The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Centers have launched a new scholarship aimed to ensure all Veterans and active duty service members, regardless of where they live, have access to quality mental healthcare.
The newly formed Vet Center Scholarship Program will cover two years of graduate studies for selected candidates. These individuals must be pursuing a graduate degree in social work, psychology (doctoral degree), licensed professional mental health counseling, or marriage and family therapy.
"It is extremely important that the professionals that are treating these Veterans and service members are highly trained because trauma is very complex," said James Burwell, the director of the Chesapeake Vet Center. "So we want to ensure that they are with someone that will provide them with the tools that they need to be successful in life. That's extremely important."
Burwell is a Veteran himself and says when he retired from the Navy after 8.5 years, he felt lost.
"When I was discharged, I certainly felt out of place," he said. "I was retired, but I found myself on base every last single day. At that point in my life, I did not know what depression was. I didn't know I was depressed. Fast forward, being in the field that I'm in now, I know for certain that I was definitely depressed."
The retired Sailor says these feelings aren't uncommon for those exiting the military.
"[Veterans] now have to recreate their identity. And that is a challenge at times," he explained. "Who am I?"
And Burwell knows firsthand the importance of mental health and readjustment counseling.
"It allow me to go return to school, secure my education, and most importantly, allowed me to work with a population that I feel very near and dear, is very important to me...veterans and service members," he said.
To ensure every service member receives the mental healthcare necessary to succeed as Burwell did, Vet Centers all across the country offer free, confidential resources where veterans and service members can receive important readjustment counseling.
"When they walk through the door, they're first met into a welcoming environment, I think that's extremely important," said Burwell. "They are connected with a highly skilled professional counselor and a social worker who will provide services."
To get more of those counselors and social workers through the door, recipients of the Vet Center Scholarship will spend the six years following graduation working for one of the Vet Center's 300 locations. Specifically, recipients will work in Vet Centers located in underserved areas.
"We are pursuing all efforts to retain and recruit highly qualified team members that can embrace the uniqueness of the vet centers and will help fulfill the mission to welcome home and honor those who served and those that still serve," said Pete Ortiz, the deputy chief officer of readjustment counseling services for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "We're targeting rural communities that have a per-capita of 5% Veteran community."
Scholarship recipients will also receive a monthly stipend and additional funds to cover book costs.
While anyone can apply, special preference will be given to Veteran candidates.
"We have veterans and service members come in, and they'll say, you know, [they] want to speak to a veteran," said Burwell. "I think one of the things that they're looking for is someone that's going to truly understand the experience."
Burwell says Veterans and service members having access to high-quality mental healthcare can benefit the entire community.
"I think overall it does improve the community," he explained. "Otherwise, you have people in the community that feel lost. And, you know, there may be some indirect consequences to that, to be perfectly honest."
The deadline to apply for the first wave of the Vet Center Scholarship Program is Sunday, April 30. From that pool, the Vet Center says they are hoping to accept at least five candidates.
But the Vet Center will continue accepting applications on a rolling basis that will be considered for future awards. You can apply here.
