Air Force highlights Offutt Spouse Resilience Program

by 55th Wing Public Affairs

12/29/2014 - OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The Offutt Spouse Resilience Program was highlighted at the Air Force's second annual Community Action Information Board meeting Dec. 11.

Joy Draper and Aimee Salter, co-chairs of the program, were hand-picked by Air Combat Command to brief U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Stephen L. Hoog, assistant vice chief of staff and air staff director, as well as representatives from all nine Air Force commands during the video teleconference.

"We received several great submissions, but one stood out as exceptional," said U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. James N. Post, Air Combat Command vice commander, as he introduced the Offutt Spouse Resilience Program to the group.

The Offutt Spouse Resilience Program was introduced in early 2014 and has made a tremendous impact on the base.

"The resiliency of our Airmen is greatly impacted by the resiliency of their families, said U.S. Air Force Col. Mark Williamson, 55th Wing vice commander. "With over 3,500 families here at Offutt, we decided to help address this need by establishing the spouse resilience program, which had an immediate and positive impact on our Airmen and their families."

Draper and Salter, who are both certified key spouses of the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 1st Airborne Command Control Squadron respectively, attended a three-day resilience training assistant course.

They then worked with Jack Sweet, Offutt Community Support coordinator, to establish a resilience program element, specifically for spouses, as part of the Offutt Resilience Program. This included modifying five of the 12 resilience modules to better fit spouse's needs. Overall, they've spent more than 700 hours combined on the program and hosted more than 40 events throughout this year.

"This is a great example of what the Air Force family does," Hoog said. "Someone sees a need and they step up and do it.

"Aimee and Joy, on behalf of the Air Force, I want to thank you for your efforts," he added.

Draper and Salter said they're proud the program has taken off and hope what they've done will help other bases come up with similar programs to help with spouse's resiliency.

"The key for a successful program is going to be coordination and collaboration with the base community support coordinator and working hand-in-hand with the base resilience initiative," said Draper. "We're always happy to share our experiences and what materials we've developed thus far as well as our success stories."

"Within the last few months we began to fully realize our program is the first of its kind in the Air Force and saw the potential we have to positively impact spouses Air Force wide," said Salter. "As we continued to develop the program, our goal is assist other bases wanting to establish a spouse resilience program similar to ours."

Hoog noted he would create an action item for the CAIB to see how they can incorporate ideas and techniques from the Offutt Spouse Resilience Program into other already established Air Force programs.

During the live discussion, the group talked about integrating the modules into the key spouse training curriculum, as well as possibly including it within the wing commander and spouse's courses.

"Aimee and Joy have done an absolute wonderful job with this program," Sweet said. "We are very lucky to have them here at Offutt and I believe their passion to develop a Resilience program specifically for spouses will benefit the rest of the Air Force."

While the team is proud of the accomplishments, they are excited with the fact that the Air Force has identified this need and taking steps to address it.

"It was an honor to have the team's program chosen and highlighted as a success," Draper said. "Mostly, though, I'm pleased that it opens up more chances to reach out to military spouses and equip them with essential resilience skills to help bolster families and make service members more mission-ready by helping on the home front."

"To have our initiative and accomplishments validated by Air Force leadership is pretty amazing," Salter said. "Learning how to effectively deal with stress, strengthen healthy relationships, and increase effective communication are not done intermittently or on a whim. Rather, being resilient is an intentional choice we have to make and commit to as individuals and families."