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Spouse CallsJoin the conversation with Stripes columnist Terri Barnes, as she explores issues relevant to the lives of military spouses. |
Care from the civilian world
Posted March 3rd, 2008 by Terri Barnes in
A group of mental health professionals in the Boston area founded the Strategic Outreach For All Reservists, which offers free and confidential counseling to military families.
“Our hope from the beginning has been to provide a national program,” said Dr. Kenneth Reich, co-director of SOFAR. “Families are just beginning to get the focus in the press and the attention that they deserve.”
Dr. Reich and co-director Dr. Jaine Darwin have active plans for SOFAR expansion in Pennsylvania, Texas and New York. A program in Michigan is set to begin in April.
SOFAR is a network of credentialed, licensed mental health professionals, who volunteer to provide counseling and therapy to military members and their families, Dr. Reich said. The volunteers include psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and other professionals, all of whom must have malpractice insurance, active licensing and no ethical issues for the past 10 years, Reich said.
For more information about SOFAR, click here for their Web site. To obtain their pamphlet about helping children cope with deployment, click here for the downloadable PDF.
Read more about SOFAR and a similar Operation Homefront program in the Mar. 23 Spouse Calls column.
Licensed professional counselors
The following comment from Dr. William King of the University of Maryland University College, adds more specific information about licensed professsional counselors:
When I read the headlines of your 23 March article in the Stars & Stripes, "Counselors support military families," I was pleased to see this profession receiving publicity. Then I was disappointed and dismayed that professional counseling was omitted from the list of providers of these services! "Counselors" should include people who have a master's degree in counseling and are licensed to provide counseling. Such LPC's should not be referred to as "other professionals."
I am the director of the UMUC Europe graduate counseling program, which has over 325 students who are military personnel and their family members. This is the only such program in Europe, as UMUC Europe has the tri-services contract to provide master's degrees in both Counseling Psychology and Guidance & Counseling.
Our students, who return to all 50 States and become licensed providers of mental health services, must complete a 700-hour internship during the last year of their degree program. Sites in Europe, where for many years our students have done their internship, include Landstuhl Regional Medical Center and Mannheim Correctional Facility, to name just a couple. Ask anyone at these facilities about our students, and you will find they enjoy an excellent reputation.
Our graduates are Tri-Care providers, and they are employed in military facilities both in Europe and Stateside. Professional counselors are part of these "credentialed, licensed mental health professionals who volunteer to provide counseling and therapy to military members and their families."
Thank you,
Dr. William M. King, EdD, CCMHC
Counseling Program Director
UMUC Europe