"No matter if this is your first, third or seventh time, deployment is an intense and unusual part of our lives. I urge you to spend time with this great resource, and take care of yourself."
- Kathy Roth-Douquet,
Chair, Blue Star Families
“Itʼs the best product Iʼve seen so far and I would like to put it in the hands of family readiness groups and each family”
- Jason Wieman, LTC MIL USA
MEDCOM Battalion Commander
----OUT OF STOCK----
Contact ThisEmotionalLife@vulcan.com to learn when more toolkits will be available.
The team behind the award-winning PBS series, This Emotional Life, in partnership with the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) developed this FREE handbook to help you – the family friends and support network of our countryʼs service members – understand what to expect from deployment, build the skills to strengthen or repair your relationships, and gain the tools to keep your family and personal community strong throughout the duration of your separation.
The handbook & accompanying film will help you:
- Be aware of the stressors and feelings you may encounter throughout deployment
- Develop skills to become more resilient despite these stressors and feelings
- Identify outside resources that may be useful to you, your family, and your friends throughout deployment
Take a sneak peak at the handbook here.
Additional Content That May Interest You
- Homecoming: Finding The Way Home From Trauma and War
On Oct 13, 2010 the 33rd Chilean miner emerged from the mine that had entrapped him and his co-workers for 2 months into the arms of family, friends, the Chilean president, the nation and a billion viewers worldwide. Publicly it was a homecoming that the world wanted to embrace as proof of resiliency and success in the face of death defying challenge.
TOPICS:
Relationships, PTSD - The Power of Community
Where do I begin to describe the power of community? In the eight years since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have waged, a community-based movement to ensure that this generation of warriors and their families receive the support they so deserve has resonated, changing the way we care for those who have served. Some of these groups have started from the ground up: a group of therapists wants to donate pro bono services, a mother, mourning the loss of her son Jacob sends care packages in his memory.
TOPICS:
PTSD - What "The Hurt Locker" Got Right
Much to the confusion of those who have not experienced combat--- parents and spouses, siblings and friends-- many young people say that ‘going to war’ was one of the best things that ever happened to them. Several of my friends from the Vietnam era attribute maturing and gaining purpose in their lives to serving in the military. Others find a new family and sense of belonging during the trials of combat.
TOPICS:
PTSD - Why Soldiers Drink
Soldiers drink alcohol.
They have for thousands of years - to celebrate, to forget, to fortify themselves for the next day's battle. In the Iliad, Homer recounted feasts and games flowing with wine and spirits. Indeed, for most young people, whether in or out of uniform, alcohol is a drug of choice. So it should be no surprise that some men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past eight years come home and use alcohol, marijuana, and any other drug that they can get their hands on. What is surprising is what we do about it.
TOPICS:
PTSD
News & Press Releases
WTOP Radio: Film to help families of deployed warriors
This Emotional LIfe honored at Voice Awards ceremony for contribution to mental health understanding
You and your company or organization can help get this resource to military families.
Contact This Emotional Life for more information.
“This handbook meets a great need, especially for the parents of young men and women in military service for whom there is little support currently available”
- Michael E. Kilpatrick, M.D
Interim Director of DCoE
“Your handbook and DVD are really great and this will help our young warriors who are fighting for our right to be free”
- Gy/Sgt Marvin Bush, USMC (Ret)
This Emotional Life is a co-production of the NOVA/WGBH Science Unit and Vulcan Productions, Inc. A Film by Kunhardt McGee Productions. ©/™ 2009 WGBH Educational Foundation and Vulcan Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This Web site was produced for PBS Online by elephants & ants.
Funding for This Emotional Life is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Public Television Viewers. Additional funding provided by the University of Phoenix and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
