OUR MODEL
PROVE (Project for Return and Opportunity in Veterans Education) offers campus support teams made up of social work interns, student veteran mentors, and experienced field instructors. These teams pair up with existing campus professional staff to connect new and current student veterans to the resources they need as they transition from the military to college life. PROVE is currently housed on ten campuses within the CUNY system (BCC, BMCC, Fordham, Hostos, Hunter, John Jay, LaGCC, Medgar Evers, Queens, and York College).
We recognize that many student veterans, partially due to stigma, hesitate in seeking mental health services. They may also display reluctance to confide in civilian peers, mistrusting the motivations for the offer of help. The veteran community is a close-knit, founded on principles of community, loyalty, and brotherhood. Veterans relax in the presence of other veterans, freely sharing more information regarding life-experiences, as well as demonstrating a drive to help each other out. It is for this reason that our program is co-located within campus student veteran resource centers (VRCs); in this way we are able to meet each student where he or she is at. By providing services within a comfortable and safe environment, there is an increased chance for success in fostering engagement.