As an embedded counselor with Iowa Veteran Education, Transition, and Support (IVETS), Chuck Xander has provided hundreds of hours of mental health support for Veterans and military-connected students (MCS) on campus.
The IVETS embedded counselor position would not have been possible without the Scanlan Family Foundation, which gave $15 million to the UI College of Education to expand support for school mental health and Veterans.
Patrick Scanlan, a Veteran himself, and his wife, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, say it was important to them to support the mental health needs of all Iowans, but especially Veterans, those serving in the military, and their families.
Xander, an Iowa native and combat Veteran, was recently interviewed by The Gazette to discuss his nearly two years as an embedded counselor.
The following excerpt is from that article:
“When the University of Iowa campus comes alive every fall with moving vans and football games and falling leaves and stuffed backpacks, the sliver of students who identify as veterans often have the mindset, ‘I got this.’
‘And then they have their first test, or they have their first rough go, and as the semester continues, I get busier and busier to the point where in the last two to three weeks, I struggle to find places to put everyone,’ said Chuck Xander, the first and only UI counselor dedicated to veteran- and military-connected students.
‘I’m not saying I turn students away,” he said. “But I will overbook myself to make sure I get everybody in.’”
