Photo By Shawn Monk | A new Resiliency Center opened at the The 171st Air Refueling Wing on Aug. 27, 2022 to...... read more read more
The 171st Air Refueling Wing opened a new Resiliency Center on Aug. 27, 2022 to help Guardsmen and their families handle mental, social, physical, financial and spiritual challenges they may face on and off duty.
Guardsmen and their families can face a multitude of challenges and stressors during their careers, including demanding workloads and deployments away from loved ones. The Resiliency Center's goal is to increase Airmen resiliency.
"Helping our Airmen and their families is a priority. We know that in order for our 171st family to be successful, our Airmen need to be healthy and able to handle any challenges they encounter," said Col. Ray Hyland, commander of the 171st ARW. "We are dedicated to helping our Airmen thrive so that the 171st remains 'always ready' for any mission."
The Resiliency Center is the combination of several offices on base. While the services provided were already available at the base, relocating the services to a single, co-located area is new.
"A major goal for all of us in these roles is to help our Airmen build resiliency within themselves. In order to do that, it is vital that we address several key fitness areas of their lives, specifically mental, physical, financial, social and spiritual," said Julia Catanzerite, one of the two directors of psychological health at the 171st. "This goal can be accomplished much easier with all of us under one roof. This is so important for our Airmen because resilient individuals have the ability to successfully adjust to or bounce back from difficult life experiences, whether those experiences are military-related or not."
Another reason for creating the Resiliency Center is to increase access to the collective resources available to Guardsmen and their families while increasing collaboration of those services.
"There's a whole team of highly trained, qualified personnel coming together in this one place, and our mission is to support and care for the Airmen and families of our 171st community," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Bell, chaplain at the 171st. "This is an exciting adventure as not only are we now co-located, but we will be working together to offer classes and various other programming and opportunities to strengthen and encourage our Airmen and families."
In addition to bringing these offices together in a unified, collaborative space, the Resiliency Center will give Guardsmen and their families more privacy.
"We want our Airmen to feel safe, welcomed and respected when they meet with us. We can accomplish that within this building thanks to the privacy that it has afforded us and our Airmen," said Catanzerite.
The new location strives to be a safe place for families to feel comfortable.
"It's a dream come true creating a one-stop shop for Guardsmen and families to receive guidance or even to just sit, read, relax and have a cup of coffee," said Bell. "My spouse has often said over my multiple deployments that it would be nice to have one easy-to-find place at the 171st if our family needed something-well, here it is! And there's even a kids' corner, so families can find a space to relax during pre or post-deployment processing or really anytime personnel come out and have families along. I think it's fantastic that the gate can now tell people, just go to the first building on the left, and someone there will be able to help you!"
Airmen and their families will find the following offices in the Resiliency Center:
- Religious Support Team 412-776-7815.
- Directors of Psychological Health 412-776-7978 or 412-776-7631.
- Sexual Assault and Response Coordinator 412-776-7950.
- Airman and Family Readiness Program Manager 412-776-7665.
- Equal Opportunity office 412-776-7393.
- Yellow Ribbon Program Specialist 412-776-7499.
- Personal Financial Counselor 412-776-7606.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.26.2022 17:06 |
| Story ID: | 428175 |
| Location: | CORAOPOLIS, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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