CENTRAL TEXAS RED CROSS OFFERING FREE CLASS TO HELP MILITARY FAMILIES COPE WITH THE STRESS OF DEPLOYMENTS

AUSTIN– The Central Texas Chapter of the American Red Cross today announced the availability of a new course, Coping With Deployments: Psychological First Aid for MilitaryFamilies. The course, offered free of charge, is open only to military family members of active duty, Reserve, and National Guard forces, as well as veterans and their families.

 In Austin, the course is being held at the Central Texas Chapter, 2218 Pershing Drive, on Monday, March 29^th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Red Cross developed the course to address the stress and strain of deployments on military family members to include spouses, children, parents, siblings and significant others of service members and veterans.  The course is taught by actively licensed Red Cross mental health professionals.  The Red Cross worked closely with subject matter experts from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, to include active duty, National Guard and Reserve commands, in development of the final curriculum.

“The Red Cross has been providing support to military members, veterans and their families for more than 100 years,” said Elaine Acker, CEO of the American Red Cross of Central Texas. “While rooted in proud traditions, the Red Cross continuously evolves over time to keep pace with the changing needs of the people it serves. As Red Crossers we are proud to be able to offer our support to the men and women who serve in the US military, their family members and veterans.”

The course provides significant information on resiliency strategies for adults and children. Resiliency is the process of how one quickly recovers from adversity or change.  The course also explains steps involved in psychological first aid.

To attend this course or to find out how to schedule a course for a military family group, contact Melissa Payne by phone at 512. 929.1294 or by email at: mpayne@centex.redcross.org.