavior health, particularly because they were more accessible than those at the health clinic and we pushed that there is nothing wrong with a visit. That said, ours had more time getting educated than the social worker. I saw the social worker working different issues with Soldiers and their families/life skills...ultimately, this can vary from unit to unit who integrate the MFLC, Chaplain, and these two into overall health of the force.

There is a role for both professionals in the BDE MTOE, but I could tell their personalities were different and not necessarily enjoy the other's job given their backgrounds, education, and role in the BDE. That said, my experience is a few years old. Good luck.

BHO Article

Thank you, I'll keep looking at both avenues of approach and talk to professionals in the field.

I don't have a whole lot of knowledge here, but I think it depends on the type of person you are. If you really like sitting down with soldiers and digging into their issues, working closely with psychiatrists to suggest/monitor/alter treatments, etc, then probably a psychologist. If you want to not necessarily dig as deep, but be able to more broadly in their life, then maybe LCSW. It also depends on how long you want to be in school, as i think psychology is a bit longer.

I'm not sure the Navy has active duty LCSWs, but we do have psychologists that enjoy their job. I'm not sure our LCSWs are utilized as well as it sounds like the Army's are.

Roger Goodell said:

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So I've been active duty Infantry for about 6 year and stay with the branch for another 3 years. (3 year ADSO). I've had a calling to change my career and really help Soldiers/Vets with their mental health issues and overall surroundings. I'm tired of seeing old Soldiers from my unit take their own life. I feel like I can make an impact on their situation at home. I plan on getting out and going back to school, then coming back into the Army as a mental health counselor. I would be leaving the Army as a CPT with roughly 9 years in.

My question for you guys....What role has a bigger impact on a struggling Soldier? Psychologist? LCSW with possibly a focus and certification in Substance abuse?

Thanks guys.

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In my retirement years, I started volunteering at the Salt Lake VA Medical Center in patient transport and I deal with a lot of mental outpatient and inpatient cases. The social workers seem to deal with the nuts and bolts issues whereas the clinical psychologists seem to be in a better position to offer therapy. As a soon to be separated CPT you need to maintain a decent income while pursuing your goal to help. I am thinking that the clinical psychology route would better benefit both you, with your experience and education and the patients with which you would deal. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, that's the only thing leaning me towards clinical psychologist

Do you want me to try and see if I can find an Army psychiatrist or psychologist for you to talk to? I don't know any, but I do have some connections in Army medicine I might be able to reach out to.

Also, you can look up the author of that article on AKO.

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Do you want me to try and see if I can find an Army psychiatrist or psychologist for you to talk to? I don't know any, but I do have some connections in Army medicine I might be able to reach out to.

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Yes, I would really appreciate that. I talked to a MFLC counselor for about 2 hours the other day. Just happen to be doing checks at staff duty and I was studying a mental disorder book. Chance fate. He was a PhD in psychology

It looks like the degree-granting institution for the AMEDD LCSW program changed from Baylor to Kentucky a couple years ago. The programs are all at Fort Sam, they just have to have a college hosting the program to be accredited. The AMEDD programs are kind of weird in that they cut your service time in half to determine your rank when you begin (so as a ~6 year captain you'd be re-commissioned as a 1LT, but your time in service for pay/retirement purposes doesn't change), but then you get re-promoted when you graduate. It makes no sense to me, but whatever. Here's a link to the LCSW program information A potential benefit for you would be that you would not have to complete your ADSO before you apply/begin as any ADSO would be served while in the program

It also appears that the AMEDD psychology program has been outsourced to a health professions scholarship to go on your own (or I'm just remembering wrong). The tuition and stipend would still get you through and a guaranteed return commission, but you would have a break in service if that impacts your decision good or bad. One of the big differences here is that the Army decides admission to the Army-owned programs and the individual schools decide admission to the scholarship programs. Scholarship information

Thank you my friends. Big decision. Probably have a year to really make a hard decision before I commit to one AoA IOT study correctly.

Hey, shoot me your e-mail to (e-mail removed). I found a 2nd year psych masters student, former infantry as well.

Sent. If you don't mind, edit out my e-mail please. Just to reduce spam. Thanks

bigtruckguy3500 said:

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Hey, shoot me your e-mail to. I found a 2nd year psych masters student, former infantry as well.

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