Expanding Frain, Bishop, and Bethel's rehabilitation model to address needs of female veterans

The Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom conflicts have provided exclusive barriers for veterans seeking and obtaining competitive employment after deployment. Female veterans, in particular, face unique challenges that could hinder their ability to gain and maintain employment. Frain, Bishop, and Bethel (2010) created a five-point rehabilitation roadmap intended to guide rehabilitation counselors working with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the rehabilitation process by highlighting common areas of concern that could serve as external impediments to employment. The concerning issues outlined in this model are general to veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a whole, but lack consideration for the specific issues faced by the women who also served in these conflicts. The purpose of this paper is to expand upon the Frain et al. rehabilitation model to include concerns of female veterans to better equip rehabilitation counselors who may be assisting this particular population in reaching their goals of securing successful employment.