Guest Post by Laura Seefeld
Just after I graduated from college, I enlisted in the US Army, as an active duty Behavioral Health Technician (68X). Yes, after and no, I did not want to be an officer. I joined very specifically as enlisted because I wanted to be sure that I worked in behavioral health, helping soldiers. I couldn’t have done that as an officer with only a BA in psychology. After a total of seven months of training, I was stationed at Ft. Jackson, then later at Ft. Stewart.
At both bases, I worked in outpatient clinics, though they were very different. With Ft. Jackson being a training post, most of the soldiers I saw were those in training, whereas at Ft. Stewart I only saw soldiers currently on active duty. I found this much more rewarding.
As a behavioral health technician, my day to day duties varied. Some days, I worked the front desk, answering phones, scheduling patients, fielding questions, and linking soldiers with various other services and clinics. Other days, I did intake interviews, ran groups, set up psychological testing and video teleconference appointments, and provided supportive therapy.
I could function as a case manager when needed as well, and found myself to generally be a jack-of-all-trades in the clinic. This soon led me to teaching classes on suicide prevention outside the clinic, meeting soldiers who had been flagged as high risk at the plane when they returned from deployments, and finally to a position as the assistant NCOIC to the clinic.
While in that position, I was forced to focus more on administrative tasks though I maintained contact with patients on a smaller scale. As the assistant NCOIC, I was responsible for leading fellow behavioral health technicians, daily reports on patient statistics, as well as being handed a stack of waiting medication management referrals with instructions to reduce the wait times.
I found myself reviewing these soldiers’ records, making contact to gauge their priority, and linking them with the appropriate psychiatrists when needed. For some, I acted as a liaison between their counselor and their primary care physician. For others, I was able to schedule them with psychiatrists who were located in San Antonio, at Ft. Sam Houston, who were assisting us through a video teleconference program.
The most complex referrals were scheduled with our clinic’s psychiatrists. In the course of a few months, I reduced the wait times for medication management patients from weeks, and in some cases months, to a matter of a few days to a week. I also eliminated the backlog completely. That was one of my proudest accomplishments.
While serving in the clinics, I learned about the complexities of running such a busy clinic, but for me, more importantly, I learned to lead. I gained so much confidence in my own abilities, and it fueled me to pursue my career path in behavioral health. I went into the service wanting to help soldiers and wanting to find out if I had what it takes to be a counselor.
I left the service knowing that I was not just capable of being a counselor, but also that I am skilled at helping others. I learned that the best counselors are those who are open to working with other professionals as a part of a team in the soldier’s overall care. I also learned that the same type of overall care is central to returning soldiers to duty as mission effective members of their team.
There is still a huge stigma surrounding seeking behavioral health care. Soldiers are afraid of being seen as weak, or losing career opportunities. For many of the soldiers that we saw, there were more benefits to their therapy than negative reactions, but that doesn’t mean that they did not face stereotyping.
Behavioral health is a dynamic, growing field in all branches of service, and there is still a huge need for more care providers at all levels, though not everyone can tolerate the stresses of the job. Being a technician requires great attention to detail, an ability to multitask, and resilience. It can be emotionally draining, yet also hugely rewarding. Technicians need to be prepared to respond to patients in critical situations on a daily basis, as you can never really know when someone will come to you in crisis. Flexibility is key in succeeding in an outpatient clinic.
Overall I enjoyed nearly every aspect of my time as a behavioral health technician, except maybe the paperwork. Finding yourself buried under multiple patient records which you need to complete by the end of the work day, at what you thought was going to be the end of your work day, is frustrating. Unfortunately it is a necessary part of daily life in an outpatient clinic. Being a behavioral health technician has many aspects to it, as a technician may also work in inpatient clinics, or with field units. Each of those is very different from my experience, but still require many of the same qualities that helped me to succeed in the outpatient clinic.
Author Biography
Laura Seefeld is an Army veteran who served just over four years as a Behavioral Health technician before being medically discharged. She is also the mother of two beautiful boys. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis, and hopes to pursue her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in the near future.

Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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Behavioral health is a very good MOS, and very needed. With the outrageous rate of suicide, the Army, and all other branches of service need caring and qualified people as yourself helping them deal with the effects of war and then coming home. When a man or woman has been facing an enemy for a long time, it is easy to come back to the States still feeling like they are facing enemies.
Thank you for your service, and hopefully there will be many more caring individuals that will step up and help these soldiers.
There is a huge stigma to seeking mental and behavioral health help in the military, especially in intelligence MOSs and units. They are supposed to be the smart, sharp-minded fellows who lead with their intelligence and the intelligence they can uncover and the fact that they may need to seek counseling for depression or anxiety or marital problems or whatever can unsettle those around them and in command. While I went to counseling regularly for over a year, my husband refused to, fearing the stigma and stereotype that he may receive (he was a linguist). Now that his time in the army is at an end, he is considering seeking counseling but still worries.
On a much brighter note, thank you for your work. This is a very important field to work in and is so necessary for the health and happiness of so many. I also find that as we move from people-based jobs in our career fields to more administrative ones, we long for the personal interaction– there is an exhilaration and also something soothing about getting to know and to help another person.
So true, Theresa!
I don’t think that stigma is just in the military, it is in civilian life also. I believe people, in general, need to learn that it is ok to say there is something wrong, and they need help. All of our lives we are taught to be tough and “get over it.” There comes those points when it seems everything is out of control and suicide is the only alternative. I know I have felt that way, and I would be willing to say I think everyone has. Some just carry it through. I believe that as humans we need to dispel this stigma. It would slow the suicide rate in a huge way.