Meeting agenda for military clients

1. Do all you can to put the client at ease. Smile a lot. Use humor. Try to accentuate the positive whenever you can. Avoid any negative comments.
   
   
2. The client will have been provided with a letter of understanding prior to his or her consultation. Before you both sign the document, be sure to explain briefly the scope of the document so that he or she can give informed consent regardless of his or her literacy level.
   
   
3. Listen to the client's needs and problems. Review the Making a Spending Plan worksheet together. Give counsel and advice as appropriate, using the same skills you employ in your practice. Distribute any appropriate handouts to the client. Work through them together when possible; the client will appreciate your leadership and direct involvement in his or her financial life.
   
   
4. However, resist the urge to tell the military client exactly what to do. Much of their life is "ordered" for them already—but nobody "orders" their finances around. A military client may be hopeful that you will take on that role. That approach may work in the very short term (and even be necessary for a short period of time in dire financial situations), but in the long term, military clients must learn to think for themselves when it comes to handling their finances.
   
   
5. Make sure the client leaves with a plan of attack for the next several days or weeks. You want the client to leave your meeting feeling that the planning process has started.
   
   
6. If appropriate, set up a follow-up meeting. Be careful about assigning too much "homework" for the next meeting. If you have a sense the client is really committed to receiving your help, try to focus the next meeting on one or two main topics. Anything beyond that might be overload for the client and discourage him or her from coming to see you again. Go slow and really prioritize what needs your joint attention next. Ask the client to contact the sponsoring agency at least 24 hours before the next meeting if he or she needs to cancel.
   
   
7. If you plan to have a follow-up meeting with the client, confirm the meeting time, date, and facility with your contact at the sponsoring organization.
   
   
8. If appropriate, debrief your meeting with the appropriate contact at the sponsoring agency. Ask if there are any reports you need to file to document your volunteer time, the issues discussed with the client, etc. Some sponsoring organizations need to track volunteer hours for grant purposes, so you can impress them with your commitment to their work by taking the initiative to ask about any documentation they might need from you.
   
   

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