FARGO, N.D. - Carolyn Henderson is doing her best to help people understand and deal with stress during anxious times.
Henderson has been a Military Family Life Counselor (MFLC) since last September.
When she first saw her current position advertised, she was immediately drawn to it for two reasons: her strong sense of patriotism and the need for someone with a clinical background.
"This position allows me to use my skills to help serve the military and go where the need is," Henderson said adding that when she read about the job she knew it was the position for her.
She said her role is to support and to listen; giving people a chance to talk about whatever is bothering them. She has already provided support for service members, who were going through reintegration after coming back from deployments.
Rob Keller, director of service member and family support for the North Dakota National Guard, said early on, when Soldiers and Airmen began coming back from deployments, it was decided that there needed to be mental health professionals available to talk with them.
He said the MFLC Joint Family Support Assistance Program (JFSAP) embodies the Department of Defense's vision to provide mobile, high-quality family services to augment the family programs' ability to meet the needs of active duty, Guard and Reserve family members.
Keller said the primary focus of the JFSAP is to bring these high-quality family services to families who are geographically dispersed from a military installation and who might otherwise be unable to access much needed support.
The Department of Defense's goals for the JFSAP include connecting military families with each other; increasing the availability, range and awareness of resources; assessing the need for enhanced support and integrating services and programs into a comprehensive delivery system.
Deployments are not the only high-stress events for which Henderson, and others like her, provide support. Counselors are also available when service members become activated in their own state, such as what is happening now with flooding in the Red River Valley.
She noted that during the beginning of the flood-fighting operations, everyone was busy and might not have had time to stop and think about how it was affecting them.
"The adrenaline rush only lasts so long and once it's gone we have to deal with how those events and emotions affected us," she said. "Sometimes we need to process out those things we've seen and done, and that's where the social workers really come in."
Even with a temporarily reduced force in the Fargo area, MFLCs will stay on to assist any service members with needs that might come up.
"In addition to what Carolyn is doing, we have two licensed social workers and one doctor of psychological health," Keller said. All of these professionals are with the Office of the Chaplain.
"The licensed social workers and chaplains provide a well-rounded team for North Dakota," he continued.
"We feel as Soldiers and Airmen start coming off duty, there may be some family life issues to address," Chaplain (Maj.) Leo Moenkedick said.
Just as with deployments, reintegration and other life issues, the MFLCs remain ready to assist.
"We're available to service members and their families," Henderson said, adding that confidentiality is the key, and visits or conversations would not go on anyone's record.
"I wish we could remove the stigma of talking about how we are feeling," Henderson said. "We wonder why we can't sleep, or why we drink too much, or why we get upset easily or have flashbacks — it's because our brains haven't processed the information out yet."
She added that talking through difficulties that can arise can be addressed by talking those events and emotions out, whether as a group or during one-on-one sessions.
"MFLCs provide 'walk-around coaching,' which is a kind of casual, spontaneous outreach opportunity to discuss issues that service members and their families are experiencing," Keller said. "They also deliver psycho-educational presentations on topics that address deployment stress, reintegration, coping skills and skills to build a resiliency."
They also attend Family Readiness Group meetings, support mobilization and reintegration activities, assist in reducing stress through informal support, teach workshops and classes and lead focus groups.
She said that a counselor's job could be difficult if trust had not been established, but she hasn't seen those problems here. She attributed that both to the culture of North Dakota, and also the hard work of her predecessors and counterparts.
"I have come into an environment that is already trusting," she continued.
She said her favorite part of the position was helping build relationships between the military and the community.
"I'm loving what I do," she said.