Jen LeCompte, a student in the University of New Orleans counselor education master’s program, has been selected for a military scholarship through the National Board for Certified Counselors. The scholarship was created to increase the number of counselors available to serve military personnel and families.

LeCompte, who serves in the Coast Guard Reserves, wants to use the $8,000 scholarship to help bring more awareness to the prevalence and treatment options for military sexual trauma.

“At the end of my scholarship year, my hope is to contribute a resource guide at the state-level that can be distributed throughout Louisiana—at both military and civilian locations,” LeCompte said. “I am also working on creating a piece of written work I can submit for publishing, toward the end of my scholarship year.”

LeCompte spent 11 years on active duty in the Coast Guard working primarily in law enforcement. In 2021 she transitioned to the reserves to pursue a graduate degree in counselor education at UNO. She expects to graduate in the summer.

“I am currently researching and writing about what we already know about MST (military sexual trauma) and then what new counselors need to understand about military populations,” LeCompte said. “Being on the other side of the counseling ‘chair’ has brought to light things that entry-level or new-to-MST counselors may not know.”

Counselors without a military background may be unfamiliar with military acronyms and jargon used in daily operations, or may not realize that many survivors don’t report military sexual trauma because the perpetrator is either in a servicemember survivor’s chain of command, or at least in their unit, LeCompte said.

Stigma also plays a role in the survivor’s hesitancy to report trauma, she said.

“Looking at the numbers of who is getting assaulted, it is often women, but men and LGBTQIA+ service members have surprising numbers as well,” LeCompte said.