Clinical Military Counseling Techniques

For many service members and veterans, walking into a counseling office means walking into uncertainty—about trust, about understanding, and being seen. Military culture carries its own language, values, and unspoken rules, and clinicians unfamiliar with this culture risk unintentionally widening the gap. Effective military counseling requires more than empathy—it necessitates cultural fluency, trauma-informed awareness, and interventions that honor the whole person: mind, body, and spirit.

This course brings you inside the lived realities of military clients through evidence-based frameworks and techniques that restore connection, resilience, and purpose. You’ll gain the skills to move beyond clinical theory into deeply attuned practice—one that addresses moral injury, fosters self-compassion, and integrates mindfulness and trauma-sensitive methods within the context of military life.

Enroll in the 4.5 CE Online Self-Study for $139

Flexible payment options available

Dr. Mark A. Stebnicki, Ph.D., LPC, DCMHS, CRC, CCM, CCMC, is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Addictions and Rehabilitation Studies at East Carolina University and the developer of the Clinical Military Counseling Certificate Program through the Telehealth Certification Institute. With over 30 years of clinical experience and 20 years as a TRICARE mental health provider, Dr. Stebnicki has written 11 textbooks, including Clinical Military Counseling: Guidelines for Practice (American Counseling Association, 2021). His pioneering research has shaped how the counseling profession approaches trauma, compassion fatigue, and resilience within military and veteran populations.

In this course, Dr. Stebnicki takes a multidisciplinary, experiential teaching approach. Through interviews with guest presenters from diverse specialties—including military chaplains, trauma clinicians, and integrative health practitioners—he demonstrates real-world counseling applications. Each segment weaves together science, culture, and clinical skill, giving you an immersive look at how empathy, mindfulness, and evidence-based interventions strengthen the therapeutic alliance with service members and their families.

You’ll explore how mindfulness, self-compassion, and empathy-focused techniques foster resilience and post-traumatic growth. Topics include earning trust and building rapport with military clients; identifying the impact of trauma exposure and moral injury; applying EMDR and breathing/visualization practices to reduce PTSD symptoms; integrating holistic wellness practices such as yoga, meditation, and neurofeedback into treatment plans; and understanding military psychosocial and spiritual dimensions. Dr. Stebnicki also discusses the latest military wellness models—such as the Army’s H2F and Air Force’s Total Fitness Force—and how to align clinical work with these frameworks for comprehensive, culturally competent care.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn to apply mindfulness, empathy, and trauma-informed strategies that resonate with military and veteran clients.

• Understand military cultural values, communication patterns, and barriers to help-seeking that shape the therapeutic process.

• Integrate holistic, evidence-based approaches—spanning psychological, physical, and spiritual wellness—into treatment and prevention.

Why This Course?

• Gain practical, field-tested insights from one of the nation’s leading experts in military counseling.

• Build confidence to serve service members, veterans, and their families with cultural and clinical competence.

• Expand your practice with interventions proven to enhance resilience, cohesion, and post-deployment adjustment.

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify major psychosocial, cultural, and systemic challenges faced by service members and veterans.

• Describe evidence-based interventions such as EMDR, mindfulness, and self-compassion practices for military populations.

• Apply culturally responsive counseling techniques that support military wellness across the mind-body-spirit continuum.

• Recognize the role of moral injury, psycho-spiritual health, and integrative wellness models within treatment planning.

• Strengthen rapport and therapeutic trust using military-specific assessment and communication strategies.

Serving those who serve requires courage, understanding, and humility. This course offers the knowledge and skills to meet military clients where they are—with compassion, cultural precision, and proven methods for healing invisible wounds.

Honor the service of those who protect others—enroll today in Clinical Military Counseling Techniques and begin transforming your work with military and veteran populations.

This is a non-interactive self-study course. Instruction consists of 262 minutes of video content, 30+ pages of required reading, content slides and a post-test.