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JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. - From last-minute deployments, to losing colleagues on the battlefield and losing touch with family through separation, U.S. service members can encounter stressors that may lead to actions out of the ordinary.
To prevent those unfamiliar defense mechanisms, the Family Advocacy Program at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, supports service members and their families by offering programs that prevent destructive behavior, such as physical and emotional abuse.
“Our main goal is safety and offering resources like counseling to our service members,” said A.J. Brandt, FAP outreach manager at Fort Eustis. “We ensure the Soldiers and Airmen here, receive the help they need and we’re going to continue serving our clients.”
The FAP provides help through prevention, early identification, intervention, and support for victims and treatment for abusers. Along with providing support and treatment, FAP also offers preventative services like the New Parent Support Program, anger management and couple classes.
“We have seen a lot of success here with people coming in and realizing that it’s a safe place to talk and share things and that people will follow through to receive services,” said Brandt.
However, ensuring both Soldiers and Airmen get the care they need doesn’t come without challenges. Since merging the two installations in 2010, the task of working through Air Force Instructions and Army Regulations is one the FAP team overcomes daily.
“High risk cases make things difficult,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Sybella Morere, Family Advocacy Officer at Fort Eustis. “When working with Airmen, the paperwork lines up and runs smoothly and vice versa, whereas when working with a Soldier they don’t necessary fall into the AFIs, so merging the AFIs and ARs can be a challenge.”
Brandt and Morere work to overcome the challenge of a 19-mile separation between the Langley and Fort Eustis FAP offices by using effective communication.
“The biggest benefit of having an Air Force FAP [at Fort Eustis] is how it’s structured,” said Brandt. “We can communicate every day of what’s going on and it provides a good continuity of care.”
Moving forward, Brandt and Morere look to reach out into the JBLE community more and educate Service members on the benefits of using FAP, reducing the often thought stigma attached to the program.
“Sometimes there’s a stigma about FAP, behavioral health or the Army Substance Abuse Program that going to one of those services can alter a person’s career,” said Brandt. “But to me, trying to reduce the stigma and get a Soldier or Airmen help is what we want, and to let people know that FAP is not a punitive program. Instead we are a treatment program for [Service members] and their families.”
For more information about FAP, call the Langley office at 764-6840 between the hours 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or the Fort Eustis office at 878-0807 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
| Date Taken: | 02.02.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.02.2016 16:27 |
| Story ID: | 187732 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Family Advocacy program supports Soldiers and Airmen, by SSgt Derek Seifert, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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