The Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Military and Veteran Social Work is the first specialized curricular guide for the 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standard (EPAS) competencies. In 2018, CSWE published a curricular guide to reflect the 2015 EPAS and a deeper understanding as a profession and a nation, that systems were unprepared to support the complex consequences of war and reconstruction efforts. The 2022 EPAS Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Military and Veteran Social Work is the next edition, seeking to impart the knowledge built from research, practice, and advocacy, to inform competencies for social work students, educators, and practitioners engaging in military and veteran social work.

Through extended and enhanced competencies in military and veteran social work, this text reflects the way in which social workers make significant contributions to the development of interventions, programs, and policies that support veterans, service members, military families, and those who have been affected by war. This curricular guide is designed to help programs and educators by providing suggested resources for each of the 2022 EPAS competencies. The resources provide educators with suggested readings and media, materials to facilitate discussion, and ideas for class and field assignments that educate students on social work’s role in war and conflict, and understand their lasting impact on individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations.

The Specialized Practice Curricular Guide for Military and Veteran Social Work was developed through the generous support of the Cohen Veterans Network and the Council on Social Work Education.

CSWE’s Vice President of Education, Dr. Megan Fujita and project lead of the guide Dr. Stephanie Felder, Traumatic Brain Injury Special Projects Lead and CAPT United States Public Health Service, discuss the current state of military and social work practice, while outlining the most pivotal updates in this guide: