Our Mission

CLINICAL PROVIDERS:

SOF Network’s purpose is to be a valued and trusted resource for the SOF community offering quality mental health providers in the private sector. This network is comprised of individuals who have all been recommended and vetted by individuals within the SOF community. Our overall goal is to make sure each and every provider has a strong cultural competency when it comes to the SOF community.

Locating Providers-Currently SOF members and their families are left to use sites like Psychology Today or word of mouth (chaplain’s, teammates, command, etc.,) to find providers in their community who work with the SOF community. Often when SOF members reach out and setup appointments to unknown providers they walk away feeling “unheard”, “misunderstood”, and even “looked down on” by providers who don’t regularly work with this community. Unfortunately, this only furthers the often-believed narrative that “no one really understands” this community. All SOF Network providers aim to work together with a common goal of serving the SOF community. By having a centralized community of mental health care providers both the clinicians and SOF individuals can find and locate trusted providers in their state and across the nation. This enables a level of continuity of care that is currently missing within this community.

Trusted Providers-All of our provides generally go through multiple rounds of interviews depending on their level of experience working with SOF. This allows SOF individuals and their family members who are seeking a provider the comfort that if they choose a provider from SOF Network they are going to sit across from a provider that has a track record with other SOF individuals and or family members. Locating and acquiring providers with strong SOF cultural competencies is a major focus of SOF Network. Equally, we work to ensure all our providers are trauma informed clinicians who utilize evidence-based therapeutic modalities in their own areas of speciality (couples, individuals, kids, etc.). We aim to be a trusted network so that when SOF members and or families need help they can know they are working with a provider that understands them and the unique challenges their community faces.

CLINICAL MENTORSHIP:

SOF Network has created the Pipeline Program to help former special operations members and or their spouses, who are interested in a second career in clinical mental health, identify which discipline (Social Work, Clinical Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Psychologist, etc.,) is best suited for them and then provide mentors from our providers as they move through their graduate and or doctoral level schooling. Our aim is to help raise the next generation of clinical providers who will be working alongside of us serving the SOF community.

CLINICAL RESEARCH/CERTIFICATION:

Research is a vital part in shaping how clinicians understand presenting problems, efficacy of treatments, understanding culture dynamics and so much more. Due to the current dearth of research within the SOF community, SOF Network aims to create a centralized pool of participants for future research opportunities.

Clinical Certification is an important part of gatekeeping and professional identity. As such, given the unique complexities of the SOF community we see a future need to identify key core competencies that clinicians should meet to ethically work alongside this community. It is our hope to establish a first of its kind SOF clinical certification for licensed providers.