As part of its efforts to encourage service members, veterans and military families coping with invisible wounds to reach out for available care and support, the Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury’s Real Warriors Campaign provides practical tools, tips and resources for members of the military community. This April, the campaign is highlighting tools and resources available specifically for military families.
The Real Warriors Campaign website, www.realwarriors.net, features articles, tools and information to help service members, veterans and family members coping with invisible wounds, as well as the common challenges of military life. The materials available on the site include a redesigned version of the “Seven Tools to Reinforce Military Family Resilience Brochure” (www.scribd.com/full/58553035?access_key=key-23pc6bfymrnp5752oyn5), which features new graphics and quotes to promote military family resilience throughout all phases of deployment. This brochure and other campaign materials can be viewed, downloaded and requested directly from the Real Warriors Campaign online shopping cart (realwarriors.net/materials). The campaign website currently includes more than 100 articles targeted toward military families, active duty service members, members of the National Guard and reserve, veterans and health professionals. Frequently reviewed military family articles that focus on the unique challenges faced by military families include:
- Part1: Preparing Children for Deployment
(www.realwarriors.net/family/children/deployment)
- Military Family Life Consultants Ease Warrior Transition (www.realwarriors.net/family/change/MFLC)
- Strengthen Your Family with Marital Counseling (www.realwarriors.net/family/care/maritalcounseling)
The website also features campaign PSAs (www.realwarriors.net/multimedia/psas) and profiles of Real Warriors and their families (www.realwarriors.net/multimedia/profiles/family_show) sharing their experiences of reintegration after a loved one returns home, including how they helped their children cope with this process.
The Real Warriors Campaign makes reaching out easy. The website includes a live chat feature (http://www.realwarriors.net/livechat) that any service member, veteran, family member or health professional can use to connect confidentially with a trained health resource consultant at the DCoE Outreach Center 24/7. The DCoE Outreach Center can also be accessed toll-free 24/7 by calling 866-966-1020 or emailing resources@dcoeoutreach.org. Military families can also connect through the campaign’s message boards (www.realwarriors.net/forum) designated for families (realwarriors.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=f7864820b97d1787913a877224de0cee).
