The emerging needs of veterans: a call to action for the social work profession.

The needs of the nation’s veterans are changing, and as such, the profession of social work will need to adapt to the increasing demand for our services. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest employer of master’s-level social workers in the nation. Social workers have been serving veterans since 1926, when the first social work program in the Veterans Bureau was established. According to Manske (2008), the VA originally hired 36 hospital social workers, with the number increasing to 97 by 1930, and they treated patients with psychiatric illness and tuberculosis. Manske (2008) further stated that “in 1989, Congress elevated the VA to Cabinet status, creating the Department of Veterans Affairs. At that time, more than 3,000 social workers were providing psychosocial and mental health services at 175 VA hospitals” (p. 255). Today, social workers offer a variety of services to veterans and their families, including resource navigation, crisis intervention, advocacy, benefit assistance, and mental health therapy for conditions such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and drug and alcohol addiction. Social workers in the VA also ensure continuity of care through admission, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up processes, and they provide assessment, crisis intervention, high-risk screening, discharge planning, case management, advocacy, and education to veterans and their families.