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  • Building healthy habits: How the OST keeps Shaw mission ready

    The Operational Support Team at Shaw Air Force Base, partners with units across the base to offer mental health and musculoskeletal support to ensure Airmen can prevent and overcome issues before they escalate. The five-member team from the 20th Medical Group focuses on building resilience,

  • Leadership Lessons From My Deathbed

    On August 15, 2022, I asked to relinquish command after only 15 months in the seat. My commander, having watched my health rapidly decline over the past few months, to include losing large chunks of my hair, agreed. Less than 24 hours later, I had a suspected cardiac event in the middle of my own

  • Physical therapy ensures combat readiness

    The 4 OMRS physical therapy clinic at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, gives active duty service members the steps forward in order to recover in a safe, and effective manner after an injury or physical problem.

  • 386th Medical Group: Helping service members thrive

    To remain healthy and fit to fight, the 386th Expeditionary Medical Group offers a variety of mental health services, including assessments, therapy and counseling for service members on base. The four-member mental health team consists of a clinical psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker,

  • Airman overcomes series of challenges relying on superb resiliency

    It was the first night in a while that she’d slept so soundly. Unfortunately, it was the one night she wishes she hadn’t. Murphy’s Law continued a long streak of unfolding in Janelle’s life. One incident after another. It was enough to yank the cheer right out of the average person, but not her.

  • PTSD: Seeking out mental health care is the first step to wellness

    Service members, family members and veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder may repeatedly re-experience their ordeal as nightmares, flashbacks or frightening thoughts, especially when exposed to events that remind them of their original trauma, according to the Centers for Disease

  • Mental health: Pushing past the stigma

    The wellness of service members is a priority across the Department of the Air Force, yet mental health has remained one of the most challenging components. Each service has struggled with an increasing number of suicides since the mid-2000’s. In 2018, there were 103 suicides among Air Force

  • Reducing the stigma, encouraging mental health care in the military

    In the military, the stigma of mental health is grounded in the cultural misperception that a service member must have "zero defects" to be mission-ready. While the Department of Defense strives to identify and eliminate barriers to care that service members face regarding mental health treatment,

  • Team Phoenix inducts 42 new members

    “…I will faithfully uphold the Team Phoenix code of ethics, promote mutual respect, and help others in times of need. I promise to improve the culture around me and encourage my peers to do likewise. I take this obligation freely and I volunteer without reservation.” These words were repeated by 42

  • Run Toward the Fire: My journey through mental illness

    Suicide has been a part of my Air Force journey. It took a conversation with someone I trust and respect greatly, who also happens to be a mental health professional, to realize that suicide came nearer to defining my own story than I’d been willing to admit. “I’m going to give you one piece of

  • Department of the Air Force leaders focus on resiliency

    Senior leaders are focused on building and growing resilience by establishing a task force called Operation Arc Care. This task force is currently reviewing resilience programs and overarching strategy using a phased approach which began in November.

  • Team Phoenix program takes flight at PSAB

    The 378th Air Expeditionary Wing is launching a program called Team Phoenix to help members get the most out of the installation’s helping agencies. Twenty-two trained personnel from various units across the wing can now help point people to the right helping agency to suit their needs, whether it

  • COVID stinks: A story of depression, recovery, resilience

    What if we lived in a world where people were forbidden from making physical contact with one another and the very air we needed to breathe was filled with a potentially deadly virus so new and easily contracted that everyone had to wear masks to leave their homes or be within six feet of another

  • Airmen of the 363rd ISRW take a leap of faith

    Sitting on the small bench within the aircraft, surrounded by instructors and first-time jumpers, reality starts to set in. The aircraft elevates, getting colder and colder as we increase in altitude, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. As I look around at all the first-time jumpers, they all

  • A coin for everyone

    Resiliency plays a huge role in Airmen’s ability to succeed in their Air Force careers. Without the assistance of numerous helping agencies across the base, Airmen would not be equipped with the tools they need to cope during difficult times.

  • There for you: Creech Chaplains put the RST in ‘Present’

    You may see them on a routine visit to your squadron, or as a fly on the wall at a commander’s call. You may see them speak at a retirement, promotion, town hall or even a change of command ceremony. Every Creech Chaplain wants you to know that they will, above all, make themselves available when

  • Help Agency Team visits AUAB Units

    Anyone that has deployed knows that deployed life can be taxing, fast-pace and in some cases overwhelming, which is why the Helping Agency Team from the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing conducted a “wellness walk,” July 12, 2020, at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

  • Air Force provider burnout - pouring from an empty cup

    Air Force medics are on the front lines against COVID-19, and maintaining their mental well-being is critical to keeping them in the fight.Delivering medical care in a pandemic or other crisis creates new mental health challenges, and makes existing challenges more serious. Medics should be aware of

  • Mental Health Awareness Month: Resiliency, wellness

    The goal of the Wellness and Resiliency Program is to help ensure there is a resilient community being built and maintained throughout all areas of a wounded warrior’s life to include their physical, spiritual, mental and social fitness. During COVID-19, the team assists warriors, caregivers and

  • Don’t Let COVID-19 Attack Your Mental Health

    Physical distancing and isolation in conjunction with fear and anxiety about the pandemic can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in people. Many services are available to Airmen who might be struggling, making sure they are mentally fit and mission ready in these trying times.

  • Rescue dogs help heal wounded warriors

    The Office of the Warrior Advocate is a first-of-its-kind organization that was founded by two wounded warriors that saw a need. It is in that same spirit of seeing needs and answering the call that service dogs are becoming part of Offutt’s landscape and cultural norms. Organically, a small group

  • Suicide Prevention Walk Brings H.O.P.E

    Every day, approximately 123 individuals take their own lives in the United States. Of those individuals, U.S. military members and veterans make up 18 percent of adult suicides.

  • Deploying mental health care downrange

    Deployed mental health providers play a vital role in delivering medical care downrange, ensuring the health of the warfighter and the mission.Even though service members who deploy are medically ready, both physically and mentally, the rigors of deployment can take a toll.

  • Resilient kids, ready Airmen

    One thing Airmen worry about when they deploy is the well-being of their family, especially children who may have a hard time coping with the challenges that come with a parent’s deployment.The impact of deployment on children is a key component of Airmen readiness. Knowing their family is well

  • A peek behind the curtain: Prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD

    Post-traumatic stress disorder can be debilitating, but there are therapies that can reduce symptoms, improve quality of life, and help Airmen return to duty.One of the most effective therapies, practiced by many Air Force mental health professionals, is prolonged exposure therapy.

  • A peek behind the curtain: The first step of PTSD care

    Perhaps the most difficult part of seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder is making that first appointment, since Airmen are often unsure of what to expect. Not knowing what to expect from mental health providers can get in the way of effective PTSD treatment.

  • A peak behind the curtain: PTSD barriers and stigmas

    Effective treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder is possible, but many Airmen falsely think seeking medical help for PTSD will hurt their career and will not help them get better. These stigmas and misconceptions create perceived barriers, preventing Airmen from seeking care. Delaying treatment

  • A day in the life: Mental health supports Airmen, readiness

    As with any Air Force healthcare provider, Capt. Daniel Gibson, a clinical psychologist with the 92nd medical group, Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, relies on a collaborative, patient-centered approach to care.The mental health clinic at Fairchild Air Force Base uses a collaborative approach

  • Mental Health trailblazes new IOP in ACC

    Moody Air Force Base’s Mental Health Flight refocused its treatment strategy, Feb. 5, by instituting a new intensive outpatient program (IOP) that gives Airmen the help they need from Airmen like themselves.This new program is designed to provide a more streamlined service for the nearly 7000

  • Be there, be aware: Help prevent suicide

    When we focus on our health, it’s easy to pay attention to physical health versus mental well-being. Ignoring mental health concerns like anxiety and depression can lead to worsening symptoms and more serious issues. For some people, these issues may include an increased risk of suicide.

  • Suicide prevention month: stopping suicide is everyone’s battle

    September is Suicide Prevention Month, a time for Americans to build awareness and help understand suicide in our culture. More than 40,000 Americans lose their life due to suicide each year and research shows that rates in the military and the general population are very close. The loss of any one

  • New annual Mental Health Assessment requirement begins July 31

    Starting July 31, 2017, Airmen undergoing their annual Periodic Health Assessment may notice something new. A Mental Health Assessment will now be part of every annual PHA, to help ensure that Airmen suffering from undiagnosed mental health issues are referred to the necessary care. Mental health

  • PTSD treatment confronts the trauma behind the disorder

    Post-traumatic stress disorder is considered one of the “signature wounds” of the current conflicts in the Middle East. But many people may not know that there are highly effective treatments for this invisible wound being deployed at Air Force hospitals and clinics today. It’s normal to feel

  • Surviving the storm: My journey to recovery

    Editor’s note: The following commentary was written in observance of National Mental Health Month. Although “wingmanship” is something I live every day now as an Airman, the concept is something I have been familiar with my entire life. I specifically remember a moment this came into play when I was

  • PTSD Awareness leads to positive treatment

    Post-traumatic Stress Disorder can be debilitating in some patients, but thanks to advancements in research and the continued training of mental health providers, treatments are getting better all the time.Maj. Joel Foster, Chief of Air Force Deployment Mental Health, said treating PTSD has improved

  • Coping with stress through healthy thinking

    Stress. Even mention of the word can increase anxiety for some. Everyone deals with stress differently, but how you cope with daily stressors can have great impacts on your quality of life and overall health.Stress is actually the body’s response to any demand, including change. According to the

  • Air Force increases access to behavioral health care

    Nearly half of people with a treatable behavioral health disorder do not seek help from behavioral health professionals, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, 80 percent of this population does visit a primary care manager at least once a year. The Air Force