With more active duty service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the needs of college-bound veterans are taking on a new dynamic.
Oxnard College held a seminar to help counselors and staff learn to meet the needs of veterans and military service members.
The counseling departments of Ventura County Community College District were invited to an orientation on the Ventura Soldiers Project at room LA-19. With the expected influx of returning combat veterans to college campuses, the project plans to raise awareness of the peculiar needs of the students and their families.
Recently, the GI Bill, which allows funding for school for veterans and active-duty military, has allowed for more money to pay for college.
Coordinators for the Soldiers Project Carol Tanenbaum, Judith Broder and Yasmin Attar where all on hand to instruct the nearly 40 counselors that attended the seminar.
Broder says the main goal of Soldiers Project is to provide free and confidential counseling to veterans and their family members, as well as active duty service members.
Tanenbaum joined the organization, which is a program of the Ernest Lawrence Trauma Center of the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies, four years ago after having her eyes opened thanks to a theater production called “The Sandstorm.”
“So I joined up with Dr. Judith Broder, and we are now 150 psychotherapists throughout Southern California,” said Tanenbaum.
Attar, who is a social psychologist, felt that the seminar matched her expectations.
“I feel it was very successful in answering the questions and issues around a veteran coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan, and also helped us learn what to do next,” said Attar.
The orientation was presented by the OC Organizational and Professional Development office to let the counselors, faculty and staff know the injuries of the veterans may not be visible, and some behavior patterns are a result of TBI that may cause them difficulty in their classes.
The presenters included George Compton of Ventura County Veterans Services Office who, repeated that there are services available for the veterans to help them recover and go on with their lives.
