Stress rising in families, but programs can help

MILITARY: Stress rising in families, but programs can help
CHILDREN BEARING EMOTIONAL BRUNT OF MULTIPLE DEPLOYMENTS
By RICK ROGERS - For the North County Times
Posted: Friday, April 29, 2011
Marine Corps and Navy officials say military families are seeing an uptick in stress-related problems because of multiple deployments, including high levels of anxiety and depression among children.

Kirsten Woodward, director of the Family Programs Division for the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, said one of the military's best programs for reducing stress is available at Camp Pendleton.

"The level of distress (among families) is distressing," said Woodward, who spoke at the Combat and Operational Stress Control conference held this week in Mission Valley. The four-day forum brought together military mental health professionals from across the country.

"But there are avenues for help, and the FOCUS program, which has been recognized as a best practice program by the Defense Department, is one of them."

FOCUS stands for Families OverComing Under Stress. The program has been a fixture at Camp Pendleton since 2008. While no figures were available for the North County base, the total number of service members, spouses and others using the program has grown from 20,000 three years ago to 200,000 today.

Woodward said FOCUS has been shown to reduce behavior problems among children by almost 50 percent and emotional issues by nearly 33 percent. It's been so successful that the Army and the Air Force want the program on their bases, too.
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Stress rising in families, but programs can help