Washington DC – At the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting in Washington, retired and associate director of the study of Traumatic stress Col. Steve Cozza talked about the mental health of army kids.
According to the mental health and education experts, army kids have higher risks for mental disorders, but they are also incredibly resilient. Dr. Paula K. Raunch, director of a program with the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital said that the parents and their teachers at school are most likely to recognize the problem. This is because they are the ones who interact with the kids frequently and they are those who provide urgent care for the children.
During a Family Forum Presentation at the United States Army Annual Meeting, Raunch stated that the ‘parents are the experts on their own kids’. This is because they know their kids better than anyone else and they can identity easily if the kids are displaying abnormal behavior. She also said that something that would look simple can actually be traumatic for some kids so they might have to be taken to urgent care clinics. The parents should not expect that their children would act the same way they would in similar situations. They may not even realize that their kids need help until it is too late, Raunch said.
According to a recent study made, teenage children of military men have higher suicidal thoughts than other kids of their age with parents not employed as armies. Raunch said that there is a shortage of mental health services nationwide and there are only few urgent care clinic options making the problem of providing mental health care for army kids a huge problem.
Commander of Dunham Health Clinic in Pennsylvania Col. Rebecca Porter said that telebehavioral health has become more accessible which in part balances the shortage of mental health services for children. She added that the Army’s Surgeon General is adding family and child behavioral health services to its line of services over the next few years.
While kids of soldiers face greater challenges and stressors because of their different lifestyle compared to other children, no one should be looking at them as victims, retired Col. Steve Cozza stated. They should not be taken right away to an urgent care near me in case they show abnormal behaviors. He added that the military lifestyle of the kids is actually not something to put them down because it provides them a lot of advantages.
Soldiers found the resiliency training of the program as something very helpful and they’re requested for the same program for the army kids working with them to help enhance their skills and learn more enhancement skills.
