Resiliency team guides AFMAO Airmen in goal-setting discussion

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, DE, UNITED STATES

01.14.2022

Story by Jason Minto  

Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. –
Staff Sgt. Brianna Dedeaux, Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations mental health technician, held a discussion Jan. 13, focused on goal visualization with deployers. Dedeaux, deployed to AFMAO from the 355th Medical Group, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, guided her fellow deployers in setting goals.

The goal of the session was for everyone to visualize a goal they want to accomplish either by the end of the deployment or the end of the year.

Members were given a few minutes to ponder what goals they had and then asked to write write down their goals anonymously on a piece of paper they were provided.

"I encouraged the team to write goals as if they would achieve them,” said Dedeaux.

She asked them to start their goals with phrases like, “I will do, I will achieve or I will succeed in … and follow it by with whatever they wish to accomplish.

After the goals were written down and folded, they were placed in a bowl. The bowl was then mixed and each member was asked to take one folded piece of paper containing a goal of someone in the group and read it aloud.

The member who read the goal was then asked to offer advice to obtain the goal and words of encouragement for whomever the goal was meant for.

“It’s motivating to have others with the same goals so you can help each other out and give further advice as time passes, said Tech. Sgt. Jamie Debbrecht, a controller in the Command, Control and Communication section who just arrived at AFMAO for her deployment. Debbrecht is a reservist assigned to the 512th Memorial Affairs Squadron, Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

"With the new rotation coming in, and the old rotation leaving now at the start of the year, I felt it would be beneficial to discuss goals, said Dedeaux.

In addition the person reading the anonymous goal, other group members were encouraged to give input if they had any – especially if they had experience with obtaining that particular goal in the past. Though the goals in the bowl were written anonymously, members were able to express if a goal read was theirs, if they chose to.

“Sometimes we don’t realize that the people closest to us have been through some of the same things as us,” said Dedeaux. “Opening up the floor for people to receive feedback from others, either anonymously or directly, can help people get an idea on how to start a goal or stick with a goal.”

The resiliency class was one of several offered each week by AFMAO’s resiliency team, consisting of a deployed mental health technician and religious affairs, chaplains and a Military and Family Life Counselor.

• Date Taken: 01.14.2022
• Date Posted: 02.09.2022 15:46
• Story ID: 414354
• Location: DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, DE, US