Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s (NMCP) Coalition of Sailors Against Destructive Decisions (CSADD) committee hosted a Love and Learn class on Nov. 27.
The talking points for the class included information about the command’s Family Advocacy Program (FAP) and Fleet and Family Support Center’s (FFSC) Building Healthy Relationships class.
“We have CSADD monthly topics, and the topic was domestic violence, so I felt this was the best way to address domestic violence and incorporate education about FAP,” said Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Alexandria Mull, a CSADD committee member. “I hope they (CSADD) continue on with every monthly topic and do something new and innovative, get more junior Sailors involved and engaged within the command.”
NMCP currently has two FAP representatives. One is Logistics Specialist 1st Class Ashley SalinasBickerstaff, and she explained the role of a FAP, the two reporting procedures available to victims, and the difference between the representatives and the victim advocates.
“Family Advocacy Program deals with families,” SalinasBickerstaff said. “It’s someone that you have been intimate with, someone you have been in a relationship with, someone that you have shared a domicile with.”
Amanda Chenoweth, a Life Skills educator with FFSC, taught the Building Healthy Relationships class, which is one of many workshops offered from FFSC.
“With building healthy relationships, it’s talking about the importance of constant communication,” Chenoweth said. “It’s about ‘what does a healthy relationship look like’? If I’m not in a healthy relationship, what are some resources I can utilize?”
Chenoweth explained that in every relationship each person desires ten basic needs, and also talked about the five love languages and the importance of each.
“Relationships are a huge deal because we (the military) are over the 50 percent of the population in the U.S. that have divorces, in the military it’s up over 70 percent,” Chenoweth said. “A lot of it has to do with one the one thing that is the foundation of it all, and that is communication.”
The importance of a healthy relationship is not only to prevent divorce, but to prevent any type of domestic violence, whether it’s physical, emotional or economical. Each FFSC location offers free programs for service members and their families.
“I think, in regards to Fleet and Family, the reason why we have the programs that we have is because it’s about being proactive,” Chenoweth said. “Because when we are reactive, we are in crisis mode and then logic is out the window.”
As the U.S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally acclaimed, state of the art medical center, along with the area's ten branch and TRICARE Prime Clinics in the Hampton Roads area. The medical center also supports premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman for future roles in healing and wellness.