Young Journalists Learn Resilience through Expression

By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications

You or I might have hesitated approaching top military leaders at the fourth annual Warrior Resilience Conference, hosted by Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), but 16-year-old journalist Kat Boynton was up for the task.

“I can be eye-to-eye with a three-star general and have a conversation and the confidence to speak well and present myself,” said Kat.

Boynton, whose Army National Guard father and brother have both deployed, reported on the conference with A Backpack Journalist, a program that teaches resilience to military kids through journalism, photography, writing, music and other creative forms of expression. She attributes her assurance and ability to talk to people with taking part in the program.

“Regardless of where I end up, the life lessons and skills that I’m learning [from Backpack] will go wherever I’m going,” she said.

Program manager Linda Dennis created A Backpack Journalist to engage military teens in learning resilience and life skills through artistic expression, after realizing teens needed a creative outlet to share their feelings.

“At a family event at Fort Bragg, I noticed the little kids made cards … but the older kids had a really tough time writing the words. The more I talked to them I realized they didn’t know how, or there was a lump in their throat,” she said. “What Backpack does is help them find their voice.”

Teens learn journalism and photography skills, produce videos, and create songs about military life in camps across the country. The budding journalists most recently produced a music video, “PTSD Won’t Stop Me.”

Dennis has seen teens go from disinterested to creatively driven, bonding with others and learning more about themselves.

“With teens, it can be the toughest time because they’re going through changes. When you add deployment or a new school — there’s a lot going on,” she said. “Once you learn how to express yourself, all of a sudden you’ve got this self-esteem, and you have more faith and confidence … that’s why our program has caught on.”

Backpack journalist and self-described introvert Emarah Cousar, 19, daughter of an Air Force veteran, said taking part in the program has helped her communicate her feelings.

“Sometimes I can’t actually express what I want to say by speaking, so I’ll write it down and it’ll show through what I’m doing, rather than what I’m saying,” she said.

The program is expanding its outreach to include an Internet webcast called Veterans Info Channel, a documentary about equestrian therapy for wounded warriors, and a partnership with Best Buy’s Geek Squad to teach teens tech-savvy skills for their next creative adventure. Dennis said at the core of the success of the program however, is the power of words.

“Writing is the basic formation for everything we do in life. There’s nothing like writing down something frustrating on a piece of paper, putting it under your pillow when you go to sleep, and waking up the next day feeling like it’s a new day,” she said while Boynton interviewed DCoE Director Navy Capt. Paul Hammer at the conference. “And it really looks like we’re raising top journalists.”