Course Dates: 15-17 JULY 2025
Course Overview
If you are considering a career in the military as an active-duty psychologist or social worker, the Pathways Program is designed specifically for you!
Pathways to Military Behavioral Health Careers: The Summer Institute is a three-day, in-person course held at The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) in Bethesda, MD, on 15-17 July 2025. The Pathways Program is designed to enhance the awareness about what active duty service as a military psychologist or social worker entails. The program’s primary objective is to provide information about behavioral health positions within the armed forces.
Participants in the program gain invaluable, first-hand insights into military culture and the roles of military psychologists and social workers who provide care to active duty service members. Throughout specific modules, participants from different disciplines will collaborate in joint sessions, while in other modules, they will participate in separate breakout sessions.
The course is:
- Offered at no cost. Lodging/hotel costs are covered for the duration of the course. Participants are responsible for travel, meals, parking, and incidentals (Lodging is covered only for participants residing outside a 50-mile radius of Bethesda, MD).
- Hosted at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, located in Bethesda, MD.
- Designed for students who are seriously considering applying for military psychology internships or military social work positions in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.
- This intensive program will strengthen students’ backgrounds in military behavioral health, as they gain first-hand knowledge of military culture, the work of behavioral health providers serving in uniform, and evidence-based strategies to treat active duty service members
Intended for:
- Psychology students pursuing doctoral degrees in Clinical or counseling psychology who will be applying to internships in 2025 or later. This course is NOT appropriate for students who plan to begin their military internship in the fall of 2025, as outlined in the eligibility criteria here.
- Social work students enrolled in an MSW program with a focus on clinical social work, who are either in their 1st or 2nd year of program.
Curriculum:
Through didactics, experiential exercises, as well as panel and group discussions facilitated by CDP faculty and field experts, participants gain knowledge about:
- Topics such as the warrior ethos, stress during deployment cycles, challenges faced by military families, and strategies for building resilience.
- Ethical dilemmas encountered by providers when working with military patients.
- Clinical problems experienced by Service members and evidence-based interventions to treat them.
Course Highlights:
- Opportunity to engage with psychologists and social workers representing different branches of the military.
- Panel discussion featuring Training Directors and social work leaders from different military branches.
- Discussion of how military life affects not only the service member but the family system
Please note: Students who have previously attended either the Summer Institute (in-person) or the Winter Institute (online) are not eligible to apply for the 2025 Summer Institute.
Questions can be emailed to cdp-pathways-ggg@usuhs.edu.
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Application period ends 4 April 2025.