Photo By Valerie OBerry | Family Resiliency Trainer Sadie Barnes coaches children on how to deal with their...... read more read more
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Family Resiliency Trainer Sadie Barnes introduced the children to a tool known as the stress thermometer—a rating system created to help exceptional children rate their stress levels and then in turn teach them practices to help deescalate their stressors through breathing and stress ball exercises.
Kids were also afforded the opportunity to translate the stress thermometer into an applicable snack exercise in which case the children created fruit kabobs that showed the stress rating system from green to red.
“Within the FOCUS program the most common stressors arise for military families when they are in a state of transition—new schools, towns, homes and routines,” Lance Sharp, FOCUS services coordinator said. “From this often stems communication issues within families that often results in various forms of escalation that might harm a safe and secure family dynamic.”
According to Sharp, when military parents fulfill occupational duties, their children and families can face many challenges including long separations, moves, changes in family routines and dealing with concerns about parent safety or injury.
Families are directly impacted by a parent's military service, especially if the parent returns with significant levels of combat operational stress.
A parent might return home and encounter deployment reminders in their daily life, leading to changes in their mood and behavior. These changes can be upsetting to children and spouses and affect parenting and marital relationships.
FOCUS helps families understand how reactions to deployment reminders can influence relationships and teaches skills to deal with them. There may be times when these challenges can be overwhelming, particularly if a parent is dealing with the effects of combat stress and/or injuries.
As many children spoke out about their joys and frustrations they described how they felt on their best days and what it was like on their worst.
Parents were afforded the ability to listen to their children unfiltered on how they deal with stressful situations and learn about signifiers to watch for when communication is minimal.
One of the young boys in attendance spoke out saying he had experienced the stress of transition as he had just moved away from all his friends at school. As he described how his frustration occasionally led him to physically lash out, the FOCUS instructor listened and gave him advice on how to better handle stress. Other children in attendance said they mostly reverted to being silent or crying out of frustration, sorrow and anger.
“It is important to note every child reacts to change and stress differently,”Sharp said. “However, with proper training and information parents and children can communicate more effectively and that s what FOCUS is here for.”
According to the FOCUS website, the prevention service is based upon more than 20 years of research detailing families facing adversity and is designed to help families address the stress related to military life.
FOCUS teaches military children and families to understand their emotional reactions, communicate more clearly, solve problems more effectively and set and achieve their goals so parents and children can use the tools to aid them in everyday family functioning.
The program includes the entire family and is customized to suit specific needs. FOCUS is offered in several formats: Family consultations, family level training, couples training, small group training and workshops.
FOCUS builds strong connections with other military family providers to support a network of care for families.
As a service originally initiated by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), the FOCUS Project addresses concerns related to parental combat operational stress injuries and combat-related physical injuries by providing state-of-the-art family resiliency services to military children and families.
The Quantico Exceptional Family Member Program strives to ensure each Exceptional Family Member (those with special needs) receives a continuum of care and helps families gain access and availability to medical, educational and financial support services.
Learn more about what Quantico’s FOCUS program has to offer by visiting - www.focusproject.org/military-sites/mcb-quantico
jbeale@quanticosentryonline.com
| Date Taken: | 07.26.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2017 13:14 |
| Story ID: | 243552 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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