Veterans & Military Family Counseling — A Retired Navy Chaplain, Tricare-Paneled
Telehealth therapy for active-duty service members, veterans, military spouses, and children of service families — across Washington State. 21 years of combined Navy chaplaincy and parish ministry, plus 13 years in clinical practice, from Heinz Malon, LMFT. Tricare accepted.
Veterans & Military Family Counseling
I’m a retired United States Navy chaplain and a retired Lutheran pastor. Across 21 years of combined military chaplaincy and parish ministry — with much of that time overlapping — I sat with service members and their families through deployments, reintegration, losses, and the slow erosion of marriages and identities that can happen when life gets handed over to an institution.
I know what PCS season feels like. I know what it is to keep showing up for a command that keeps changing. I know the profound loneliness of a spouse at home watching the news, and the different loneliness of the service member trying to come back to a family that learned to live without them.
Military life does not have a civilian equivalent, and most civilian therapists — even good ones — end up asking questions that force the service member or family member to educate them before any real work can happen. You shouldn’t have to do that. In our sessions, you won’t have to explain what a detachment is, or what it means to stand duty, or why the return home can feel harder than the deployment itself. I already know. What I want to know is how it is going for you.
Who I work with in the military community:
- Active-duty service members across all branches (Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force, National Guard, Reserve)
- Veterans — including those separated decades ago whose service is still shaping their lives
- Military spouses navigating deployment cycles, solo parenting, relocations, and career sacrifice
- Children and teens of military families (CMHS-certified — telehealth works especially well for older kids)
- Service couples working on communication, intimacy, and re-establishing connection after separations
- Retired service members facing identity shifts, loss of command and community, and the question of what comes next
Common issues we work on together:
- Combat-related PTSD and single-incident trauma in service
- Moral injury — carrying the weight of what was done, witnessed, or not prevented
- Reintegration struggles and the difficulty of coming home to a home that kept going
- Transition out of service — identity, purpose, and the loss of a built-in community
- Marital and family stress from the operational tempo of military life
- Grief — for fallen brothers and sisters; for versions of yourself that didn’t survive service
Telehealth works especially well for the military community. You can have a session from your home, your quarters, or a parking lot between appointments. For spouses, it removes the childcare barrier that keeps so many from getting help. For veterans in rural areas — where VA resources are often far and waitlists are long — it removes distance from the equation entirely.
You served. Your family served. You don't have to earn the right to ask for help — you already did that.
Yes, I Take Tricare.
I’m paneled with Tricare. That means active-duty service members, retirees, veterans, and their families can generally use their Tricare benefits for sessions with me. If you’re not sure whether your specific Tricare plan — Prime, Select, For Life, or otherwise — covers telehealth therapy with an LMFT, give me a call and we’ll sort it out together.
Self-pay is also available for anyone who prefers it, and sliding-scale arrangements can be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Heinz Malon, LMFT — Navy, Chaplaincy, Mental Health
Heinz is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a retired U.S. Navy chaplain, and a retired Lutheran pastor. His 21 years in Navy chaplaincy and parish ministry (with substantial overlap) were followed by 13 years in community mental health. He’s EMDR-trained, a Child Mental Health Specialist (CMHS), and an MBSR practitioner. He’s based on the Key Peninsula near Gig Harbor, WA, and serves clients across Washington State by telehealth.
Let's Talk — On Your Terms.
Free consultations run 30 to 60 minutes. No intake forms, no pressure, no commitment.
Just a conversation about whether I’m the right fit for what you’re carrying.
What This Service Can't Do
Therapy works best when the match is right — both between you and me, and between you and the format. A few things I’m not the right provider for:
- Active psychiatric crisis (please call 988 or 911 — telehealth is not an emergency service)
- Severe active substance-use disorders requiring detox or intensive outpatient care
- Eating disorders requiring medical monitoring or higher levels of care
- Psychological evaluations, custody evaluations, or forensic assessment
- Children under 12 (my training and focus is 12 and up)
If we talk and I’m not the right fit for what you need, I’ll say so. And I’ll do my best to help you find someone who is.
Other Ways I Can Help
Individual Therapy
For adults working through anxiety, depression, grief, life transitions, and meaning.
Trauma Therapy & EMDR
Evidence-based trauma treatment using EMDR, mindfulness, and nervous-system work.
Couples, Family & Teen Therapy
Systems-based work for couples, families, and teens (ages 12–18).
Ready to Find Out More?
The first step is a fifteen-minute call — or a 30-to-60-minute free consultation, if you’d prefer something more in-depth. Either way, there’s no commitment and no pressure.