5 Support Services for Returning Service Members and Their Families

We send physically wounded soldiers to the hospital but what happens if the wounds aren’t to their bodies but to their minds?

A campaign sponsored by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE)called the Real Warriors Campaign (www.realwarriors.net) is an initiative to encourage service members to seek help for their invisible wounds.

Some of the tips the site offers include:

• How to adjust to changes
• Preparing for homecomings
• Help for your kids with deployment and homecomings

Some other sites offering help for family members include:

• Sesame Workshop’s Talk, Listen, Connect (www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/emotion/tlc using Muppet characters to help talk about deployment, change after injury and death. The site www.SesameStreetFamilyConnections.org also offers many video and print resources too.
• Blue Star Families (www.bluestarfam.org) is a great resource for families both on-line and in community chapters.
• The National Military Family Association (www.militaryfamily.org) helps educate military families about services, benefits and their rights. They also operate the Operation Purple® Camps for the children of deployed service members.
• FOCUS (www.focusproject.org) offers resiliency training and practical skills for families who have a member deployed or returning.  Some services include problem solving, setting goals and creating a shared family story.

Someone is available 24/7 for any needs you may have at www.realwarriors.net/livechat – asking for help is a sign of strength so do it if you need to.