Photo By Ensign Greg Hall | ARLINGTON, Wash. (July 7, 2018) Master Chief Damage Controlman Richard Simpson, from...... read more read more
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Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range lies Jim Creek Naval Radio Station Wilderness Recreation Area where Chaplains Religious Enrichment Development Operation (CREDO) organized a family enrichment retreat (FER) for Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, July 6-8.
“The CREDO program was established in 1971 to help increase Sailors resiliency and help service member families become cohesive units,” said Lt. Jisup Choi, CREDO Northwest Everett detachment chaplain. “We organize retreats and workshops to help teach skills that will allow Sailors and their families to communicate more effectively.”
Choi said CREDO retreats help service members build stronger foundations for their marriages and families. The skills and values taught during the workshops can work as safety lines for families that apply them. He said he has witnessed several marriages that were saved as a result of attending FER.
“I attended a marriage enrichment retreat (MER) and an FER with CREDO when I was stationed in Florida,” said Damage Controlman Master Chief Richard Simpson, from Maple Rapids, Mich., assigned to the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis (CVN 74). “This is my third CREDO retreat and I feel like they have helped me draw closer to my wife and my family to come together more.”
Simpson said that it is important to open communication lines before deployment, because communicating gets harder as he moves farther out to sea. He said his family will have to rely on skills taught during the retreat.
Open communication is a point of focus for the workshops, but CREDO workers also aim to help family members understand how to fill their part in the family.
“FER is designed to help parents and children understand their roles in a family,” said Choi. “As parents, we assume that we know what our responsibilities are. It is easy to go through life on autopilot and ignore new problems that can arise in a family.”
Choi said that FER teach family members how to question what they are doing and make goals to work together as a unit. He said as families do this, they improve their cohesiveness and positively affect the mission readiness of the Navy. It is important for family members to learn what their roles are so they know how to overcome obstacles that they encounter.
CREDO Northwest works with active duty service members to strengthen the spiritual well-being and improve the lives of service members and families. They offer workshops, seminars and retreats throughout the year in order to accomplish this goal.
| Date Taken: | 07.11.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2018 16:23 |
| Story ID: | 284196 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 140 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CREDO: Retreat To The Wilderness, by ENS Greg Hall, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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