Easing the Transition From Veteran to Civilian Life
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UNDERSTANDING THE VETERAN STORY
Clinical mental health counselors who want to support veterans as they navigate these career transitions would benefit from understanding their struggles with isolation , disconnection , and lack of understanding from non-veteran peers , in addition to knowing what strategies might help to develop trust and rapport with veterans . Counselors can take the time to learn the veteran ’ s story and allow them to teach counselors about their experiences . In the words of one veteran , “ Every time I talk to a civilian I have to explain . It ’ s like giving a lesson ,” according to a PLOS ONE article about veterans reconnecting to civilian life .
We aimed to expand our understanding of that story and ways to support veterans with help-seeking and career transition through recent research that examined college student veterans ’ beliefs on help-seeking while examining narratives on career transition and life satisfaction . This article includes a general summary of the research and its primary findings .
( For information on the study ’ s basic methodology and demographic information , see the box below ).
RESEARCH RESULTS
Help-Seeking Behavior
Student veterans rated how likely they were to seek help from a professional counselor on a Likert scale ( 1 highly unlikely to 6 highly likely ) with the following issues : career / employment , couple / relationship , family / parenting , alcohol / substance use , and social / emotional concerns . Analyses revealed a statistically significant difference in help-seeking with career issues ( M = 4.66 ) when compared to couples ( M = 3.74 ), parenting ( M = 3.30 ), alcohol / substance use ( 3.06 ), and social / emotional issues ( 3.79 ).
Using the same Likert scale , student veterans rated how likely they would be to seek help from the following individuals regarding the same five issues ( e . g ., career , couples , parenting , etc .): military friends , non-military friends , spouse / partner , supervisor , other family , mentor / clergy , college personnel , or the Veterans Administration ( VA ). For all issues , military spouses / partners ( M = 4.83 ) were rated higher than other support systems , including military friends ( M = 3.84 ), non-military friends ( M = 4.04 ), supervisor ( M = 2.94 ), other family ( M = 3.94 ), mentor / clergy ( M = 3.39 ), college personnel ( M = 2.82 ), or the VA ( M = 3.26 ).
Career Transition and Life Satisfaction
The Electronic Survey Research on Student Veterans
Participants :
• College student veterans
• 137 student veterans responded to the quantitative survey ( e . g ., Help-Seeking )
• 81 provided qualitative responses via open-ended inquiries ( e . g ., Career Transition and Life Satisfaction ).
Sample demographics were primarily :
• Male — 78 percent
• White — 77 percent
• Non-Hispanic — 90 percent
• Married — 52 percent
Mean age — 35 ( SD = 9.8 ) Average household income — about $ 48,000 .
Respondents represented most branches of service :
• Army — 47 percent
• Navy — 21 percent
• Marines — 16 percent
• Air Force — 12 percent
• National Guard — 3 percent
• Coast Guard — 2 percent
Respondents were discharged at varied ranks , from enlisted ( E2 to E9 ) to officers ( O2-O6 ), with largest percentages being :
• E4 ( 21 %), E5 ( 31 %), and E6 ( 20 %).
Average time served — 10.4 years ( SD = 8.04 )
Reserve affiliation included :
• No National Guard or Reserve affiliation — 70 percent
• Active Reserves — 10 percent
• Inactive Reserves — 11 percent
• National Guard — 6 percent
Based on the homogeneity of the sample , caution is needed when extrapolating the findings to more diverse populations .
Student veterans provided open-ended responses to general inquiries regarding their career transition experience and life satisfaction . Three themes emerged regarding their career transition : planning , differences between military / civilian life , and the value of military benefits .
Four themes emerged regarding their life satisfaction and career transition :
• Career satisfaction = happiness / life satisfaction ,
• Planning and goal-setting ,
• Impact of transition , and
• Finances .
These findings have important implications for mental health counselors .
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16 The Advocate Magazine 2025 , Issue # 1 American Mental Health Counselors Association ( AMHCA ) www . amhca . org