My wife is a Social Worker who commissioned in January, and arrived on-post in March. She is now working at the Army Hospital Department of Social Work.
She made the decision to leave private practice and join the Army because she wanted to help soldiers and their families deal with the numerous mental health issues which have been so widely documented by the media. Indeed, when she mentions to our on-post neighbors that she is a Social Worker, many of them thank her for joining and tell her how desparately she is needed.
Unfortunately, and unknown to the many people who are thanking her, she is not being given an opportunity to help. Assigned to the Department of Social Worker, she is spending approximately 80% of her time on paperwork. She stays 2-3 hours extra every day, comes home exhausted every day - all of which she would be very happy and enthusiastic about doing if it were actually helping anyone. Instead, it is mostly due to the voluminous paperwork requirements of the office (partly, though not exclusively due to the local Family Advocacy Program).
It is eating at me to see the enthusiasm with which she started slowly dying. It is maddenly frustrating to hear over and over again from soldiers on-post how desparately she is needed, and then to confront the bureaucracy and rigid structure which prevents her from helping.
It is apparent that she will not be able to help soldiers and their families dealing with deployment-related issues so long as she remains in the hospital Social Work department. Are there any other entities or branches within the Army in which a Social Worker can assist soldiers and their families with the mental health issues associated with deployments? (I'm not talking about VA issues; my wife is active duty and specifically wishes to help active duty soldiers and families).
