This keynote address discusses the importance of counselors developing cultural competence when working with military and veteran clients. It notes that the ACA Code of Ethics requires counselors to gain knowledge and skills related to working with diverse cultures. The presentation reviews models for understanding the impact of military service and culture, and recommends short-term and long-term approaches for developing competence, including through books, blogs, podcasts, movies and training resources. The goal is for counselors to provide culturally-sensitive, high quality mental healthcare for veterans and their families.

1. Ethical Approaches &
Competencies in Counseling
the Military Community
Keynote Address for the
Military and Government Counseling
Association Professional Development
Institute
Duane K. L. France, MA, NCC, LPCc
16 March 2017
Suggested Citation:
France, D., (2017, March) Ethical Approaches & Competencies in Counseling the Military
Community. Presentation at the Military and Government Counseling Association Professional
Development Institute, Westminster, CO.

2. Objectives
• Discuss the requirement for counselors to be culturally
competent with military & veteran clients
• Understand the concept of military service as a
separate and distinct culture
• Provide an overview and potential lens through
which to develop cultural competencies
• Identify ways in which counselors can
develop cultural competence with this
population

3. Introduction
• Licensed Professional Counselor Candidate
• 2015 NBCC Foundation military scholar
• Recipient of the 2016 NBCC Foundation capacity
building grant
• Co 4th judicial district veteran trauma
court
• Active in legislation and advocacy for
veteran mental health
• Member of the advisory board of
Objective Zero and Victory for Veterans
• Writing to inform veterans, their families,
and communities about veteran mental
health
• Director of veteran services for family
care center, llc.
• Executive director of the Colorado
veterans health and wellness agency

4. Introduction
• Retired in 2014 after 22 years of service in the
united states army
• Operation Iraqi freedom oct ‘06-Dec ‘07
• Operation Enduring Freedom ‘09-’10
• Operation enduring freedom ’11-’12
• Flintlock ‘13, Mauritania
• Operation joint endeavor, ‘95-’96
• Transportation and logistics

5. ACA Ethical Requirements
According to the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics,
Section C.2. (Professional Competence),
subsection C.2.a. (Boundaries of Competence)
Counselors are “required to gain knowledge,
personal awareness, sensitivity, dispositions,
and skills pertinent to being a culturally
competent counselor”
American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA Code of
Ethics. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association

6. Demonstrated Need
SAMHSA. (2016, 12 21). Section 223, Demonstration Program for Certified Community
Behavioral Health Clinics. Retrieved 03 15, 2017, from SAMHSA Web site:
https://www.samhsa.gov/section-223

7. Demonstrated need
Tanielian, T., Farris, C., Batka, C., Farmer, C. M., Robinson, E., Engel, C. C., et
al. (2014). Ready to Serve: Community-Based Provider Capacity to Deliver
Culturally Competent, Quality Mental Health Care to Veterans and Their
Families. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
2014 Rand study on the ability for
community-based mental health
providers to provide culturally
competent mental health care to the
military and veteran population

8. Moral Imperative for Cultural
Competence
Benevolence
Nonmalfeasance
“do no harm”
“do good when
possible”

9. Benevolence in Counseling
Veterans
• Referring a client to a specialist outside of your clinic in
order to receive the best care: “practicing within
boundaries of competence”
• Refraining from judging or condemning the veteran
• Developing an awareness of your reactions to a
veteran’s experience
• Allowing the veteran to build trust with you at their
pace, rather than yours

10. Nonmalfeasance in Counseling
Veterans
• Requiring a veteran client to adhere to a particular
protocol “because that’s what we do here”
• Requiring excessive explanation of basic military terms,
which diverts from the critical aspects of the veteran
story
• Minimizing, dismissing, or discounting a veteran’s
experiences
• Acting fearful or scared of the veteran

11. Military Service as a Culture: Webster
Definition
The integrated pattern
of human knowledge,
belief, and behavior that
depends upon the
capacity for learning
and transmitting
knowledge to succeeding
generations
The customary beliefs,
social forms, and
material traits of
a…social group, or The
characteristic features
of everyday existence
shared by people in a
place or time
The set of shared attitudes, values,
goals, and practices that characterizes
an institution or organization
The set of values, conventions,
or social practices associated
with a particular field, activity,
or societal characteristic
Culture [Def. 5]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster.
Retrieved March 13, 2017, from http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/citation.

12. Perception and Conventional
Wisdom
How can you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?
One will see you later, and the other will see you in a while!
Paradigms are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms about yourself or life
in general, it's like wearing glasses with the wrong prescription. That lens affects how
you see everything else.
-Sean Covey
Without cultural competence, the providers working with veterans are wearing the
wrong prescription, but don’t know it

13. A Way ahead: Potential Conceptual
Framework
Shay/ Litz / Maguen
Moral Injury
CBT / PE /
FamilySystems
Beck/Seligman
Learned
Helplessness
Stigma
Warrior
Ethos
“Suck It Up
and Drive
On”
Situational and
Systematic
Causes of
behavior
Stigma against
help-seeking
Societal
Judgement
Peer
Judgement
Stereotypes:
Villain,
Victim,
Vindicator
Barriers to
CareFrance, D., (2017, March) Ethical Approaches & Competencies
in Counseling the Military Community. Presentation at the
Military and Government Counseling Association Professional
Development Institute, Westminster, CO.

14. A Way ahead: Potential Conceptual
Framework
Grand Unified Theory of Veteran
Mental Health
Everything but the kitchen sink
theory of veteran mental health
Culturally competent whole-person approach to
veteran mental health

15. A Way ahead: Potential Conceptual
Framework

16. Prosek, E., Burgin, E., & Wix, K. (2016). Proposing Counselor Competencies for Working with the
Military Population [White paper].
The best long-
term way to
implement this
framework is to
develop core
competencies for
working with the
military
population, as
proposed by
Prosek, Burgin,
and Wix
Developing Military Cultural
Competence-Long Term

17. Developing Military Cultural
Competence-Short Term
Books
Blogs
Podcasts
Movies
Training

18. Books
Veteran Mental Health
On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace and On Killing: The
Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Dave Grossman
Vietnam
We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam
Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway
Persian Gulf War
Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War
Rick Atkinson
Somalia
In The Company of Heroes Michael Durant and Steven Hartov
Iraq
Boots On the Ground: A Month with the 82nd Airborne in the Battle for Iraq Karl Zinsmeister
In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat in Iraq Rick Atkinson.
Afghanistan
Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda Sean Naylor.
Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Clinton Romesha
The Aftermath
Lethal Warriors: When the New Band of Brothers Came Home by David Philipps
The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an Era of Endless War by Yochi Dreazen

19. Blogs
www.veteranmentalhealth.com
Articles about veteran mindset and viewpoint
New posts twice to four times weekly
www.havokjournal.com
Daily articles from a wide range of military,
military spouse, and family member authors
Established by SF Veteran Scott Faith
www.taskandpurpose.com
Quickly becoming the source of news and
information for many Post 9/11 Veterans, media
company with 16 full-time staff and over 350
contributors on a wide range of military topics

20. Movies
ACRONYM is a gripping,
vivid and real account of the
invisible trauma war leaves
behind.
www.mountaintm.com
The award winning documentary
“Thank You For Your Service” is an in
depth exploration of the challenges
confronting our military community
after nearly two decades of war.—
Gary Sinise

21. Podcasts
Justin Nassiri
Served as a
Submarine Officer
from 2002-2007
Byron Chen
Served as a USMC
MP Officer
from 2008-2013
Joe Crane
Served as a USMC
Helicopter Pilot
from 1989-2013
Bennett Tanton
USMC ’92-’96
US Army ‘98-’03
Eddie Lazzari
US Army ‘96-’05
Jay Knight
USMC Infantry
Squad Leader
from 2004-2008

22. Training
www.psycharmor.org

23. Conclusion and Contact
Vision:
To assist veterans in identifying and
removing or minimizing barriers to their
mental, physical, emotional, spiritual,
and behavioral wellness
www.veteranmentalhealth.com
www.fccsprings.com