Navy Nurse Depression Waiver

majeco2001 · Mar 7, 2018

Hi ,

My recommendation would be to contact a current Navy medical recruiter. Needs of the military change so fast and with those changes, the standards/waivers/requirements change. For example, just recently the DOD has talked about allowing individuals with mental illness across all branches. A current recruiter will have information that is current, accurate, and truthful. I know this doesn't directly answer your question and you are looking for information, but I hope it helps slightly. I am actually meeting with my local recruiter on Friday and if I remember, I will relay your question and see if I can get you an accurate answer. Good luck.

majeco2001 · Mar 7, 2018

This is what the local Navy medical recruiter sent me and I quote:

"It would likely require a waiver at minimum with the history of the condition and the length of treatment. It does pose the potential to be an uphill battle to be medically cleared for service. Mental health can be a tough one. The ultimate decision would be made by MEPS and the Medical Waivers Department for Navy Recruiting Command. What they will want is to review all the associated medical records to determine if the history of the condition in question is waiverable. They take things like length of treatment, severity, inpatient vs outpatient, circumstance, etc all into consideration."

guestjuly10 · Mar 7, 2018

Thank you so much. I know it probably won't happen but thank you :)

majeco2001 · Mar 8, 2018

My advice and personal belief is don't tell yourself no, let whoever makes the decision say no. I don't want to give you false hope so plan for the worst, hope for the best, and go talk to a recruiter if it is what you feel compelled to do. If serving your country or fellow service members is something that is important to you, do everything you can to create your own opportunities. If you don't get accepted or you are denied, at least you can look yourself in the mirror and say you did everything you could. Additionally, depending on your motives and reasons for wanting to join, working for the VA might be a consideration. I understand you wouldn't be in the military, but you would be serving veterans and many VA nurses and doctors I know find this very rewarding (even with all the criticism that the VA takes). Just food for thought.

Take care-

ArmyMedicRN · Mar 8, 2018

Hello. Glad to hear you want to serve your country! Your circumstances are indeed an uphill battle, that's for sure. Before you even delve into the process of applying for Officership and this and that you should get in touch with a specialist doctor, a psychiatrist in your case, unless you already have one. You are going to need a written letter from a doctor familiar with your case that states explicitly that you are cleared for military duty and your medical condition will in no way ever interfere with your ability to complete your duties. If it doesn't say that or something similar, I can tell you that you will never get a waiver approved. So, first things first...get an appointment and see if a doctor even thinks you are cleared because if not, you will spend tons of time and energy in fruitlessly applying for the military when you will be inevitably disqualified later. Good luck to you.

ArmyMedicRN · Mar 8, 2018

I see now that you said you have a letter of recommendation from your doctor, I must've missed that bullet earlier. Anyway, that is a good starting point and should suffice at least for now. As long as you don't have any other conditions that need waivers, you should be able to safely create a packet and apply. Worse case scenario besides being DQ'd is the Navy needing additional evaluations from other doctors just to be certain. As a side, without getting too personal, if you've ever had any self harm, suicidal attempts, or had to be inpatient psych, I'm not certain, but that may be quite hard, if not impossible, to get a waiver. You would have to ask someone with first hand experience on this subject and definitely tell your recruiter, they have access to all the requirements.

kelle_24 · Mar 23, 2019

Curious how this played out and would love to speak to you directly (I can’t PM you because I’m still so new to the forum) as I’m in a similar boat.

When I started grad school I was diagnosed with depression and on meds for ~5 months. Truth be told, I don’t think the meds were really necessary and more than anything I needed someone to help me learn of ways to deal with adversity. There was a lot happening in my personal/family life that I wasn’t sure how to handle, and learning those things helped way more than meds ever did.

Now, it’s roughly 3 years later, I’ve had no recurring issues, and I’m considering going back to school for nursing. My long term goal is to go the military nursing route.

Unfortunately, I’ve got some shoulder surgeries I’ll need waivers for as well, but my biggest concern is the mental health history even though treatment was less than six months and all outpatient.

Any advice on navigating the process would be very much appreciated!