Spc. Jonathan Happel and his wife, Cira, discuss family issues during the Strong Bonds marriage retreat in Ko Olina, Hawaii. (U.S. Army photo)

This Military Pathways blog post identifies the following six guiding principles from Rebecca Townsend, a military family therapist, who recently shared her thoughts with Military Pathways on what military families can do to cope with post-deployment stress or a family member with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

1. You can experience secondary trauma. While service members with PTSD may feel hypervigilant and edgy, their stress can rub off on family members. Townsend points out that spouses will often walk on egg shells wondering what will set their spouses off that they themselves become hypervigilant. “They anticipate what might be a trigger and how they will react,” Townsend said. “How their spouse reacts one day may differ from how they act another day.”

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	Official poster for Armed Forces Day 1951 highlights the “Defenders of Freedom.”

Tomorrow our country will celebrate its 62nd Armed Forces Day. Armed Forces Day was created to signify the unification of the individual services thereby creating the Department of Defense. The president also wanted it to be a day for American citizens to come together to honor and thank our armed forces and “the millions of veterans who have returned to civilian pursuits” for their service to our country. Air Force Gen. Nathan Twining, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also described it as an opportunity to expand the public’s understanding of the military and the role of the military in civilian life.

Armed Forces Day is also the day that the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS), my alma mater, holds its annual commencement. On Armed Forces Day 24 years ago, I was privileged and honored to become a Navy physician. Since its first class graduated in 1980, USUHS has produced thousands of physicians, nurses and scientists who have gone on to have long and distinguished careers caring for our service members and their families.

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	Positive Activity Jackpot mobile app

The newest mobile application from National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) encourages you to get moving.

Designed for those experiencing post-combat stress, “Positive Activity Jackpot,” available for Android systems, helps users creatively plan fun activities using “pleasant events scheduling,” a behavioral health therapy used to help regulate emotions and cope with stress.

“If you have enough positive events in your week, you’re just going to feel better,” said Dr. Amanda Edwards Stewart, T2 clinical psychologist. “With this therapy, we say ‘what can you do today to make yourself feel better?’ and go through a list [of activities]. The cool thing about a mobile app is that your phone has so much more functionality than sitting with a clinician.”

The app offers many ways to find activities in your community using the phone’s GPS navigation feature. Users can use a step-by-step search function to choose an activity based on its distance, cost or one that just suits their current mood. They can also search through the app’s “Jackpot!” game-like feature where users can pull a lever on a slot-machine screen to flip through a random list of local activities in their area found by the GPS.

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	Kindergartners from the Child Development Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., wave flags during a parade to celebrate the Army’s 234th birthday. (U.S. Army photo by Prudence Siebert)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) is paying tribute to children with their annual National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day May 9. Themed “Heroes of Hope,” the day promotes support and progress of children’s mental health, and includes an exhibit featuring artwork from students and an evening program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The event also complements activities occurring across the country to support the mental health needs of children.

Since 1994, SAMSHA’s “Caring for Every Child’s Mental Health” effort has increased public awareness around children’s mental health issues. And this year’s theme not only recognizes children and youth who have demonstrated resilience after traumatic events, but also heroes of hope — caring adults who helped them enhance their resilience. In support of children’s mental health, SAMSHA is highlighting resources, tools and activities to help children cope and gain resilience as they navigate through challenges.

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	A Backpack Journalists Emarah Cousar (left) and Kat Boynton (right) pose with Navy Capt. Paul Hammer, DCoE director, at the fourth annual Warrior Resilience Conference in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Linda Dennis/A Backpack Journalist)

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.

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