University of Iowa adds mental health counselor just for veterans

IOWA CITY — For years, in an attempt to meet growing demand for expanded mental health services on campus, the University of Iowa has been embedding counselors into high-need spaces — like its dental college, athletics department and residence halls.

And this fall, with demand still surging, the university expanded its contingent of “embedded counselors” to another sector of high-need students: veterans.

“We know for sure that it is the first embedded therapist for student veterans in Iowa and the Big Ten, and we think within the nation,” said Chuck Xander, the new UI veteran-specific therapist who was a combat veteran 20 years ago — deployed to Iraq in 2003 to 2004.

Although happy to be on the therapist side of the equation now, Xander said he could have benefited from being on the patient side earlier in his military career.

“I oftentimes say that I sit in this chair because I probably should have been in that chair, and I was too embarrassed and the stigma was so high that I wasn't willing to seek mental health treatment,” he said.

But the scales of mental health stigma increasingly are falling off, allowing individuals needing help to see more clearly that they could and should seek it — including veterans, although that population has its own barriers to break down, Xander said.

“Oftentimes it depends on how much they're struggling and, if they're still in the service, what is their security clearance and how that's going to be reported,” he said, explaining that service members of certain security clearance levels must report annually whether they’ve sought mental health treatment.

“So there’s still some stigma in how is this going to affect my clearance,” he said. “But more and more, administration is willing to tell service members to get help and let’s get through this.”

‘Missed working with veterans’

Xander, 40, grew up in Tama County’s Garwin and attended Green Mountain-Garwin High School, where he joined the Army National Guard. The day of graduation, he drove to the military entrance processing station in Des Moines, and flew out the next morning to South Carolina for basic training.

“They cut my hair after graduation,” he said. “It was that day.”

He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 with the Iowa Army National Guard 234th Signal Battalion — working at the Baghdad International Airport in communications, attached to the Corps of Engineers responsible for restoring Iraqi oil and electricity.

“The military shaped me, gave me maturity,” he said. “I was young. I turned 21 in country, and it gave me a lot of maturity — as well as perspective — on how life is different in rural Iowa versus a combat zone. It gave me a lot of morals to change my life, and a good basis to move forward and mature as a man.”

Xander joined the military because generations of family members had, and because he didn’t have money for college. “So the GI bill was a way for me to be able to go to school,” he said.

Upon return, Xander completed a bachelor’s degree in human services at William Penn University in Oskaloosa — working at the Iowa Juvenile Home through an internship that landed him a full-time job.

“I really enjoyed working in the mental health field, until they closed,” he said, compelling him to use his remaining GI Bill benefits for a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at the University of Northern Iowa.

Xander in the years since has worked both for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and then in some other mental health jobs.

“And I really missed working with veterans,” he said. “So when the career planner for Iowa reached out to me and said this job was just posted, I was immediately interested. I had missed working with veterans. … I knew that was an area that I had a calling for.”

‘The need for counseling’

The university has about 2,200 military-connected students on campus, reporting 645 student-veterans this fall, plus more than 160 National Guard and Reserve members, and 50-plus Air Force and Army ROTC cadets. It has had more than 600 veteran-students since fall of 2019, according to UI registrar data. The UI had 501 student-veterans a decade ago — indicating a 29 percent increase over the span.

In addition to a growing veterans presence on campus, mental health demands have been growing, too — with the Board of Regents in September adding $1 million just for “extended mental health resources” onto its ask for $38.3 million more in state appropriations next year.

The university this school year also imposed a new “mental health fee” of $3 per student to fund half of a behavioral health clinical manager’s position. Before the addition of a new veterans counselor, the UI embedded counselors into its colleges of dentistry, law and business. It also has one in Catlett Residence Hall.

Xander’s new position is housed in the Iowa Veteran Education, Transition and Support office in Calvin Hall — known as IVETS — established in 2012 to serve not only veterans and current military members but their families.

“The need for counseling services has been constant,” according to Matthew Miller, IVETS director of student support services. “A lot of students didn’t know where to turn in a crisis. They didn’t know who to talk to.”

And when the university introduced the new veteran-specific counselor, Miller said, Xander had appointments booked within the first hour.

“We knew the students wanted this, and we’re already starting to see students using this service,” he said. “We want to make this a model and show our commitment to serving our students. We want to make the University of Iowa a destination for veterans.”

Student-veterans seeking services so far have sought help for a range of issues — from adjustment disorder and post-traumatic stress to family and marriage issues. Some have been related to their time in the military; some have not — like test anxiety.

Regardless of the issue, though, having a fellow veteran to talk to matters, Xander said.

“People in the military have different experiences than most civilians, so military personnel struggle talking to somebody who doesn't have knowledge of that or personal experience,” he said. “So when they pitched it to me, having that military background being in the guard, as well as deployed … I understood what that was about.”

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com