Military and Veterans Programs News
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During the week of April 15 - 21, 2021, five mobile dental clinics, containing 15 dental operatories, took over the parking lot of the Leo Baeck Temple near the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center (WLA VA) to provide free mobile dental care for veterans experiencing homelessness or at-risk for homelessness.
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For members of the military who have experienced sexual assault while serving, the trauma and life-changing impacts of the violence and retaliation for reporting are crushing. Winning the battle against what Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin, III has called the “scourge of sexual assault” may not be easy, but there is a path forward, according to USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work researchers who specialize in military social work.
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Many people fear the places Hector Jiminez needs to be. He relies on his battlefield experience — and his studies at USC, where he’s earned two graduate degrees — almost every day.
In environments where gang violence stalks communities, Army veteran Hector Jiminez is unafraid. He served eight years in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 1990s before returning to Southern California, where he followed a meandering path to a military social work degree at USC.
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On April 1, 2021, CBS premieres United States of Al - a new comedy from producer Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory) about a Marine combat veteran struggling to readjust to civilian life and the interpreter who served with his unit in Afghanistan and has just arrived to start a new life in America. The show explores the relationship between these two men and how they help each other adjust to their new lives.
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Social workers in government, using their skills to influence policy and create change on a macro level, are becoming increasingly important for society. There are currently 42 members of Congress who are social workers. The daughter of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden is a social worker. The value of social work and what it can contribute to local, state and national politics is on the rise.
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Every day, men and women from every state choose to serve in the military ― each willing to put everything on the line to protect the freedom of Americans. This selfless act, coupled with the toll that service exacts from those who serve and their families, inspired Shanden Brutsch, Master of Social Work (MSW) student at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, to want to help in any way she could.
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One suicide leaves a heartbreaking trail, notably affecting an estimated 135 surviving people. The thousands of suicide deaths that occur each year among U.S. military veterans are a cause for national mourning.
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A February 2020 research summit on moral injury, hosted by the Military and Veterans Programs (MVP) at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, expanded understanding of this subject, as scientists discussed its applicability for treatment of trauma both inside and outside a military context.
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Three USC military-track and military-connected students had unique opportunities to network and learn more about their chosen field when they attended the annual conference for the Society for Social Work and Research, held this January in Washington, D.C.
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Veteran suicide rates continue to tick upward, despite the federal government spending vast sums of money and investing considerable time and resources to grapple with the issue.