Blog posts with the tag "Staff Perspective"

Staff Perspective: Confessions of a Military Brat

By Diana Dolan  on 27.04.2016 9:30 am

While at officer training at beautiful Maxwell AFB, Alabama, a fellow trainee remarked at how unattractive the base was.  I defended the base quickly, “Don’t you know this is actually a nice base?  The color scheme includes other colors besides brown.”  If you hear some righteous indignation coming through the text on this page, you would not be mistaken.  For me, the familiarity of the typical brown monotone of Air Force bases, and not a particular city, was my hometown.  For me, military culture was not just something I was voluntarily taking on as all Service members do in training, but something I was born into. 

Staff Perspective: Challenge Breeds Resilience: Recognizing the Benefits of Growing Up as a Military Child

By Jennifer Phillips  on 20.04.2016 11:39 am

In last week’s blog, Caitlin Cook and Kimberly Copeland provided a thoughtful and comprehensive introduction to the military child. The authors chose to examine military children from a cultural (strengths-based) perspective rather than a clinical or pathological view. In keeping with this strengths-based theme, and in continuing our recognition of April as the “Month of the Military Child”, this week’s entry highlights some of the often-overlooked benefits of growing up as a military child.

Staff Perspective: Celebrating & Caring for the Military Child: Honoring our Youngest Heroes Year-Round

By Kimberly Copeland  on 13.04.2016 1:20 pm

Thirty years ago, then Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger declared April the “Month of the Military Child.” This sentiment was later formalized with the passing of Senate Resolution 107 on April 23, 2013, which, in part, stated that “in honoring the children of members of the Armed Forces” we, the people, “recognize that those children also share in the burden of protecting the United States.”

Staff Perspective: Should I Be Teaching Veterans to Meditate?

By Andrew Santanello  on 06.04.2016 12:39 pm
Andrew Santanello, Psy.D.

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I’m sitting, cross-legged, on a meditation cushion in the dayroom at a Veteran’s hospital. There are 13 Veterans sitting around the room; some of them are outpatients and some of them are participants in a residential PTSD program. Some of them are sitting on cushions, but most of them are in chairs. Another psychologist and a few psychology interns are there, too. We are all sitting in silence. About seven minutes into the final period of practice in our mindfulness group, the thought that I knew was coming finally presents itself, front and center, in my mind.

Staff Perspective: Male Military Spouses -“Invisible” Family Members?

By Marjorie Weinstock  on 30.03.2016 1:52 pm

Recently there was a big discussion in a military spouse Facebook group that I am a member of over a new series in the Military Times called the “Mom-to-Mom Guide for Military Families,” which is a collection of Q&A contributions from military moms.  I haven’t read the entire series, but the first entry incudes a spouse’s answers to questions about the challenges of maintaining her career as a military spouse, her children’s educational experiences, and the challenges of moving her children into new schools during a PCS move … none of which are experiences that are limited to military moms.  One of the few male spouses who is a part of the group expressed his frustration at the title of the series, noting that it is just one example of how male military spouses are often marginalized and can be invisible to many within the military community.

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