Practically Speaking: Behind the Episode “Look Beyond the Obvious! Exploring the Complexity of Military Culture, Identity and Mental Health”
It’s not often that I fangirl, but I just couldn’t help myself. It happens to the best of us and after all, I’m only human. So who caused me to fangirl? Not a movie star or musician – but the lead author on a compelling article that explores a topic very near and dear to my heart.
Hey, I’ll admit it… my name is Jenna and I’m a military culture geek. So when the article “A Scoping Review of Military Culture, Military Identity, and Mental Health Outcomes in Military Personnel” was passed onto me I (clearly) got very excited. I was inspired, moved, thought-provoked (is that a word?). I had questions. I had thoughts. I wanted to know more. I just had to speak with her. Lucky for me, despite a 16 hour time difference, lead author, Carolyn Heward, agreed to be our guest on Practical for Your Practice to explore the complexity of military culture's impact on military identity and its effect on mental health.
Listen to the full discussion here: Look Beyond the Obvious! Exploring the Complexity of Military Culture, Identity and Mental Health
We immediately dove in, discussing key elements of culture such as shared beliefs, values, behavioral practices, traditions. “And so when you think about the military, it's like, ‘well, of course the military is a culture.’ You think about the specific language, the dress, the rituals, the values, the beliefs, the shared way of doing things and understanding things.” Heward said. She probably got tired of my avid nodding.
Next we moved onto the concept of a military identity - and, perhaps more importantly, how it forms – “culture is the context that shapes identity“, Heward affirms. Through systematic research that Heward and her team conducted, different forms of military identity were… identified. These include loyal, warrior, hidden and disrupted identities. As you can imagine, some of these identities align more closely with military culture while others less so. And this is where it gets REALLY interesting from a clinical perspective because there also seems to be a relationship to mental health, and thus the Military Identity Model (MIM) was born. Spoiler alert: identities that align more closely with military culture confirm more positive mental health benefits.
So how does this impact YOUR clinical practice? Take a listen to the podcast to truly steep yourself in all the ways we can work to understand a client’s military identity, how that fits (or doesn’t) with military culture and how we might better evaluate protective or risk factors associated with a particular military identity, ALL of which help us come to better formulations and treatment plans. As Heward beautifully articulates, “Military values aren't preferences, they’re core identity elements…and identity work is clinical work.”
This fangirl couldn’t agree more. Check out the full episode on Practical for Your Practice and remember, stay curious and mind your EBP’s! Until next time…
We LOVE hearing from our listeners. If you have a question, comment, topic suggestion for a future episode, or even a guest recommendation, let us know! We also welcome listeners to share your “EBP Confession” story (season 4 theme), your “What’s Your Why?” story (season 5 theme), or your “Who’s Got Your Six” story (season 6 theme). You can leave us a voice mail message at speakpipe.com/cdpp4p, or send us an email at cdp-podcast-ggg@usuhs.edu. Your message could be featured in an upcoming episode!
Jenna Ermold, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist working as the Associate Director of Online Training, Technology and Telehealth for the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.
It’s not often that I fangirl, but I just couldn’t help myself. It happens to the best of us and after all, I’m only human. So who caused me to fangirl? Not a movie star or musician – but the lead author on a compelling article that explores a topic very near and dear to my heart.
Hey, I’ll admit it… my name is Jenna and I’m a military culture geek. So when the article “A Scoping Review of Military Culture, Military Identity, and Mental Health Outcomes in Military Personnel” was passed onto me I (clearly) got very excited. I was inspired, moved, thought-provoked (is that a word?). I had questions. I had thoughts. I wanted to know more. I just had to speak with her. Lucky for me, despite a 16 hour time difference, lead author, Carolyn Heward, agreed to be our guest on Practical for Your Practice to explore the complexity of military culture's impact on military identity and its effect on mental health.
Listen to the full discussion here: Look Beyond the Obvious! Exploring the Complexity of Military Culture, Identity and Mental Health
We immediately dove in, discussing key elements of culture such as shared beliefs, values, behavioral practices, traditions. “And so when you think about the military, it's like, ‘well, of course the military is a culture.’ You think about the specific language, the dress, the rituals, the values, the beliefs, the shared way of doing things and understanding things.” Heward said. She probably got tired of my avid nodding.
Next we moved onto the concept of a military identity - and, perhaps more importantly, how it forms – “culture is the context that shapes identity“, Heward affirms. Through systematic research that Heward and her team conducted, different forms of military identity were… identified. These include loyal, warrior, hidden and disrupted identities. As you can imagine, some of these identities align more closely with military culture while others less so. And this is where it gets REALLY interesting from a clinical perspective because there also seems to be a relationship to mental health, and thus the Military Identity Model (MIM) was born. Spoiler alert: identities that align more closely with military culture confirm more positive mental health benefits.
So how does this impact YOUR clinical practice? Take a listen to the podcast to truly steep yourself in all the ways we can work to understand a client’s military identity, how that fits (or doesn’t) with military culture and how we might better evaluate protective or risk factors associated with a particular military identity, ALL of which help us come to better formulations and treatment plans. As Heward beautifully articulates, “Military values aren't preferences, they’re core identity elements…and identity work is clinical work.”
This fangirl couldn’t agree more. Check out the full episode on Practical for Your Practice and remember, stay curious and mind your EBP’s! Until next time…
We LOVE hearing from our listeners. If you have a question, comment, topic suggestion for a future episode, or even a guest recommendation, let us know! We also welcome listeners to share your “EBP Confession” story (season 4 theme), your “What’s Your Why?” story (season 5 theme), or your “Who’s Got Your Six” story (season 6 theme). You can leave us a voice mail message at speakpipe.com/cdpp4p, or send us an email at cdp-podcast-ggg@usuhs.edu. Your message could be featured in an upcoming episode!
Jenna Ermold, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist working as the Associate Director of Online Training, Technology and Telehealth for the Center for Deployment Psychology at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.