Manage Discussion entry

Manage Discussion Entry

• Identify specific characteristics of your target audience.

My targeted audience is going to be military wives. My cousin Julie, is 24 years old, a mother of two, upset at times, happy at others, lives this life    Sometimes the road you travel as a military wife, has it’s ups but sometimes it has  it’s downs.
• Briefly define stress and give examples relevant to your target audience.
What is stress? Stress is the anxiety we may feel in tense situations.

Examples-
The constant moving that comes with being a military family. The packing, un packing. The adjustment to a new place. New friends, new neighbors, new schools for your kids.
The feeling of loneliness, when your husband has been deployed to the other side of the country, and you are hardly able to talk to him on the phone.
• Discuss at least two specific stressors relevant to your target audience’s primary concerns.

Relationships- keeping a positive relationship with your husband who may be miles away. Trying to stay connected to him. Relationships with new friends, and then moving and having those friends ripped away from you, being replaced be new.

Constantly changing locations- My cousin, Julie a military wife, may be in Texas one day, and be packing up to move to Germany later that year. She has adapted to this way of living, but not easily at times.

Worrying about stability for your children. Will they like their new school? Will they make new friends?

Wiill they be completely torn apart if we make this next move? Or should we stay, and try the life of the family away from their father awhile? The limited calls, the loneliness that comes with that? Missing their father, you missing your husband. The feeling of emptiness, feeling alone.

Military wives face many stressers.  When faced with deployment. There are choices, stay or move? If you choose to go with your husband.. or to ot make the next move, and stay back, for stability for your children . If you choose to they do that you may feel, You are basically raising your children on your own. Caring for them, feeling at times you are alone. These decisions you are faced with do not come easy at times.

• Describe healthy and unhealthy ways in which people may respond to the two stressors listed in #3 above.

Healthy ways- talking about the situation. Plugging into a good counselor, talking through feelings you may feel.
My cousin was able to find an awesome online support group, others experiencing the same thing that you are going through at times, help you come to realize you aren’t the only one going through this. And sometimes things seems unbareable, but somehow we always get through them.
Finding a hobby, keeping yourself busy. Taking time for yourself.
Unhealthy ways of dealing with this-
Keeping feelings bottled up. Not communicating about your feelings. Stress begins to consume you. You may hide it well, but it will catch up to you.

You may take out the anger on your children, or your spouse. Little things that do not have anything to even do with them, you may find yourself acting out your frustration on them.

• Select one specific skill a mental health professional might teach to help individuals cope effectively with stress.

Therapy- talking to a counselor. A counselor is”a professional relationship that empowers individuals families and groups to accomplish mental health Wellness education and career goals”( McCathy,DeLisa,Getsfeld,McCarthy,,Moss-King,Mosser, Privitera,Spence,Walker, Weinberg, Youssef-Morgan,2010, ch 2.1). They can help not only express your feelings, but they can help with setting goals.
Using Mindfulness – based stress Reduction can help with her stress. This technique has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety symptoms, regulate negative feelings and depression”( McCathy,DeLisa,Getsfeld,McCarthy,,Moss-King,Mosser, Privitera,Spence,Walker, Weinberg, Youssef-Morgan,2010, Ch. 4.3, par 21).
Finding a hobby- making time for yourself. Sometimes as a mother we get caught up in the role of being Mom. Sometimes a nurse, a teacher, a discipliner, The Cook, the housekeeper, even sometimes the referee. But it’s very important to remember who we are. What do you like to do for fun, or to help you relax? Always remember to make time for yourself, to reduce stress.

Communication with your husband every chance you get. Sometimes it really is the little things that count. One story for example my cousin I just got out of shower walks into her kitchen, to find a huge mess. Her at your all decided that he wanted to make treats for the family dog. Coming into the kitchen with flour everywhere, eggs cracked all over the floor.. the situation began to get her stressed. She was able to get the mess cleaned up, and realized what a story it would be for her husband who is Miles Away. It left a smile on his face for days if he talked about it with others.
• Define resilience and identify at least three factors associated with resilience.

Resilience is- being able to adapt to a situation.
Three factors –
Being strong-willed Embracing change,
Establishing goals,
Adapting.
• Identify at least three ways to build resilience.

Work on developing problem solving skills. Realize things do not always stay the same. we are not Superwoman, things sometimes will go wrong that we can not change.. but we can adapt.

Choose your outlook on things- is your glass half empty or half full?

Building positive beliefs- remembering why your husband enrolled and the military to start with. Remembering that You are not alone and others are going through the very same thing you are.

Learning to nurture yourself. Take the time to do things for yourself.
• Discuss the importance of flexibility in maintaining resilience.

In the life of a military family resilience is necessary. Life is constantly changing. You are moving, you may find yourself having to find new job after new job. You are adapting to Change all around. It is important to keep an open mind, and communication with those that we love. If we don’t , we find ourselves more stressed then necessary, and can shut down and distance relationships with those that we really love.

• List at least one online, print, video, and/or local resources in your community where participants may receive additional help in learning to effectively cope with life stressors and develop/enhance their resilience skills.

https://bluestarfam.org (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

I found this online resource to be very helpful for a military wife. They provide free resources, and services for military families. You can get connected to other families going through the exact same things you are experiencing. Realizing you are not alone. You do not face these battles alone.

References:

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McCarthy, C. J., DeLisi, M., Getzfeld, A. R., McCarthy, C. J., Moss-King, D. A., Mossler, R., Privitera, G. J., Spence, C., Walker, J. D., Weinberg, R. S., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. (2016). Introduction to applied behavioral science [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/