The Children of America’s Military and First Responders Can Experience Extreme Mental Stress too…

Children of our military and first responders experience many stressors, unlike other children in their community, that affects them in school, home and with friends. Job related stressors on the married couple also impact children who often feel their security and stability is threatened. Managing stress as a family needs to be a proactive high priority.

Statistically, 43% of active duty service members have children and on average more than one dependent child. Many of these families will be able to overcome the stressors around deployment through family, friend, and community support.

However, other families need additional help to strengthen their resilience and readjust to life post-deployment. Both warriors and public safety professionals alike have to deal with high-levels of hypervigilance.

Building trust and communication skills while participating in the highly effective Home Life Transition Program™ helps military families thrive after multiple deployments. For both military and first responders, this program will enable improving and building valuable relationship and communication skills.

The purpose of the Building and Maintaining Family Resilience Program is to equip the children of our military and first responders with tools specific to their needs…so that they “thrive” and not just “survive”.

It is designed to address the complex and unique needs of these children by employing protective and promotive factors. Protective factors help buffer the adverse aftermath of stress and trauma, and promotive factors enhance children’s adjustment issues. The program helps children improve their self-esteem, increase their self-efficacy, and develop a repertoire of adaptive coping skills.

Topics covered in the sessions include: the effects of trauma – what is happening to their parent, what to expect, and why it is happening; secondary trauma – what is happening to them, why it is happening, and how to respond; how to reduce stress and increase resilience; incorporating their experiences as part of their life story and giving the experiences meaning; communication skills; coping strategies and suicide prevention. These skills and strategies can enhance children’s resilience and ability to quickly recover or “bounce back” from the difficult situations they may have to face.

This one, two or three day program was designed by licensed psychologists and psychologists from Mercer University’s Penfield College with extensive expertise treating child trauma and developmental issues, in partnership with Warrior2Citizen.

WHAT A CHILD TAKES AWAY AS A RESULT OF ATTENDING THIS PROGRAM

The coping skills and strategies learned through this program enhance a child’s resilience and ability to quickly recover or “bounce back” from the difficult situations and manage those in the future they may have to face.

THE PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE AT NO COST

Military & First Responder families attend at little or no cost. All meals, program materials and workshops are included at no charge.  Suppimental ongoing counseling is also available and can be donor supported.