MILITARY FAMILIES…

“…America’s soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen, and Coast Guardsmen serve day and night around the globe to defend our Nation.  We are all very proud of them, and yet we should never forget that none of them do it alone.  The extraordinary families who support them sacrifice every bit as much to make their service possible…Our combat readiness stems from readiness at home, and America’s might is a reflection of the power of military families.”

– Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

For military families, stress and strain is an everyday occurrence.  Whether it is experiencing a military move to a new location, a child missing a deployed parent, marital conflict, combat injury, operational stress, experiencing a serious illness, death of a family member or dealing with a deployment, life in the military can create an endless list of potential stress.  Some of these stressors and strains can be anticipated, while others come out of nowhere. Nevertheless, stress is an integral fact of life and complete elimination of this pressure, especially for military members, is impossible.

Resilience is a vital part of military families.  In fact, history has shown that military families are extremely resilient and adaptable, meaning they are able to successfully manage multiple stressors.  There are times however, that life becomes overwhelming due to the excessive demands and requirements placed on the military member and their family.  This is when professional intervention with a therapist may be needed to relieve the underlying feeling that life is coming at you too fast and becoming too complicated.

Counseling helps family members become more confident, connected and secure in their daily life.  Each member of the family learns to manage stress so they can have better control over its impact on their physical and mental health.  This process is crucial in building and maintaining the resilience needed to cope effectively with the challenges of military life.  What’s more, as the military family becomes more resilient, the better able they are to support their service member.