Navy Medicine Program Cuts Stress for Military Families

By Judith Snyderman, Defense Media Activity

April 29, 2010 - WASHINGTON (NNS) -- A program that started three years ago to help Navy and Marine families cope with stress from multiple deployments and other types of pressure has proven so successful it has become a model for the defense department.

Kirsten Woodward directs family programs at the Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery. She developed the multifaceted approach in partnership with UCLA Health Services Research Center in 2007.

During an April 28 DoDLive Bloggers Roundtable, Woodward said that in the past, a gap existed between family social service programs and medical mental health care services.

"There really wasn't anything in the middle, addressing both prevention and intervention," Woodward said.

The program Woodward created called FOCUS, or Families OverComing Under Stress, aims to fill that gap. The licensed clinical social worker said the goal is to offer practical help in situations where symptoms may be mild, acute or anywhere in between and it aims to remove the stigma from seeking assistance.

FOCUS uses a color code to help families pinpoint current levels of stress. Woodward explained the colors range from "green being 'good to go' and through the continuum to red being 'hot' or 'not good to go.'"

That baseline guides the entry tier of service best suited for clients. Woodward said the tiers range from education and guidance on stress prevention to skills-based peer learning groups geared to children, adolescents and adults.

"The bull's eye, or most intense treatment," she said, "is what we call our multi-session resilience training. That course runs from eight to 10 weeks."

So far about 97,000 people have tried it out at 10 Marine Corps and eight Navy locations. The staff at each site includes psychologists, social workers, licensed marriage family therapists and resilience trainers.

A year ago, Woodward said the Office of the Secretary of Defense Child and Youth Family Policy independently reviewed the program and cited it as a best practice program. As a result plans are underway to expand FOCUS to other branches of the military. So far four Air Force and four Army locations are running pilots.

All members of the military community are eligible to tap FOCUS services at any of those locations. Woodward said there's no need to wait for stress to build to high levels before seeking help. She also said that while she is pleased by studies that have proven the effectiveness of the program, she is most gratified by the good word of mouth referrals the program has garnered.

"It's the actual families who've worked through the program who found it beneficial [who] were able to then share that information with their friends and colleagues and suggest that they may benefit from the program," said Woodward.