Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are an important resource for veterans as they readjust to civilian life. Interviews show that FBOs not only help veterans with spiritual matters but address diverse areas of veteran health and well-being. Although FBO reintegration support is unique and even preferred at times, there are limits to what they can do. This report suggests ways to better integrate them into the web of support.

Faith-Based Organizations and Veteran Reintegration

Enriching the Web of Support

Laura Werber, Kathryn Pitkin Derose, Mollie Rudnick, Margaret C. Harrell, Diana Naranjo

ResearchPublished Jun 1, 2015

Faith-based organizations (FBOs) are an important community-based resource for veterans as they readjust to civilian life. Through interviews with both national-level and smaller, local FBOs, the authors sought to understand better the current and potential roles for FBOs in veteran reintegration. Interviewees suggested that veterans may look to FBOs for support because they offer privacy and confidentiality, two features that may be especially critical when a potential stigma is involved. Some FBOs have also developed a reputation as safe places for veterans, providing supportive, judgment-free environments. FBOs not only help veterans with spiritual matters but address diverse areas of veteran health and wellness, including vocation, education, financial and legal stability, shelter, access to goods and services, mental health, access to health care, physical health, family, and social networks. In some cases, the support is offered to veterans directly; in other instances, the support is indirect, via training individuals to help veterans or educating the public about them. In the process of providing support, FBOs interact with varied organizations, including government entities, private nonprofits, and one another, for training, outreach, referrals, information exchange, obtaining donations, and collaboration. Yet challenges exist, including insufficient connections with chaplains working in different settings and others in the web of support, resource and capacity constraints, lack of awareness of experience with veterans, issues related to religious philosophy or orientation, and characteristics of veterans themselves. To move forward, the authors offer recommendations for policymakers, organizations that interact with FBOs, and FBOs themselves to help FBOs engage fully in the web of reintegration support.

Key Findings

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) Can Be a Trusted Source of Assistance

  • FBOs not only attend to veterans' spiritual needs, but also, as a group, address many other areas of veteran health and wellness.
  • Veterans may look to FBOs for support because they offer privacy and confidentiality, two features that may be especially critical when a potential stigma is involved.
  • Some FBOs have fostered a reputation as safe havens for veterans, ones that provide supportive, judgment-free environments.
  • FBOs are already interacting with other organizations in the web of reintegration support, including government entities, private nonprofits, and one another.

But These Organizations Face Challenges

  • FBOs' work with veterans is sometimes limited by insufficient connections with chaplains working in different settings and with others in the web of support.
  • Additional barriers FBOs face include resource and capacity constraints, lack of awareness or experience with veterans, and characteristics of veterans themselves.
  • Some FBOs do not measure their impact, which can hinder their ability to serve veterans most effectively and efficiently.
  • Partnerships may be necessary to fully realize FBO capacity to support veterans and to evaluate the effectiveness of such support.

Recommendations

  • Help FBOs learn more about the veterans in their midst and how to help them most effectively. The authors interviewed several organizations that are ramping up efforts to do this, but the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) can assist on this front as well.
  • Government agencies, VSOs, and policymakers should acknowledge FBOs as a source of reintegration support for veterans, particularly for moral injury.
  • Government agencies and others that facilitate support should ensure FBOs are well integrated into veterans' resource directories, especially more comprehensive compendiums, such as the federally sponsored National Resource Directory.
  • Connect chaplains and FBOs at the local level. Community institutions that have chaplains, such as police departments, universities, and hospitals, along with chaplains associations and the VA, can all help to facilitate these linkages.
  • Build capacity among FBOs to measure the extent and effectiveness of their support. Organizations that train FBOs to support veterans, as well as those that seek to partner with FBOs, could provide guidance to or even mentor FBOs.

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Citation

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Werber, Laura, Kathryn Pitkin Derose, Mollie Rudnick, Margaret C. Harrell, and Diana Naranjo, Faith-Based Organizations and Veteran Reintegration: Enriching the Web of Support, RAND Corporation, RR-931-RC, 2015. As of October 10, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR931.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Werber, Laura, Kathryn Pitkin Derose, Mollie Rudnick, Margaret C. Harrell, and Diana Naranjo, Faith-Based Organizations and Veteran Reintegration: Enriching the Web of Support. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2015. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR931.html.
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