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CAMP FOSTER, Japan - Marines, sailors, family readiness officers and Marine Corps Community Services employees gathered for a brief at Camp Foster to learn about the Marine Corps’ DStress Line May 7.
The DStress Line is a commandant of the Marine Corps initiative, which provides an anonymous, web or phone-based, peer-to-peer counseling hotline and referral service for Marines, attached sailors and their families.
The purpose of the DStress Line is to increase total fitness and develop the necessary skills required to cope with the widely varying challenges of life in the Marine Corps, according to Marine Administrative Message 226/12. The hotline is now available to Marines and sailors on Okinawa and in Iwakuni.
The brief was designed to increase awareness of the DStress Line and inform attendees of how it works in conjunction with other resources, such as behavioral health family advocacy programs, chaplains and the chain of command.
“This program was the idea of (Gen. James F. Amos) when he was still the assistant commandant,” said Col. Grant Olbrich, the program manager for the line at Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps. “The 2009 suicide rate went through the roof. Our rate passed that of the Army and the civilian sector for the first time, so he went to leaders around the Corps to figure out what was wrong.”
The leaders were very impassioned and wanted to fix the problems, said Olbrich.
“They found Marines were not (using) available resources,” said Olbrich. “The element of confidentiality is important to us, Marines do not like to give out their information.”
With an added focus on anonymity, a pilot program for the line started on the West Coast of the United States in 2009. It ran for nearly 18 months.
“During that time, only 11 percent of callers gave information for follow-up calls,” said Olbrich. “They took full advantage of the anonymity,” Olbrich explained. “The system allows callers to talk to their peers and be referred to those higher in the chain of command only if the caller decides it is necessary.”
The peer counselors, who are all trained in behavioral health counseling, are supervised by licensed clinical counselors specializing in Marine Corps culture.
“The behavioral health family advocacy program is a resource where DStress Line counselors can refer callers,” said Jean A. Claffey, director of the behavioral health family advocacy program at Camp Foster. “We have many services including personal and family counseling, suicide prevention services, new parent support program, family advocacy program and the victim advocacy program. These programs allow for Marines, sailors and family members to receive counseling for any stressful situation, which may develop during a military career.”
In addition to the MARADMIN, commands should receive word about this program through the behavioral health family advocacy program, briefs and Marine Corps Community Services, said Olbrich.
“Eventually, everyone will get word about this service,” said Olbrich. “The DStress Line is one more tool for leaders to use to help their Marines.”
The hotline’s chat feature is available through the DStress Line homepage at www.dstressline.com. The website also contains an email link, more information about the DStress Line, videos and an international list of government resources for behavioral health needs.
| Date Taken: | 05.07.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.17.2012 22:02 |
| Story ID: | 88600 |
| Location: | OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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