Continue Serving Your Country: Earn an MSW Degree

As a member of the military community, you are in a unique position to help other military personnel and their families cope with the stresses of deployment and the return to civilian life. You may already know service members who suffer from post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression or have seen up close how these conditions can lead to substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and suicide. You may know widows or widowers who are grieving while trying to raise a family without the support of their partner.

Social workers all over the country help veterans and service members recover from the stresses of war. Most licensed social workers don’t have the particular vantage point of having lived in a military culture — but you do. Since you’ve been there, you can be helpful in treating the challenges that military personnel and their families face. 

It sometimes seems that the most common problems of service members differ very little from the problems of civilians. Yet service members often have added complications. For example, many worry about being seen in counselors’ halls and waiting rooms, and about being consequently judged. They worry about confidentiality. They long for privacy, yet have doubts that their insurance can protect them. Some believe that no matter what the organization, if it’s affiliated with the armed forces, their records could easily be shared with other branches and departments. Civilians may have similar feelings, but service members sometimes carry with them an even greater shame of being perceived as flawed or weak in some way.

Service members also often report frustration with the amount of red tape associated with accessing services. When the emotional and behavioral problems become too great, they may reach out to the mental health services of their military insurance plans. However, they often report uneven quality of services, problems with continuity of care, restrictions on the number of mental health sessions or lack of freedom to pursue the options they deem best. Service members and their families deserve a high quality of care by virtue of their service and sacrifice. This is where you can truly make a difference.
The USC School of Social Work offers a highly respected master’s degree program in social work with a military specialization. The military sub-concentration includes coursework on understanding military culture; facilitating service members dealing with a range of physical, mental and psychosocial issues; and exploring the impact of military service on families — and is available to both on-campus and online students. And with our web-based MSW@USC option, you can study from anywhere, confident that military relocations will not interfere with your education.

Learn more about earning your MSW online, or visit the USC School of Social Work website for information about our Southern California locations.