Photo By Capt. Donald Hatheway | Terri Ann Naughton, 910th Airlift Wing director of psychological health, poses for a...... read more read more
YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio – Director of psychological health, base social worker, mental health expert, helper, family member and friend, Terri Ann Naughton continues her life mission here at the 910th Airlift Wing to destigmatize mental health through education and training while bringing focus to one-on-one connections and ultimately improving the lives of Citizen Airmen, their families and the entire community.
“The human inside the uniform is my job,” said Naughton.
With a career that started 35 years ago, Naughton was first a child protection professional in the civilian sector before joining the Department of Defense at Fort Carson, Colorado, with the U.S. Army, alongside her husband, Army veteran 1st Sgt. Jim Naughton and former director of the 910th AW Military and Family Readiness, who died in 2023.
“As a result of seeing all Soldiers coming back from deployment, and seeing Soldiers and families suffering, I said, ‘I have to do something different,’” said Naughton. “I knew that I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines and wanted to do something for my husband and his people.”
With that desire to help and serve, Naughton went on to receive her clinical degree in social work from Newman University, Kansas, where she specialized in grief and trauma.
From there, she worked as a victim advocate and then as a case manager in the drug and alcohol section of Army Substance Abuse Program at Fort Carson before having the opportunity to operate with the first embedded behavioral health team for the 10th Special Forces Group, a tenant unit there. While with the 10th SFG, Naughton served a battalion alongside a small team of medical professionals, which also included a military doctor and physician’s assistant.
Her journey then brought her home to Ohio with her husband where she has served in her director of psychological health role for almost nine years. As DPH, Naughton serves as the mental health consultant and clinical expert for the 910th AW.
“Having been born and raised here, from the (Mahoning) Valley, even while being gone for 27 years, this is home and these are our people,” said Naughton.
As a member of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station Community Action Network, Naughton, alongside a team of trained professionals from helping, or staff, agencies, the Chaplain Corps and peer supporters are equipped and ready at a moment’s notice to proactively activate measures surrounding prevention and intervention whilst building connections across the wing.
“Who’s your one and what’s your one?,” said Naughton. “I really want to make sure people focus on establishing those connections, being able to trust those connections. If you have one person you can call and count on and one thing that you can do in the moment when you are overwhelmed or stressed, you are going to be more ready, healthier and more resilient.”
According to the Department of the Air Force’s Comprehensive Airmen Fitness program, the four pillars of wellness include: mental, physical, social and spiritual.
“The people are our number one resource,” said Senior Master Sgt. Bob Barko Jr., 910th Airlift Wing public affairs superintendent. “Before the training and before the mission, our people have to be in good shape, mentally, and they have to know that we have their backs.”
Barko notes that in his time of crisis, he was met with direct support from Naughton, wing leadership and additional resources.
“I had a mental health experience myself and Terri Ann was the point person to get me back to being medically ready,” said Barko. “My experience was that Terri Ann and the team of mental health professionals that I worked with at Veteran Affairs and Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, their main effort was to try to get me mentally healthy again and ultimately get me back into the fight and be medically ready to deploy.”
This wrap around approach of support ultimately shifted the trajectory of Barko’s life where just a few months after this event, he met his now wife, Priscilla Barko, and is the happiest that he has ever been.
“We are fortunate here at the 910th AW to have Terri Ann as part of our team,” said Barko. “She looks out for everybody and has the biggest heart in the world.”
As superintendent, Barko is reinvigorated to take care of each public affairs professional. Furthermore, he encourages all supervisors and leadership across the installation and DoD to openly and actively talk about the importance of mental health as it relates to individual readiness and wellness.
“Mental health is something that is 24 hours a day, seven days a week and I just hope that more people talk about it, because the more we talk about it the more we normalize it, the more we can support each other when somebody’s mental health isn’t the best that day,” said Naughton. “There is always somebody to listen, and there is always someone to access regardless of where you are.”
Though every month is Mental Health Awareness Month for Naughton, she credits this month as bringing mental health, and readiness, into focus and enabling her to provide more education on mental health while reducing the stigma attached to it.
“I will see hundreds of people each year and a lot of the good work happens behind closed doors when nobody else is watching,” said Naughton. “And then to see them out in the community, thriving, and being better or back in the fight is just so rewarding.”
If you are part of the 910th family and in need of support or assistance, we encourage you to connect with Terri Ann Naughton or the Chaplain team. For everyone, the network extends beyond the fence line to Mahoning Valley community resources, Military OneSource, Veteran’s Crisis Line, 988 Suicide and Crisis Line and more.
Remember, you are not alone!
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.28.2025 16:04 |
| Story ID: | 499105 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 910 AW/DPH joins your fight to connect and protect, by Capt. Donald Hatheway, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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