The Heroes and Healthy Families program is an innovative, comprehensive and critically needed program that trains military personnel and their families to recognize and respond to combat stress disorder and family violence, thereby reducing the physical and psychological trauma experienced by military personnel and their families. This unprecedented program, developed in 2004 by civilian and military experts, offers advanced training delivered on base to help returning military personnel process their experience and readjust to everyday life. To date, seven day-long conferences have been held for active duty Marine and Sailors and their spouses reaching over 6000 people. These seminars have been widely accepted by military leaders throughout Southern California and the program has received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
The war in the Middle East has created many challenges for our military families. Chief among them is the multiple deployments that the Marines, Navy personnel and their families are enduring with little turnaround time. The stress experienced today by Marines and Navy personnel and their families is in some ways unique. Repeated deployments have created a greater impact on our warriors and their families than those encountered in the past. The ultimate goal of the program is to insure that every returning veteran has the opportunity to experience a happy and healthy reunion and successfully rejoin a grateful community.
“Heroes and Healthy Families” teaches the tools needed to recognize the danger signs of stress and its related consequences as well as the steps to neutralize them. Topics addressed in the seminars:
- Domestic Violence – causes, consequences and prevention strategies.
- Child Abuse – identification and prevention with an emphasis on healthy parenting skills – specific care of infants to prevent shaken baby syndrome.
- Alcohol and Drug Abuse – signs of alcoholism and drug use/addiction – its relationship to depression and rage – and steps to overcome.
- Anger – its origins and causes. Potential devastating consequences and strategies for coping.
- Combat Stress – recognizing its universality and teaching coping strategies.
- Healthy Marital Relationships/Reunification. Problems that arise when families are united – identification of solutions.
- Lautenberg Act – The consequences of family violence to a military career.
- Suicide Prevention – Recognizing the warning signs and risks and prevention strategies.
- Referral to Community Support Services- Each seminar is conducted in partnership with the base Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) in order to insure Marines have access to follow up services. Referrals are also provided to non-profit social services delivery agencies located in the surrounding communities.
The Heroes and Healthy Families program has proven so successful that it was identified as a “best practice” in the recent accreditation review of the Marine & Family Services Counseling Services Branch at Camp Pendleton.
| 1615 East 17th Street | Santa Ana, California 92705 | 714.619.0256 | 714.619.0251 fax |