FOCUS Project Information
Contacting The FOCUS Project
Camp Lejeune FOCUS Office
2469 Iwo Jima Blvd.
Tarawa Terrace
910-450-0178
Mail Address: PO Box 12004, Jacksonville, NC 28546
Info@focusproject.org
www.focusproject.org
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Article - Helping military families help themselves
UCLA program teaches coping skills to families with a deployed parent
by Mark Wheeler
For a civilian, it's hard to fathom the stress a military family faces when a parent and spouse is sent to combat zones in Iraq or Afghanistan. Long, and often multiple, wartime deployments take a toll not only on the service member on the front lines but on family members back at home.
According to recent figures released by the Rand Corp., one in five veterans of these two wars may suffer from psychological health problems, which can add strain on military family members.
Now, a program initiated at UCLA and supported by the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery is reaching out to military families to help prevent the personal and family problems such stress can bring. Project FOCUS (Families OverComing Under Stress) is now being rolled out to nine military bases across the nation and in Okinawa, Japan.
"There is increasing awareness that military families, especially the children, can be significantly affected when a parent is deployed, and there is even greater psychological wear and tear when there are multiple deployments," said Dr. Patricia Lester, UCLA assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry and director of the FOCUS program. "The spouse left behind is suddenly thrust into the role of being a single parent; routines are interrupted, the children may not understand where their mom or dad has gone, and the service member on the front lines is constantly worried about how their family is doing back home."
Given that about 40 percent of U.S. service members are parents, a large number of military families are at risk and stand to benefit from what FOCUS can offer — targeted coping skills that are designed to be preventive.
The FOCUS program provides both parents and children customized training that will address the impact of wartime deployment on families, and helps them learn very specific communication and problem-solving skills to address these challenges. In addition, FOCUS trainers will provide outreach to groups within military communities to raise awareness about the kinds of pressures families face and to let them know help is available to cope with deployment.
"We build resiliency," Lester said. "It's a three-pronged approach to restore a psychological balance to the family, promote future resiliency and increase knowledge and understanding among the military family culture."
Families meet with counselors in multiple sessions. Some of the sessions are with parents alone, some with the children alone and the rest are family sessions. Each session focuses on helping each family member identify and share their concerns and fears about a spouse or parent being deployed to a war zone. In separate sessions with parents and children, FOCUS trainers teach family members skills to help manage their emotions, solve problems within the family, set goals and communicate with one another.
One session, for example, might include working with children and adolescents to develop their ability to describe their feelings about being separated during a deployment and then sharing these feelings with their parents. Skills are developed and practiced in the context of the family's own experiences — that is, the specific problems family members may be having with one another. That, according to Lester, is central to addressing potential misunderstandings between parents, and between parents and children.
"If there are five family members, there's a good chance that there are five different stories of what that most recent deployment experience was like," Lester said. "Family members often don't want to 'burden' each other with their personal problems, but in these exceptional circumstances of long-term separations, building a shared family narrative can be very helpful in reestablishing a close family identity and building its strength."
According to Cpt. Robert L. Koffman, a combat and operational stress control consultant and director of psychological health for the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, "For married service members, one of the best ways leadership can enhance psychological resilience is to ensure the family unit remains, strong, healthy and intact."
FOCUS was developed, through collaboration with the military, by a team from UCLA and Harvard University Medical School to meet the needs of military children and families.
The team is led by the UCLA Center for Community Health, which specializes in the development, evaluation and dissemination of prevention and treatment interventions for children and families, and by the UCLA–Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, a unique collaboration of academic and community-based service centers nationwide whose mission is to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families across the United States.
– UCLA News
What is the FOCUS Project?
The FOCUS Project…
…provides resiliency training for military families facing the challenges of a family member’s deployment during wartime.
Multiple deployments affect both the service member and the family as routines and roles are disrupted. Children may experience stress related to a parent’s role in the Global War on Terror and the impact of Combat Operational Stress on family life.
FOCUS uses family training techniques to highlight areas of strength and resilience in the family and promote family growth to help address current challenges.
FOCUS provides structured activities to bridge gaps in shared family understanding that may follow stressful experiences and separations.
In both group and individual family service settings, family members are taught skills to improve emotional regulation, problem solving, goal setting and communication.
Project Goals
Assist family members to address deployment stress and reminders to minimize their interference with parenting and family life.
Enhance family communication and support by developing a shared family narrative about the deployment experiences.
Provide individual and community level consultations, workshops, and skill-building groups designed to support family resiliency.
FOCUS Project
The growing awareness of the significant challenges of wartime deployments on military child and family well-being has prompted a new initiative funded by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Department of the Navy. Addressing concerns related to parental combat operational stress injuries and combat-related physical injuries, state-of-the-art family resiliency services will be provided to military children and families. FOCUS was developed by the UCLA Center for Community Health and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress and is provided at Camp Lejeune in collaboration with the the Center for Child & Family Health and Duke University.
The team at Camp Lejeune consists of Duke University Medical Center staff under the direction of the Center for Child & Family Health. The FOCUS Project is led by the UCLA Center for Community Health, which specializes in the development, evaluation and dissemination of prevention and treatment interventions for children and families, and by the UCLA–Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, a unique collaboration of academic and community-based service centers nationwide whose mission is to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and their families across the United States.
Staff Biographies
Patricia Seagraves, PhD : Dr. Seagraves serves as Site Director for the FOCUS project (Families OverComing Under Stress) based at MCB Camp Lejeune. She is a licensed psychologist with a specialization in health psychology, receiving her Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Georgia State University (GSU). Dr. Seagraves also earned a Masters degree in special education from Columbia University and an Educational Specialist degree in behavior disorders from GSU. She worked for 11 years as a career services teacher, assisting special education students with the transition from school to work. Dr. Seagraves has provided clinical services to adults, adolescents, and children from diverse cultures ranging from rural Appalachia to the inner city. She has worked with traumatized youth in detention centers, group homes, an inpatient setting, and community counseling centers. Her work with individuals, families and groups emphasizes cognitive behavioral approaches to stress management, problem solving with at-risk adolescents, creating coherent narratives in the wake of adversity, in addition to personal empowerment and growth during life transitions.
Jessica Moore-Tyson, MA: Ms. Moore-Tyson is a Resiliency Trainer for the FOCUS Project at MCB Camp Lejeune. Ms. Moore-Tyson received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Master of Arts in Professional Mental Health Counseling from Webster University. Ms. Moore-Tyson’s work experience includes working as a Parent Educator for Parents as Teachers ‘Heroes at Home’ program providing early education services to military families aboard Camp Lejeune. Ms. Moore-Tyson has also worked as a Residential Treatment Center therapist, specializing in work with military children. Ms. Moore-Tyson serves as a Volunteer Victim Advocate for the Counseling Center at Camp Lejeune. Ms. Moore-Tyson has received specialized trainings in ‘Working with Returning Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their Families’, ‘Duty to Care: Supporting Young Children Through Challenging Times’, and ‘Armed Services Child Maltreatment Conference’. Ms. Moore-Tyson is the daughter of a retired marine and spouse of an active duty marine.
Davinity Jones, BS: Ms. Jones serves as the Administrative Coordinator for the FOCUS project (Families OverComing Under Stress) based at MCB Camp Lejeune. Ms. Jones received her Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from the University of Colorado. Following graduation, her work took her first to Iceland and then back to Colorado, where she became a legal assistant focusing on divorce cases involving children. As a Key Volunteer in 2002, Ms. Jones received a Certificate of Commendation for her work at the Marine Corps duty station at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. In 2005, she became an active volunteer with American Red Cross and the Key Volunteer Network at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twenty-Nine Palms, California where she received the Clara Barton Award, a Level II Leadership Award, and a second Certificate of Commendation. She has participated in numerous Marine Corps Community Services trainings including the Spouses Learning Series, L.I.N.K.S., Key Volunteer and Key Volunteer Coordinator. Ms. Jones has spoken at various briefs that promote family readiness and community involvement.
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