"When Joanie comes marchin' home" : an exploratory study of community-based mental health services for lesbian military families

Author

Dianne Marie Terp, Smith College

Publication Date

2011

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Department

School for Social Work

Keywords

Community mental health services, Families of military personnel-Mental health services, Gay soldiers-Mental health services, LGBT, Military families, Community mental health

Abstract

The U.S. military invests significant resources into support for servicemembers and their families. Due in part to the federal policies known as "Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) and The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the military does not provide this support to lesbian military families. This study researched the potential of lesbian-focused community mental health centers as viable alternative providers for these servicemembers. The findings of the study showed that the best prepared lesbian-focused mental health centers can provide only 73% of the resources which the military states are needed. The average center had access to only 40% of the defined resources. The study raises new questions about community based mental health centers' ability to treat military families and the potential value of research on "officially invisible" populations.

Language

English

Comments

ii, 54 p. Thesis (M.S.W.)-Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Mass., 2011. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-47)

Recommended Citation

Terp, Dianne Marie, ""When Joanie comes marchin' home" : an exploratory study of community-based mental health services for lesbian military families" (2011). Masters Thesis, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses/1021