GENEVA, IL - When Illinois Soldiers and Airmen deploy, they are not the only people who are faced with a battle. In many circumstances, family members – especially children – fight with the emotional and mental turmoil caused by the departure of their loved ones.
Members of the Illinois National Guard and representatives from programs designed to support Guardmembers and their families met with teachers, counselors and psychologists of the Kane County Regional Board of Education during the county's teacher institute day Feb. 25 in Geneva.
They discussed how military schoolchildren can be affected when their parents or loved ones are deployed.
“The purpose of this meeting is to help educators become more aware of how the separation of a parent due to a deployment can affect a military child,” said Army Maj. Rhonda Petersen, Education Outreach officer of the northern region for the Illinois National Guard.
“We are trying to help educators understand the signs and symptoms that the distress of the loss of a parent can cause so that the educators can mitigate those issues.”
To provide the attendees with insight into the psyche of these children, there were numerous presentations.
During a presentation on the socio-psychological effects deployments have on military schoolchildren, Julianne Steinbeigle, director of psychological health for the Illinois National Guard, explained that military children of those deployed can suffer from a multitude of disorders including anxiety, stress disorder, pediatric behavioral disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“When there is chaos with a child's safety net, it can have an effect on how they behave in school which in turn can have an effect on their grades and on their future,” Steinbeigle said. “Teachers help by providing support and stability and by identifying issues.”
The day included a role-playing exercise in which attendees recited scripts of the thought processes of various family members of a deployed Guardmembers.
Jim Frazier, Survivor Outreach Services coordinator of the northern region for the Illinois National Guard, spoke about the challenges family members are burdened with when they lose a loved one in the line of duty.
He spoke about what he went through when he lost his son during a deployment, and the impact it has on families. He also provided the attendees with information on the resources available to families of fallen servicemembers.
William Troka, a psychologist with Elgin school district U-46, said the conference provided him with valuable information he can use in his professional and personal lives.
“The information was very timely and relevant because not only am I a psychologist, I am person who has military members with children in my family,” Troka said. “We are the second largest district in the state of Illinois and I'm sure we have military children in our district that we can use this information to help.”