Effective treatment of military clients
Keith MyersAugust 1, 2013
There is sound research available that demonstrates the efficacy of certain evidence-based treatments when working with the military population. However, most of that research seems to disregard the necessary prerequisite for counselors in achieving reliable treatment outcomes — the ability to build trust with a client population that has a general disposition to distrust others, especially those outside of the military, which probably includes most of you reading this article. The prerequisite of trust illustrates the primary importance of establishing a level of multicultural awareness that will empower clinicians to achieve a more meaningful therapeutic relationship with military clients. In turn, this will lead to an improved quality of life for those clients.
Trust is the foundation for all meaningful personal and professional relationships. It is what causes a child to laugh when his father hoists him high into the air, knowing that he will always catch him on the way down. If a veteran does not trust you, then your treatment outcomes will have poor results virtually every time. One of my former military clients put it to me bluntly: “I’m not going to let you screw with my mind before I get to know who you are and what you represent.”
