Contact Us

For media inquires, please contact:

contact@wovenwomenvets.org

1-877-44WOVEN or 1-877-449-6836

About WoVeN

The Women Veterans Network (WoVeN) is a national, peer support network led by women veterans, for women veterans. WoVeN is not a mental health treatment, though its foundational 8-week program is designed to enhance wellness, quality of life, family relationships, and career satisfaction by building strong connections among women veterans.

WoVeN was started in 2017 by Tara Galovski, Ph.D. and Amy Street, Ph.D. of Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the VA National Center for PTSD, Women’s Health Science Division. WoVeN connects women veterans with a social support network and empowers them with information, education, and resources that are central to improving their quality of life.

All WoVeN groups are led by woman veterans who have been trained as peer leaders through the WoVeN program. Ongoing support for peer leaders is provided by WoVeN staff, senior WoVeN trainers, and WoVeN national consultants. Group content is specifically tailored to the unique needs of women veterans, centering around relevant themes including life transitions, balance, stress relief, connections, trust and esteem.

WoVeN groups typically include about 6 to 10 women veterans and each last about 90 minutes. WoVeN is open to women veterans of all ages, branches of the military, and service eras. WoVeN groups gather at locations in the community, including spaces in government buildings, libraries, community centers and church halls. Online participation is now possible as well, providing more access to women who are housebound for any number of reasons or who live in remote areas or in areas without a current WoVeN group.

WoVeN also includes an optional research component designed to assess the success of the program in achieving its aims of increasing support and improved veteran well-being and functioning. The results of our ongoing assessments inform programmatic modifications and contribute to our model of continuous improvement.

Although always growing, and changing rapidly, WoVeN women range in age from 22-73, are racially and ethnically diverse, have served anywhere from 9 months to 32 years, with service in each branch of the United States military. Two out of three WoVeN women have deployed overseas, with the majority of those deployments in support of post-9/11 wars.

WoVeN has grown exponentially since its first pilot groups in the Fall of 2017. As of June 2021, 3400+ women veterans have joined the WoVeN community and over 200 WoVeN groups have started across the country!

Since its beginning in early 2017, WoVeN has completed several significant activities, including:

• Focus Groups in San Antonio, TX, Charlotte, NC and Pittsburgh, PA to hear from women Veterans about their challenges and successes, and the importance of building connections with other women veterans (May 2017)
• First 6 Peer Leaders selected from San Antonio, Charlotte, and Pittsburgh (June 2017) and trained at our first Peer Leader Training in St. Louis, MO (August 2017)
• WoVeN pilot groups kick off in San Antonio, TX, Charlotte, NC and Pittsburgh, PA (September 2017)
• Peer Leader Training in New Orleans, LA (March 2018)
• Peer Leader Training in Houston, TX (October 2018)
• First Train the Trainers Workshop and Peer Leader Training in Washington DC. Experienced Peer Leaders were trained as National WoVeN Trainers and then trained new Peer Leaders in the full WoVeN curriculum (April 2019)
• WoVeN groups are first offered in an online format, increasing accessibility to WoVeN groups for more women veterans (October 2019)
• Train the Trainers Workshop and Peer Leader Training in Orlando, FL (December 2019)
• Selection of the first two outstanding WoVeN Trainers and Peer Leaders as National Consultants, chosen to provide mentorship and leadership to the WoVeN community at large (December 2019)
• Train the Trainers Workshop and Peer Leader Training in San Diego, CA (February 2020)
• WoVeN launches Online Peer Leader Trainings, allowing women veterans to connect and engage in leadership even during the COVID pandemic (July 2020)
• BRIDGES, a new program for women separating from the military, pilots the first service member retreat (January 2021)
• Trainers, Peer Leaders, and Group Members are introduced to Alumni Groups, a new way for WoVeN graduates to maintain connections with fellow women veterans (February 2021)

Key Facts About Women Veterans and Military Service Members

• There are approximately 2,030,000 living women veterans.
• Approximately 10% of the veteran population is female.
• There are 224,760 (16.9%) women in the Active Duty Military.
• There are 84,027 (19.0%) women in the National Guard.
• There are 82,359 (22.6%) women in the Reserves.