USC to train social workers on military issues

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The University of South Carolina’s College of Social Work is starting a new program to train social workers to assist the military, veterans and their families.

Nancy Brown, the USC professor who has been pulling the program together, says there is a growing need for social workers in the field.

They can assist in mental health counseling, addiction treatment, behavioral health issues and transitional counseling.

Brown says the program is in its final stages of academic approval. It will be an 18-hour graduate level certificate program that is part of the college’s two-year master’s degree program. Four courses will be available by the summer.

Over the next decade, the college could prepare as many as 3,000 social workers in the field.