Fatherhood Channel

Four of South Florida’s leading nonprofits with a long track record of service to Veterans were awarded $1 million by the Veterans Administration last week to implement “Operation Sacred Trust.” The initiative aims to provide a model of community collaboration, innovative services, and access to affordable housing to end homelessness among Veteran families.

Military families are learning skills to strengthen family resilience before, during and after deployment. Marriage education and relationship skills exercises help children confide by teaching parents to be better listeners.

A groundbreaking effort to convene many of the best minds on the subject of the intimate relationships of National Guard service members and their families focused on the importance of relationship and marriage education in identifying and effectively dealing with the stress of multiple deployments for the “citizen Soldier.”

The Veterans Administration’s $50 million Supportive Services for Veterans Families (SSVF) grant aims at funding innovative approaches and replicable best practices to alleviate and prevent homelessness among very low-income veterans. While nearly 131,000 veterans are today homeless on any given night, new strategies offer hope for the future.

Members of the National Guard and Reserve who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan face some of the greatest challenges reconnecting with loved ones after they return home. A recent meeting in Tampa sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and National Healthy Marriage Resource Center reviewed current research and the urgent need for expanded services.

A veteran Navy chaplain confided the surge of emotions and thoughts experienced as his helicopter landed amidst fierce enemy fire. “My thoughts immediately turned to loved ones far away. Had I told them everything that needed to be said? Had I let them know how much they meant to me? Were we complete with each other?” At a PAIRS Retreat, hundreds of deploying soldiers and spouses talk about death and loss as they learn to more fully embrace life and each other.

As the annual SmartMarriages conference begins in Orlando, a Psychology Today article takes aim at proponents of marriage education for focusing on selling classes instead of research. Ensuring marriage education programs have a proven track record of positive impact is vital to gaining trust and broader acceptance from the public and professionals.

In testimony to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee for Income Security and Family Support, PAIRS President Seth Eisenberg expressed gratitude to the Administration and Congress for seeking new opportunities to strengthen America’s most vulnerable families and communities through a proposed $500 million Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund. He urged legislators to consider the impact of the proposed Fund on nonprofit organizations delivering relationship and marriage education classes and ensure continued support for preventative approaches to reducing the cycle of marital and family breakdown.

Marriage education programs are becoming increasingly important to helping returning veterans strengthen family life after combat deployment. Veterans Administration and Pentagon officials are encouraging efforts to expand evidence-based programs nationwide. A training next month in San Diego will prepare Chaplains and behavioral health specialists from more than a dozen states to lead retreats for veteran couples throughout the country.

A study reveals children from military families impacted by deployment are experiencing above-average levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties. New programs are teaching couples to understand emotions, confide, deepen empathy, strengthen attachment and bonding as the foundation for helping children and preserving marriages.

With California facing a continued fiscal emergency and budget cuts reducing vital services to children, immigrants, prisoners, schools and others, two of the nation’s leading marriage education proponents are teaming up to strengthen families and neighborhoods.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reports substantial mental health and adjustment difficulties among servicemen and women returning from combat deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. This week, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for leadership from America’s foundations and philanthropists, saying time is of the essence.

For soldiers returning from combat deployment to the combination of job and family stress while holding on to the attitude that human beings can be engineered like tanks, it’s no surprise that many are feeling hopeless, helpless, and discouraged from reaching out for support that could save their lives, families and marriages. Innovative educational approaches through VA Medical Centers that promote bonding, emotional understanding and expression, and deepen communication are addressing causes and symptoms of PTSD, strengthening marriages before and after deployment, and reducing factors that can lead to suicide.