Therapy for Veterans

Student’s name:
Tutor’s name:
Course:
Date due:
Article review for therapy for veterans.
Introduction
Combat veterans around the world are currently suffering from severe reintegration issues and psychological issues. According to David M. Ferruolo, they are mostly reluctant to join the talk therapy hence ending up in search of other optional treatments. In his article “Psychosocial Equine Program for Veterans,” he highlights the need to have the equine psychosocial program which creates mental health therapy for such veterans. To improve the veterans’ mental health, the article focuses on the pilot program which is designed to enhance equine treatment program. Through the approval of the institutional program review, the EFMH (Equine-facilitated mental health) therapy program helps in addressing the serious veterans’ psychological issues (Ferruolo 52).
The program focuses on both one and two-day retreats with open-ended questions asked after the program. The veterans in the program are developed psychologically regarding their trust, respect, learning about oneself and the spiritual connection. Through the retreats, the participants can introspect allowing them to realize things they didn’t know about themselves. The equine pilot program, therefore, helps the participants to have their social skills elevated due to the increased self-awareness. The result of the program is that they can improve psychologically and have a better spiritual connection with either self or even others in their surroundings.

However, the pilot program has only focused on the homeless and the unemployed, and therefore, income and employment which are also factors to be considered have not been factored in (Ferruolo 57). Due to the selection bias and internal validity threats, the program’s results are likely to be influenced by the participants who volunteer and may sometimes want only to please the researchers and not answer questions effectively.
It is, however, good to note that with its effectiveness, it should be done to represent the overall population who constitute the combat veterans. When advocating for the program to help in improving the psychological development of the combat veterans, the minority, as well as female combat veterans, should be brought on board. The program should aim at helping all the generations which have had psychological issues to improve their mental health. Focusing on its effectiveness on the broader population will significantly benefit the combat veterans who have experienced mental health issues caused by adverse psychosocial adjustments.
Response to other students
One of the students argues that the EFMH pilot program is not effective in treating TBI (Traumatic brain injury) which is also experienced by the combat veterans as a psychological issue. The provided reason is that according to the article, EFMH pilot program has only indicated that can treat anxiety, depression as well as PTSD. Most of the veterans who experience TBI sometimes become disoriented and confused leading to delayed thinking (Wieland 1). Even though this is true, one should understand that the EFMH practice is still open to further development and thus the program will be developed to encompass all the psychological issues faced by the combat veterans.
Another student argues that according to the article, the program has greatly involved the homeless and unemployed who attend the program as volunteers. It, therefore, limits the chances of having other veterans who undergo the same experiences but have homes to be taken care of. It is also not expanded as it only focuses on a central place of New England VA hospital (Ferruolo 58). What one needs to understand is that the pilot program has to cover a small area since it is still experimental. With research on its expansion and inclusion every combat veteran on board, it is going to be inclusive to solve the severe issues they go through.

Work cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Ferruolo, David M. “Psychosocial Equine Program for Veterans.” NASW Press (February 14, 2015): 52-60.
Wieland, Boulder. “Military and Veterans Issues .” GoodTherapy.org (8th December 2015): 1-3.Retrieved from: https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/veterans-mental-health-issues