Operation: Resilience

Operation: Resilience
A proposal for an open-ended peer group for 12-13 year old females who are children of
military families
Maureen Boiros and Amanda Bruneau
Bridgewater State University

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I. Title: Operation: Resilience

II. Type of Group:
Supporting students that come from families with active military parents or guardians.
This is an open-ended group and is voluntary. It is homogeneous in the respect they are from
similar family situations and are a similar age group. The group will consist of female students,
aged 12-13, who are from military families. If the group is facilitated in an area where there are
few military families the group may become mixed gender in order to have sufficient
participation. Individuals can experience a great deal of relief in finding that they are not totally
unique in their experiences and concerns, and embrace the universality of those feelings (Yalom
& Leszcz, 2005). The group would allow students to find universality and grow psychologically
and emotionally from their experiences related to their parents military responsibilities.
III. Rationale:
Children who have experienced separation from parents that have military responsibilities
and the resulting impact on the family. These children would benefit from interacting with other
students who are experiencing similar experiences and challenges. When a military parent must
leave the family for deployment or a parent returned from redeployment, the family is impacted
in many ways. There are many stresses and strains military children experience. There may be
financial and environmental changes: more responsibilities may fall on the child such as work or
childcare responsibilities of younger siblings, taking on adult issues without the maturity level to
process the situation, loss of a parent during deployment, injury to a parent during deployment
and fear of losing a parent. Studies have found that a parents deployment can more greatly
impact girls than boys and manifest in problems with education and with friends (Jaycox,

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Tanielian, Burns, Ruder $ Han, 2010). As group leaders, we value the service of the military
family while the service person is deployed and the potential impact that the deployment may
have on the military child.
IV. Goals and Objectives:
The goal of the group is to provide members with the opportunity to grow stronger
cognitively and emotionally from their experiences and help them navigate through life's
challenges. To develop a sense community by feeling supported and provide support to the other
group members. To foster their resiliency through developing skills and strengths from their
experiences.
V. Basic Information:
Selection and screening for members of the group will be done through local
pediatricians, health clinics, mental health clinics and through school counselors. Children will
be selected from military families recommended by health care and mental health care providers
who are familiar with them. The group will be comprised of females, age 12-13 years, who are a
member of a military family. The childs parent(s) or guardian(s) are engaged in active military
deployment (have orders for deployment, are deployed, or who have returned home from
deployment. The group will remain homogeneous (only females) unless there are few military
families in the geographical area. Then, if appropriate, boys and girls will attend the same
meeting. The group is not designed to treat clients in an acute situational crisis and may not be
good candidates for the group (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005). In addition, clients with severe brain
damage, addiction problems or severe mental illness would be excluded from the group because
they would not be able to participate in the primary task of the group (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005).

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The group meeting will be held in a neutral location in the community that is easily and
safely accessible for this age group. A non-military and non-religious affiliated location such as
the public library or a teen center would be suitable. There would be one meeting per week that
will last for 45 minutes. The group will be comprised of between 5-10 girls at any time. This will
be an open group for members to join at any time. It is necessary to provide this flexibility due to
the transient living arrangements of some military families during times of deployment.
VI. Basic Group Rules:
Confidentiality and privacy are essential rules that must be understood by all members.
Each person must be assured that the facilitators will maintain absolute confidentiality unless the
safety of a person or another person is at risk. The importance of confidentiality will be
explained when a person begins the group and will be reinforced frequently. Members must
understand that the facilitators cannot control the other members adherence to privacy promises
but they will strive to reinforce the importance of maintaining privacy for the group. Out of
respect for others, members should arrive on time and call if they are unable to attend. The group
may decide what valid reasons would be to miss a meeting. There will be no tolerance of
substance use by the members before arrival at the meeting. While a member is speaking, others
must refrain from cross-talk and interruptions. There will be no derogatory talk directed toward
another group member.
VII. Possible topics:
Topics that may be interesting and pertinent in the lives of girls from military families
can be as diverse as the individuals themselves. Culturally, families may be very different so the
girls concerns and challenges may manifest in different ways. But, universally, these 12-13 year

Operation: Resilience

old girls may have an interest in topics about responsibility of their age group and the interest
and need to still experience some of the facets of childhood. They may be experiencing worry
about the deployed parent and about the parent who has become the head of household and a
single parent. Coping skills can be explored with sharing about how the members cope with their
challenges and some education and practice in new or more effective coping styles. They may be
experiencing sadness/anger with the loss of the parents presence while deployed or the loss of
the parents abilities if they return home with injuries/disabilities. The group could share their
individual experiences growing up in a military family and learn from others how they have been
able to adjust. Learning about their uniqueness and their strengths as children of the U.S. military
could assist with the group cohesiveness as well as the individuals self-esteem.
Therapeutic Activities:
1. Opening Activity: Group Juggle: The purpose of this activity is learn names, in addition to get
the members up and moving. The goal is to break the ice and to engage the members
immediately.
2.) American Flag: Questions and activities to create an American Flag puzzle. Each member
will pull a question out of a cup and the group will collaboratively answer the question or
complete the activities as a group. The goal is to learn more about each member in a fun way
and create cohesiveness within the group. The questions that will be asked are below:
1. What are your favorite music group and your favorite song they sing?
2. Favorite place you have lived?
3. Adjective about you that starts with the same letter of your name?

Operation: Resilience

4. How many siblings do you have and what are their ages?
5. 5 lines poem about whatever
6. Say the alphabet backwards
7. Name something you know about the military
8. Name a way you like to have fun
9. Every member carries an egg on a spoon around the circle and passes it to the next person;
everyone has a chance to go
10. Pass balloon back and forth to each other just using their heads for one minute.
11. 2 truths and a lie about yourself
12. How many stars and stripes on the flag and what do they stand for?
VII. Best Practices:
Planning: Maureen Boiros and Amanda Bruneau are counselors specializing in working
with military families to foster their resiliency as the vast challenges of active military family
members. We developed this group to create a community experience for young people to gain
insight from their military experiences and to learn from one another. Confidentiality and
privacy is honored in the group with the exception of hearing a member is a danger to himself or
others. The code of conduct among members is to hold all information in confidentiality and to
respect the guidelines the members have created. The purpose and goals of the group are to help
facilitate a sense of community among military families and foster resiliency.
Performing: The co-facilitators are aware of the specific needs of their populations and
have sought continuing education for those specific needs. As the group progresses we need to
remain flexible with our approach and the process needs to remain malleable according to the
changing needs of the group. Assisting members with finding meaning in the group and
developing individual goals to work towards. It is our job as facilitators to ensure members are
working towards their goals and are mindful of any diversity within the group.

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Processing: Maureen Boiros and Amanda Bruneau will assess the groups progress after
each meeting to ensure the group continues to work towards the goals of each member.
Supervision will be conducted once a month by Amanda and Maureen's supervisor to evaluate
the groups progress and determine if there are any addition techniques or interventions that can
be implemented to help with the development of the group. Processing will occur within each
session of group and will be important to reference throughout the life of the group. The results
of processing will help with future program planning for facilitators .
VIII. Special Considerations:
This particular group is held at the school where Amanda and Maureen work as full time
counselors. All the members of the group will have availability to work with Amanda or
Maureen for individual therapy and consultation if students desire addition support. Outside
services may be used as additional resources and a referral will be made if the need of the
member is outside of Amanda and Maureen's qualifications.
The resources below are available for students at all times:
1. School Liaison Officers
2. Child and Youth and School Services
3. Family Assistance Programs and Centers
4. Family Advisory Programs
In addition, organizations such as Sesame Workshop, Zero to Three, the Military Child
Education Coalition, and Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors are resources students can
use to for additional support (Chandra, Lara-Cinisomo, Jaycox, Tanielian, Burns, Ruder, & Han,
2010).

Operation: Resilience

References

Chandra, A., Lara-Cinisomo, S., Jaycox, L. H., Tanielian, T., Burns, R. M., Ruder, T., & Han, B.
(2010, January 1). Children on the homefront: The experience of children from military families.
Pediatrics, 125(1), 16-25. doi:10.1542/peds.2099-1180

Characteristics of young adolescents. (n.d.). In

www.etsd.org/ems/endorsement/characteristics.htm. Retrieved July 16, 2013

Deployment: Your children and separation. (2013). In www.military.com. Retrieved July 16, 2013

Jaycox, L. H., Tanielian, T., Burns, R. M., Ruder, T., & Han, B. (2009, December 7). Military
children face more emotional challenges as parental deployments grow longer. In
www.sciencedaily.com. Retrieved July 16, 2013

Shern, D. L. (n.d.). Healping children cope with loss resulting from war or terrorism. In
www.mentalhealthamerica.net/reunions/InfoWarChildLoss.cfm. Retrieved July 16, 2013

Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.,
pp. 6-8). New York, NY: Basic Books.

Operation: Resilience