U.S. Navy veteran Michael McAndrew, a graduate student at Eastern Mennonite University, plans to use his education to provide mental health services for military veterans. His professional path towards a graduate degree in counseling was recently aided by a $5,000 military scholarship from the NBCC Foundation, an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors Inc.
The foundation awarded five scholarships from a pool of approximately 30 applicants. Each recipient must commit to serving military personnel, veterans and their families in his or her future work.
“Michael is passionate about the needs of military families and veterans, and he is compassionate,” says Jayne Docherty, program director of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) and McAndrew’s advisor. “This scholarship could not have been given to a better person.”
McAndrew is a dual degree program at EMU, earning both a master’s in counseling and a master’s in conflict transformation.
Changing purpose
After graduating from East Carolina University, McAndrew spent four years in the Navy as a flight deck electrician. Though not in combat, he saw the trauma that military service often caused from being in battle, long periods spent away from home, ethical challenges and more.
“I saw a real need that wasn’t being addressed for service members and their mental health needs,” McAndrew says. “I could see how things affected people and how divorce, alcohol abuse, drug use and other things came out of that.”
McAndrew decided to leave the military and, with Docherty’s help, enrolled at EMU in 2013 to focus on veterans’ advocacy and trauma awareness through the STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) program and other CJP coursework.
[Read more about veterans’ issues and advocacy at EMU and Eastern Mennonite Seminary.]
Along the way he decided to expand his studies.
“Once I saw the need for better informed care for veterans and their families, I knew I had to stay and do a counseling program, as well,” McAndrew says. “It’s been great, because they mesh so well. They’re such similar things but also very different, as well. I really feel like I fit here.”
Tailored studies
Most recently he has been working with Nate Koser, assistant professor in the MA in Counseling program, in an independent study on psychoanalysis and its use as a therapy for veterans. The open-ended, free association approach can be more accessible for those typically averse to counseling.
“Michael’s experience in his military service, as well as his interaction with other veterans has been a great addition to this work,” Koser says. “He is a great student, and one who is not afraid to challenge the somewhat terrifying status quo of treatment services for veterans. I personally work as a psychoanalyst with veterans, and I can attest to the problematic nature and significant limitations of the treatment services they are typically offered.”
McAndrew praised EMU’s programs for being open to the expression of a variety of ideas while also opening him up to working with other populations, such as children, people with autism and senior citizens. Following his graduation next spring with dual MA degrees in counseling and conflict transformation, he hopes to stay in the Harrisonburg area. His wife, Mary Beth, is a behavioral analyst, so they have discussed doing counseling work together. Working with the Veterans Administration system, in higher education or with immigrant populations is also possible.
“I’m very comfortable with the ambiguity right now,” McAndrew says. “I’m kind of just ready for whatever the world sends me.”
Great news!