Staff Perspective: “Kids Don’t Come with Handbooks” – Helping Parents Build Resiliency in Their Children
At the beginning of my career as a mental health counselor, I worked primarily in school and community-based settings, focusing on the struggles and stressors experienced by military-connected students and their families. The work I did with young people was related to typical school-aged concerns, ranging from the mostly innocuous worries about an upcoming test or the severe struggles with bullying, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and grief and loss. While working in the school system as a Military-Connected Student Support Specialist under a Department of Defense Educational Activities (DoDEA) grant, I had the opportunity to attend the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) Annual Conference for several years.