{"id":6809,"date":"2010-11-30T22:12:05","date_gmt":"2010-11-30T22:12:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:40:18","slug":"panelists-at-fordham-discuss-how-to-best-help-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=6809","title":{"rendered":"Panelists at Fordham Discuss How to Best Help Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Army Sgt. Arthur Moore returned from Vietnam in the 1960s, he and fellow veterans were treated like pariahs, sometimes spit on by people who opposed the war. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jose Cadena\u2019s return from Iraq was very different. He and his fellow veterans were welcomed as heroes. <\/p>\n

<\/strong>Despite the differences in how they were received, Moore and Cadena struggled with similar demons at home, they said on Nov. 18 at Fordham Westchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife can be a living hell when you return,\u201d said Cadena, one of five panelists at \u201cServing Those Who Have Served: Social Work With Active-Duty Military, Veterans and their Families.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u201cFirst, we go through a honeymoon phase,\u201d he said. \u201cThen you start to realize you may not be needed as much at home. Life went on while you were gone. And then there\u2019s conflict and anger\u2014and the anger will destroy you<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cadena said it is difficult for veterans to open up to family members, friends and others about their difficulties acclimating to life at home because they are afraid of being judged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot judge me if you didn\u2019t walk in my boots. At one point, I made the mistake of telling my wife I\u2019d rather be back in Iraq,\u201d he said. \u201cLife is hard, and knowing to get help is important. I\u2019m glad the military is starting to realize that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Moore\u2019s journey was quite different. He and other Vietnam veterans had to sue to the government to obtain treatment for psychological injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took 35 years,\u201d Moore said. \u201cFor six years now, I\u2019ve been getting help for post-traumatic stress disorder, anger management and more.<\/p>\n

<\/strong\u201cAt first, I didn\u2019t want to talk to anyone. Nobody knows what a veteran goes through but a veteran. I\u2019m glad I am finally getting the help I need. It has helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong>That active-duty soldiers and veterans often distrust outsiders is nothing new to Mary Ann Forgey, Ph.D., associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) who teaches a course on \u201cSocial Work with Military Service Members, Veterans and Their Families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Rahilly, of the VA Hudson Valley, travels the country to educate law enforcement and other first responders on the veteran population.<\/p>\n

Forgey was a civilian social worker from 1983 to 1987 for the Army\u2019s Family Advocacy Program in Wiesbaden, Germany, where she coordinated child and spousal abuse programs. She also has conducted research at Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Bragg, N.C.
\nTwo summers ago, she contacted a veterans center in New York while trying to place social work students. When the center director learned that the students weren\u2019t veterans, he told Forgey he didn\u2019t think it would work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pleaded with him to take this particular student because of her interest. I told him he had an awful lot to give in terms of his knowledge in helping this student be effective with the veteran population,\u201d Forgey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have many social work students and professionals who are interested in this work, but have little or no experience with the military,\u201d Forgey said. \u201cConversely, we have active duty and veterans who often distrust outsiders. So what do we do?\u201d<\/p>\n

She suggested that social workers employ a cross-cultural competency approach when dealing with veterans, a technique that is typically used to overcome differences in race or sexual orientation. Though that approach may be flawed, she said, it is useful nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Forgey urged social workers to embrace the modernist view of cultural competency by familiarizing themselves with the language, rituals and acronyms of the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake a \u2018not knowing\u2019 stance with the client and find those cultural brokers who will share their experiences,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

It took 35 years for Army Sgt. Arthur Moore to seek help for post-traumatic stress disorder and other health problems he has as a result of the Vietnam War. <\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back on my own experience entering a military culture, I never understood the commander\u2019s \u2018need to know\u2019 and that, as a clinician, I\u2019d have to share with him,\u201d she said. \u201cI was working in the area of domestic violence and child abuse and originally thought, \u2018I\u2019m not going to share that kind of information with a person\u2019s employer.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, a unit commander took her aside and explained that he had much more responsibility than any civilian employer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe issues her or him a weapon. He had a need to know\u2014not everything, but certain things,\u201d Forgey said. \u201cThat conversation was pivotal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her GSS course, Forgey tries to continue that conversation for her students. Moore and Cadena and others have served as \u201ccultural brokers\u201d so students can learn to take a \u201cnot knowing\u201d stance and learn how to be respectfully curious.<\/p>\n

Civilian social workers also must think about how veterans have been treated within the larger culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow have military culture and veterans been treated by the social work profession? We were kind of absent for the Vietnam veterans. And maybe even worse\u2014we may have been hostile,\u201d Forgey said.<\/p>\n

Other panelists who described how they are reaching the veteran and active duty populations and their families at the event include: Tina Atherall, executive vice president of Hope for the Warriors, a nonprofit that works to enhance quality of life for U.S. service members and their families nationwide who have been adversely affected by injuries or death in the line of duty; and Elizabeth Rahilly and Kristen Tuttle of the Veterans Administration of the Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n

There aren’t enough charities for the veterans and their families. I hope to one day start The Defenders of our Freedom Fund and I know of several others who share that same hope and ambition with me!<\/em><\/strong> I love Fordham University for this and I am PROUD TO BE A RAM!<\/strong>
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