The Space in Between: An Exploration of the Transition From Military Service to Life as a Homeless Female Veteran

The Space in Between: An Exploration of the Transition From Military Service to Life as a Homeless Female Veteran Abstract By Dana M. Howard University of the Pacific 2023 There are 18.2 million U.S. military veterans (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2021) and approximately 200,000 active-duty, reserve, and National Guard service members will become veterans each year (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.). Before becoming veterans, these military members were performing duties in service to their country (Duty Periods Defined, n.d.). Due to a planned or unplanned event, military personnel must transition from uniformed members to civilian citizens. This transition process can be characterized as disorienting, complex, or difficult for service members as they leave the service (Anderson & Goodman, 2014; Hachey et al., 2016; Keeling, 2018; Zogas, 2017). The congressionally mandated transition assistance program (TAP) was designed to help service members transition back to civilian life (Department of Labor, 2018). Despite support from the TAP, an estimated 33,129 veterans were unhoused in January of 2022, and of this number approximately 10.4% were females (de Sousa et al., 2022). Though the overall estimate for homeless veterans decreased by 11% from the 2020 count, the estimated number of unhoused female veterans increased by 10% (de Sousa et al., 2022). Some research has been conducted about homeless female veterans (Conard et al., 2021; Kenny & Yoder, 2019; Spinola et al., 2020), but not much is known about the space in between military service and becoming unstably housed. This study shares portraits and findings from interviews with nine female veterans and offers recommendations for improvements in support programs that might help a future generation of female veterans as they leave the military

Black veterans--organizing & organizational strategies for community development

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1993.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-111).by Ron E. Armstead.M.C.P

Intervention Research for the Education and Empowerment of Families Experiencing Homelessness: Exploring Knowledge of Tenant Rights and Perceptions of Personal Empowerment

Family homelessness emerged as a social issue in the United States in the 1980s and has since established itself as a pervasive social problem. The issue of family homelessness is complex and multifaceted with multiple social, political, and economic contributing factors. Historically, society at large has been apt to attribute homelessness to individual faults and deficits, but the fact that family homelessness has only emerged and persisted as a notable social problem in recent decades hints at political and economic mechanisms at work that serve to complicate and perpetuate the problem. Tenant eviction is one such mechanism that appears to be a major contributing factor to housing instability and episodic family homelessness. Eviction has recently come under scrutiny by sociologists, economists, and attorneys at law but has received little, if any, attention from the field of social work. As social workers are mandated by their code of ethics to aid and empower vulnerable, poor, and oppressed populations, the potential role that insufficient knowledge of tenant rights and eviction play in compounding and exacerbating family homelessness demands investigation by the social work profession. This study explores the potential of intervention with homeless families to provide information on tenant rights and responsibilities. The intervention is based in critical and empowerment theories and designed with the intention of raising critical consciousness among families experiencing homelessness. Findings from the study indicate that the intervention shows promise as a vehicle for empowering homeless families with knowledge and skills for successful tenancy. The social work field is encouraged to pursue further intervention research as a venue for empowering homeless families to effectively address their own needs

The relationship between trauma, social support, and postdeployment reintegration among warriors of the Iraq and Afghanistan Conflicts

The impact of service-related trauma on those returning from deployment remains a considerable issue among United States service members. While some veterans experience few to no setbacks upon homecoming, many service members struggle to reintegrate into their stateside lives, families, and communities following deployment. Little is yet understood about how veterans utilize social support to process trauma, the impact of trauma on service members’ abilities to access the support available to them, and whether social support may help soldiers with trauma to reintegrate into civilian communities with greater success. The purpose of this study is to add to the body of literature concerning service members’ experiences of trauma, social support, and postdeployment reintegration. Over the past five years, the Veterans Administration has observed a 35% increase in the number of service members receiving mental health care. Moreover, completed suicides among service members are at an all-time high, with more service member lives lost to suicide than to combat in recent years (Blumenthal, Maliha, & Mathews, 2012; Donnelly, 2011; Pilkington, 2013). Much is now known about the risk and resiliency factors that contribute to a service member’s ability to metabolize service-related trauma and reintegrate stateside. Yet, despite the resources devoted to studying these influences and the increased utilization of mental health services, outcomes for many returning veterans continue to be bleak. As the drawdown of OIF/OEF/OND troops continues and the potential deployment of ground troops to combat ISIS/ISIL looms, the demand for a comprehensive understanding of the unique needs of those service members experiencing reintegration difficulties can be expected to increase. Since stigma surrounding mental health treatment remains high among military service members (Johnson & Faller, 2011; Zoroya, 2010), many veterans will remain untreated for months, or even years, before life becomes uncomfortable or unmanageable enough to press them into treatment (Hoge et al., 2004). Civilian and military counselors, social workers, clergymen, public health educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, and service members themselves need to be better informed about the manifestations of combat-related trauma, the influence of social support on trauma symptomology, and the potential role of social support in ameliorating trauma response and facilitating service member reintegration. Mental health workers with a deeper knowledge of how trauma and social support interact to inform postdeployment experiences will be better suited to facilitate stateside transitions in service members. Accordingly, a Web-based assessment was deployed to examine the relationships among the variables of service-related trauma, postdeployment social support, and reintegration in a sample of veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The purpose of this study was to add to the body of literature concerning the homecoming experiences of present day warriors and increase practitioners’ understanding of the role of social support in stateside reintegration for service members with trauma

Mental Health Service Providers\u27 Engagement Experiences of Homeless Individuals

Limited literature exists regarding best engagement practices of mental health service providers in encouraging the homeless individuals to participate in clinical mental health services in New York City. New York City has a population of more than 8.5 million, and in 2017 more than 129,803 homeless individuals slept in shelters. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to gain more insight and knowledge about the best engagement practices and experiences of mental health service providers in encouraging homeless individuals to participate in clinical mental health services. The conceptual framework used to guide this study comes from Kearsley and Shneiderman\u27s engagement theory. The study employed a phenomenological method, utilizing a nonprobability sample design with a purposeful and criterion sample with 12 mental health service providers to reach saturation and to yield insights and in-depth understandings for the questions under research. Data were analyzed and coded to identify categories and themes. Findings from this research highlighted 3 themes based on participant responses: (a) building rapport, (b) medical and mental health, and (c) resistance to change. This study provides insight and understanding of the phenomenon of homelessness and provides information on engaging the homeless and how the participants encouraged homeless individuals to participate in clinical services