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The Fort Knox Religious Support Office and its chaplains play a role in supporting the mental and spiritual wellness of the community by offering a range of free counseling services to both individuals and couples.
These services are available to Soldiers, Family members, Department of the Army civilians and retirees, and are designed to address a variety of life’s challenges in a judgment-free and supportive environment.
According to Fort Knox Family Life Chaplain (Maj.) John Silvey, both civilians and service members face very similar issues. For Soldiers and their Families, these same challenges can be exacerbated by aspects unique to military life, such as deployments and frequent moves.
“With couples and families, it often centers around communication and conflict resolution,” Silvey said. “With individuals, a lot of times it has to do with identity. It can also have to do with past trauma. It could be childhood experiences, but it could also be military trauma.
“Usually, it's not just one thing or another,” he added. “A lot of issues tend to interact and feed off each other.” Silvey, who holds a master's degree in marriage and family therapy and is licensed by the state of Texas, stressed that the RSO’s counseling services are not exclusive to people of faith.
“Some people aren’t religious or they have never talked to a chaplain, but they get to a place where they realize they need something,” Silvey said. “We use evidence-based modalities that pertain to people of every faith background, including atheists and agnostics.”
Silvey added that the RSO works to weave in the respective faiths of those seeking counseling when appropriate. “We want to integrate the individual’s, the couple’s or Family’s practicing faith into their into their counseling to the level that they wish,” he said.
Silvey said the services provided by the RSO play a direct role in enhancing military readiness by holistically addressing the emotional, social and mental well-being of service members and their Families.
“We want to help people be the best they can be, and that's what readiness is really about,” Silvey said. “We want to help you to take care of yourself so you can fight and win our nation's wars.”
Another benefit of the counseling services offered by RSO is confidentiality. Silvey said this is particularly important for those who may be hesitant to seek help through other channels for fear of judgment or negative career repercussions.
This confidentiality extends to all matters, including sensitive issues such as sexual assault, to provide an outlet for individuals to process their experiences without the pressure of formal reporting.
“We are a great option if you want to address things under the radar and deal with stuff that is affecting you but don't necessarily want it to be documented or known by anybody else,” said Silvey.
Silvey said the ultimate goal is to empower individuals and couples with the tools they need to navigate their challenges themselves and foster self-sufficiency.
“We don't want to create a dependence where you're going to be doing this the rest of your life,” said Silvey. “We want you to learn about skills that you didn't know about, or you just haven’t worked out very well.”
Silvey likened the benefit of counseling to services one may take advantage of when their vehicle breaks down on the side of the road.
“Maybe the car ran out of gas, the battery died or it has a flat tire. It may be minor and you don't need something as substantial as a new transmission or the engine rebuilt,” Silvey said. “So, you call someone to assist and get the car running again. What we provide is similar; we just want to get you back on the road, and sometimes that can happen in as little as a few sessions.”
Silvey added that people have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking advantage of what the RSO has to offer.
“Even if people find that our services aren’t a good fit,” said Silvey, “I'm going to try to help connect them with other resources or other avenues they can utilize to receive the assistance they require.”
Editor’s note: The Fort Knox Religious Support Office is in Building 4765. Counseling services are available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 502-624-5225.
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2026 16:05 |
| Story ID: | 558903 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, More than faith: How Fort Knox chaplains bolster readiness through counseling, by Patrick Hodges, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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