The Impact of Military Duty and Military Life on Individuals and Families: Resources and Intervention Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Explain how stressors can be addressed and reduced for military members, Veterans, and their families  Describe the services available through the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA)  List several ways agencies in the community could become engaged or better engaged with military members, Veterans, and their families Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Military member  Individuals currently in armed forces.  Active duty or reserve member  Coastguard included in times of war  Family members  Loved ones who support military member  Husband, wife, partner, parent, child, etc.  Marines allow for member to identify anyone as “family” who they want to receive official communication Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Reserve often regionally or locally based, where active duty draw members from all over the country  National guard is actually a state militia  With war on terror, roles and responsibilities of reserve (esp. national guard) have changed dramatically  No longer only emergency response force  Important role responding immediately and mobilizing as critical part of defense strategy Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 About 15-17% of military members are women  Women increasingly more involved in military and promoted to leadership positions  About 1/3 active duty and reserve identify as ethnic minority families  Almost all officers have bachelors degree or higher Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Oct Jan 2009: 1.8 million service men and women deployed at least once  Active duty or reserve military  Most reserve are regionally based and recruited  With global war on terror, many reservists also deployed and are a critical part of the armed forces Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Both active duty and reserve tend to be composed of primarily young adults  More than 1/3 active-duty members have children  5% single parents  34% reserve members have children  Children most often between ages of birth and 5 yrs for active duty  Reserve member children are often between ages 6 and 14 Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 More than 24 million veterans  Health care offered through veterans health administration  Women receive VA services at greater portions than men in Afghanistan / Iraq wars  Medical centers, counseling, traumatic brain injury, recovery, PTSD treatment Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Deployment  Long periods of time, often several deployments in career  Combat, peacemaking, peace keeping, humanitarian, training  Redeployments have become the norm Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Consequences of Combat Deployments  Casualties  Injuries  Missed time with families  Behavioral health consequences  PTSD, combat related stress  Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems  Suicide intentions and ideations Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks  Living/ interacting with someone who is chronically angry, preoccupied with the past, withdrawn, socially anxious, etc. is difficult  Partners often carry burden of care giving, feel burdened, distressed themselves  Chronic stress Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Domestic violence and child maltreatment  Stress associated with extensive duty hours  Increased risk of DV after returning – especially if experience PTSD  Child maltreatment when parent deployed – excess stress of single parenting Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Developing healthy relationship with child if deployed  Help child manage strong emotions and learn appropriate behaviors  Assist children to understand why parent is gone  Challenges faced by parents and loved ones of deployed  Especially true of unmarried Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Appreciation for similarities and differences between military and civilian groups  Inaccurate stereotypes of veterans  Promoting engagement in working with military families  Services, public policies, pro bono services Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Providing Support for Military members, veterans, and their families  Support at local, state, federal level  Community mental health or substance abuse treatment centers  Become informed of protocol of treatment in military Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Family support  Community support  Friend support Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 Stress not inherent in non-military families  Relocation  social support changes, career of non-military spouse  Combat  Danger, PTSD, death  Resiliency in meeting challenges and overcoming stressors Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 List stressors on families inherent in military families  Explain how family stress theory could be used to identify stressor, resources, definitions, coping and adaptation to one of these stressors Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications

 This chapter provided roadmap framed around four interrelated tasks  Promoting awareness of military and veteran populations and families  Increasing knowledge about groups  Enhancing practice skills needed to serve military members  Increasing engagement in providing services to these populations Prepared by Carrie LeFevre Sillito,Ph.D. © Sage Publications