Presented at the 2019 Colorado Counseling Association, Veterans and clinical mental health professional Duane France discusses the need for clinical mental health counselors to participate in advocacy on behalf of military affiliated clients, the community, and the profession

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Standing Up for Those Who
Served: Professional Counselors,
Advocacy, and Veteran Mental
Health
Duane K. L. France, MA, MBA, LPC
duane@veteranmentalhealth.com

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• Licensed professional counselor
• 2015 NBCC foundation military scholar
• 2016 NBCC foundation capacity building grant
• Co 4th judicial district veteran trauma
court
• Active in legislation and advocacy
• Co-Chair, American counseling
association public policy & legislation
committee
• Writing to inform veterans, their
families, and communities about veteran
mental health
• Director of Veteran Services for the Family
Care Center, LLC.
• Executive director of the Colorado Veterans
Health and Wellness agency
Introduction

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• 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
Introduction

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In 2016, the Military and Government Counseling Association appointed a task force to
develop a set of competencies for professional counselors when working with service
members, veterans and their families. The appointed task force developed and presented
Competencies for Counseling Military Populations (Prosek, et al., 2018).
Proposed Competencies for Counseling
Military Populations

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Advocacy represents counselors’ ability to understand and influence individual, system, and
public policy efforts to increase access to mental health resources for military-connected clients
and promote the role of counseling professionals working with military populations.
Proposed Competencies for Counseling
Military Populations
Military Culture represents general information about the functioning and worldview of military
service members and their families.
Ethics represents counselors’ self-awareness and motivation to serve military-connected clients, as
well as ethical considerations working with military populations.
Systems Features represents general information about the nature and structure of the military
lifecycle including, but not limited to, deployment, family, spouses and children, health and
wellness, employment, and retirement.
Assessment of Presenting Concerns represents common areas of clinical concerns that service
members frequently present to mental health services to address.
Identity Development represents the whole person concept of military life including one’s
personal identity as a service member and connection to mission and core values of working in a
high-risk occupation across the lifespan.
Treatment represents general information about unique issues that may arise in the treatment of
military-affiliated clients and approaches supported by research for military populations, including
best practices of military care systems, as well as holistic, wellness-oriented services.

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Advocacy represents counselors’ ability to understand and influence individual,
system, and public policy efforts to increase access to mental health resources for
military-connected clients and promote the role of counseling professionals working
with military populations.
Proposed Competencies for Counseling
Military Populations (Advocacy)
• Advocates for strength-based, wellness approaches when counseling military- connected clients.
• Advocates for the development and accessibility of mental health care for military populations, with
specific attention to family members, such as children.
• Forms collaborations among agencies serving military-connected clients.
• Compiles reputable non-VA resources to provide military-connected clients.
• Understands the complexity associated with VA Benefits programs and advocates with clients to
receive the assistance to which they are entitled, as appropriate.
• Supports initiatives for trainings to decrease stigma associated with mental health within military
populations.
• Supports initiatives for diversity trainings to generate positive cultural change, including the decrease
of cultural stigmas of diverse individuals within military populations.
• Considers training opportunities to increase counselor competence among trainees and professionals
working with military-connected clients.
• Supports prevention programs that connect military family members to the community.
• Advocates to change laws that conflict with counselors’ ethical codes.
• Advocates to maintain the inclusion of counselors as mental health providers for military populations.
• Actively assists Active Duty, Reserve Components, Veterans, retired military members, and military
families in self-advocacy strategies.

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At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to:
• Attendees will be able to identify the need to improve connectedness by compiling
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and non-VA resources for SMVF clients and forming
collaborative cooperation among agencies serving military-connected clients.
• Attendees will be able to identify why it is necessary to advocate for a strengths-based,
wellness approach, actively assist SMVF clients in developing self-advocacy strategies, and
understand the complex VA system in order to assist clients in navigating the process.
• Attendees will be able to recognize the role of the professional counselor in supporting or
providing training to reduce stigma associated with mental health in the SMVF population,
recognize the need for training to generate positive cultural change, and consider and
provide training to increase counselor competence when working with the SMVF population.
• Attendees will be able to comprehend the need for and ability of Professional Counselors to
influence policy and legislative efforts through advocating for increased access to and
availability of care for the SMVF population, by advocating to change laws that conflict with
our ethical codes, and advocating for the increased inclusion of Professional Counselors for
military populations.
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Improve Connectedness:
Compile Resources for SMVF Clients
VA Resources
Non-VA Resources

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Improve Connectedness: Form Collaborative
Cooperation

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Promote Wellness: Advocate for a
Strengths-Based Wellness Approach
A way of life oriented toward optimal health and well-being in which body, mind and spirit
are integrated by the individual to live life more fully within the human and natural
community. Ideally it is the optimum state of health and wellbeing that each individual is
capable of achieving.
Marine Staff Sgt. Daniel Kachmar lost
two fingers and had other serious
wounds from his service in Iraq. DoD
photo by Fred W. Baker III.
Treating
Mental Illness
Building
Mental
Wellness

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Promote Wellness: Assist Clients to
Develop Self-Advocacy Strategies
Self-advocacy has been defined as the ability to communicate one’s needs and make
informed decisions about the supports necessary to meet those needs (Kinny &
Eakman, 2017)

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Change Culture: Reduce Stigma in the
SMVF Population
Mental health stigma is a dynamic process by
which a service member or veteran perceives or
internalizes a brand or marked identity about
himself or herself or people with mental health
disorders (Acosta et al., 2014)
Reduce
stigmatizing
isolation
Change stigmatizing
cultural norms
Increase Peer
Support
Increase Perceptions of
Effectiveness of Care
Reduce Barriers To Care

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Change Culture:
Generate Positive Cultural Change
Supports initiatives for diversity trainings to generate positive
cultural change, including the decrease of cultural stigmas of
diverse individuals within military populations.
Female Service Members / Veterans
Racial / Ethnic Minorities
LGBTQ+ Service Members / Veterans
Religious Minorities

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Change Culture:
Increase Counselor Competence
A large number of predoctoral interns are introduced to the veteran population for the first time
during their internship training year. Therefore, a need exists within the psychological training
and supervision literature for materials that outline how to work effectively with veterans (Strom
et al, 2012).

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Change Framework:
Influence Policy and Legislation

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Change Framework:
Influence Policy and Legislation
Collaborate with policymakers to impact positive change for
service members, veterans, and their families
Connect with local
lawmakers in order to advise
and support legislative
change
Seek out
opportunities to get
involved in national
conversations around
SMVF Mental
Health
Participate in State and
National Legislative
Events

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Change Framework:
Change Laws in Conflict with Ethical Codes
I.1.c. Conflicts Between Ethics and Laws
If ethical responsibilities conflict with the law, regulations, and/or other governing legal authority, counselors
make known their commitment to the ACA Code of Ethics and take steps to resolve the conflict. If the
conflict cannot be resolved using this approach, counselors, acting in the best interest of the client, may
adhere to the requirements of the law, regulations, and/or other governing legal authority.
…Circumstances may arise in which a law (broadly
defined to include state and federal laws and regulations,
binding case law, administrative rules, or court orders) may
require [clinicians] to do something that could harm
patients, limit patient autonomy, and/or otherwise offend
the personal and professional ethical values of most
psychologists (Knapp, Gottlieb, Berman, & Handlesman,
2007)
Military mental health providers may find ethical–legal
conflicts in areas as wide ranging as confidentiality,
multiple relationships, informed consent, participating in
detainee interrogation, and responding to client
admission of non- heterosexual orientation (Johnson,
Grasso, & Maslowski, 2010) .

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Change Framework: Increase Professional
Counselors in Military Serving Populations

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Change Framework: Increase Professional
Counselors in Military Serving Populations

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Change Framework: Increase Professional
Counselors in Military Serving Populations

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References
Acosta, J. D., Becker, A., Cerully, J. L., Fisher, M. P., Martin, L. T., Vardavas, R., ... & Schell, T. L.
(2014). Mental health stigma in the military. RAND NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INST SANTA
MONICA CA.
Johnson, W. B., Grasso, I., & Maslowski, K. (2010). Conflicts between ethics and law for military mental
health providers. Military Medicine, 175(8), 548-553.
Kinney, A. R., & Eakman, A. M. (2017). Measuring Self-Advocacy Skills among Student Veterans with
Disabilities: Implications for Success in Postsecondary Education. Journal of Postsecondary Education and
Disability, 30(4), 343-358.
Knapp, S., Gottlieb, M., Berman, J., & Handelsman, M. M. (2007). When laws and ethics collide: What
should psychologists do?. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(1), 54.
Myers, J. E., Sweeney, T. J., & Witmer, J. M. (2000). The wheel of wellness counseling for wellness: A
holistic model for treatment planning. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(3), 251-266.
Pollack, S., (2019, July) Examination of VA Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselors (LPMHCs)
Training Programs and Opportunities for Employment. Presented at the American Counseling Association
Institute for Leadership Training (ILT), Washington D.C.
Prosek, E., Burgin, E., Atkins, K., Wehrman, J., Fenell, D., Carter, C., & Green, L. (2018). Competenceis for
Counseling Miltiary Populations. Journal of Military and Government Counseling, 87-99.
Strom, T. Q., Gavian, M. E., Possis, E., Loughlin, J., Bui, T., Linardatos, E., ... & Siegel, W. (2012). Cultural
and ethical considerations when working with military personnel and veterans: A primer for VA training
programs. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 6(2), 67.

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@ThCounselingVet
www.linkedin.com/in/dklfrance
@veteranmentalhealth
www.veteranmentalhealth.com
duane@veteranmentalhealth.com
719-540-2136
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