Posts
VCU Social Work Asst. Prof. Rotabi helps military couples strengthen their relationships
posted by skadmin on Arguments over money, disagreements about child-rearing or changes in personal priorities can challenge even the most committed relationships. Add combat stress, extended separations, social isolation and physical injuries into the mix and it's easy to see why veterans, their spouses and their families are more likely to face relationship trouble.
In response to a soaring divorce rate among military couples, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Karen Smith Rotabi created "Mission Healthy Relationships." The program is based on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's marriage enrichment program, which helps couples cope with the challenges of the chronic, often disabling disease.
"When they were organizing their own program for couples living with MS, I helped out by facilitating during some of their weekend events. And during one session as I was standing in front of the group, it occurred to me that some of this curriculum is really perfect for veterans," Rotabi said.
Rotabi added to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's curriculum, creating a new program she calls "Mission Healthy relationships." The program aims to improve relationships by teaching new communication and conflict resolution skills to military couples.
"Well, of course, we needed to make it more real to the deployment cycle veterans and their families face and some of the expectations that spouses and families have as the veteran returns home," Rotabi said.
In June, Rotabi tested the curriculum in a pilot program, which incorporated lectures, videos and breakout sessions that allowed veterans and their spouses to practice the new skills they'd learned.
To facilitate the weekend retreat, she teamed up with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia to support veterans suffering from stress-related issues or traumatic brain injuries.
"And they've been a fantastic partner because they were able to pull together people into the weekend format with their community outreach strategies here in the Richmond area," Rotabi said.
The weekend retreat attracted 12 military couples. The format allowed older couples with more experience in the military, to mentor younger ones.
"Some of the couples had more experience in dealing with multiple Arguments over money, disagreements about child-rearing or changes in personal priorities can challenge even the most committed relationships. Add combat stress, extended separations, social isolation and physical injuries into the mix and it's easy to see why veterans, their spouses and their families are more likely to face relationship trouble.
In response to a soaring divorce rate among military couples, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Karen Smith Rotabi created "Mission Healthy Relationships." The program is based on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's marriage enrichment program, which helps couples cope with the challenges of the chronic, often disabling disease.
"When they were organizing their own program for couples living with MS, I helped out by facilitating during some of their weekend events. And during one session as I was standing in front of the group, it occurred to me that some of this curriculum is really perfect for veterans," Rotabi said.
Rotabi added to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's curriculum, creating a new program she calls "Mission Healthy relationships." The program aims to improve relationships by teaching new communication and conflict resolution skills to military couples.
"Well, of course, we needed to make it more real to the deployment cycle veterans and their families face and some of the expectations that spouses and families have as the veteran returns home," Rotabi said.
In June, Rotabi tested the curriculum in a pilot program, which incorporated lectures, videos and breakout sessions that allowed veterans and their spouses to practice the new skills they'd learned.
To facilitate the weekend retreat, she teamed up with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia to support veterans suffering from stress-related issues or traumatic brain injuries.
"And they've been a fantastic partner because they were able to pull together people into the weekend format with their community outreach strategies here in the Richmond area," Rotabi said.
The weekend retreat attracted 12 military couples. The format allowed older couples with more experience in the military, to mentor younger ones.
"Some of the couples had more experience in dealing with multiple deployments and they were able to share their experiences with other couples who had less experience in the military," Rotabi said. "And we had Vietnam vets mentoring to the younger, what they call 'new generation' of vets. So it was a very interesting experience."
Rotabi said some of the couples were hesitant or skeptical at the start of the program but all reported satisfaction with the content by the end of the weekend.
"I had one couple come up to me and they said we weren't sure we wanted to stay the first night, but we did and now we can tell you that this was a blessing for our marriage," Rotabi said. "I had another couple say that this was the first time in five years that they been alone with each other without the kids."
Rotabi said she's developing an evaluation component to the program, which will help to determine how many of the participants have made positive changes. She's also working with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program to offer "Mission Healthy Relationships" retreats in other parts of the state.
"That's something we really need to think about because there are so many veterans living all across Virginia," Rotabi said. "They may be in a very rural place because they were members of the guard and they aren't anywhere near our installations, such as in Norfolk. And so how do we connect with them? That's a real challenging outreach model and it's one that we really need to think about."deployments and they were able to share their experiences with other couples who had less experience in the military," Rotabi said. "And we had Vietnam vets mentoring to the younger, what they call 'new generation' of vets. So it was a very interesting experience."
Rotabi said some of the couples were hesitant or skeptical at the start of the program but all reported satisfaction with the content by the end of the weekend.
"I had one couple come up to me and they said we weren't sure we wanted to stay the first night, but we did and now we can tell you that this was a blessing for our marriage," Rotabi said. "I had another couple say that this was the first time in five years that they been alone with each other without the kids."
Rotabi said she's developing an evaluation component to the program, which will help to determine how many of the participants have made positive changes. She's also working with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program to offer "Mission Healthy Relationships" retreats in other parts of the state.
"That's something we really need to think about because there are so many veterans living all across Virginia," Rotabi said. "They may be in a very rural place because they were members of the guard and they aren't anywhere near our installations, such as in Norfolk. And so how do we connect with them? That's a real challenging outreach model and it's one that we really need to think about."
Learn more about Virginia Veterans
In response to a soaring divorce rate among military couples, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Karen Smith Rotabi created "Mission Healthy Relationships." The program is based on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's marriage enrichment program, which helps couples cope with the challenges of the chronic, often disabling disease.
"When they were organizing their own program for couples living with MS, I helped out by facilitating during some of their weekend events. And during one session as I was standing in front of the group, it occurred to me that some of this curriculum is really perfect for veterans," Rotabi said.
Rotabi added to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's curriculum, creating a new program she calls "Mission Healthy relationships." The program aims to improve relationships by teaching new communication and conflict resolution skills to military couples.
"Well, of course, we needed to make it more real to the deployment cycle veterans and their families face and some of the expectations that spouses and families have as the veteran returns home," Rotabi said.
In June, Rotabi tested the curriculum in a pilot program, which incorporated lectures, videos and breakout sessions that allowed veterans and their spouses to practice the new skills they'd learned.
To facilitate the weekend retreat, she teamed up with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia to support veterans suffering from stress-related issues or traumatic brain injuries.
"And they've been a fantastic partner because they were able to pull together people into the weekend format with their community outreach strategies here in the Richmond area," Rotabi said.
The weekend retreat attracted 12 military couples. The format allowed older couples with more experience in the military, to mentor younger ones.
"Some of the couples had more experience in dealing with multiple Arguments over money, disagreements about child-rearing or changes in personal priorities can challenge even the most committed relationships. Add combat stress, extended separations, social isolation and physical injuries into the mix and it's easy to see why veterans, their spouses and their families are more likely to face relationship trouble.
In response to a soaring divorce rate among military couples, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work Assistant Professor Karen Smith Rotabi created "Mission Healthy Relationships." The program is based on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's marriage enrichment program, which helps couples cope with the challenges of the chronic, often disabling disease.
"When they were organizing their own program for couples living with MS, I helped out by facilitating during some of their weekend events. And during one session as I was standing in front of the group, it occurred to me that some of this curriculum is really perfect for veterans," Rotabi said.
Rotabi added to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's curriculum, creating a new program she calls "Mission Healthy relationships." The program aims to improve relationships by teaching new communication and conflict resolution skills to military couples.
"Well, of course, we needed to make it more real to the deployment cycle veterans and their families face and some of the expectations that spouses and families have as the veteran returns home," Rotabi said.
In June, Rotabi tested the curriculum in a pilot program, which incorporated lectures, videos and breakout sessions that allowed veterans and their spouses to practice the new skills they'd learned.
To facilitate the weekend retreat, she teamed up with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia to support veterans suffering from stress-related issues or traumatic brain injuries.
"And they've been a fantastic partner because they were able to pull together people into the weekend format with their community outreach strategies here in the Richmond area," Rotabi said.
The weekend retreat attracted 12 military couples. The format allowed older couples with more experience in the military, to mentor younger ones.
"Some of the couples had more experience in dealing with multiple deployments and they were able to share their experiences with other couples who had less experience in the military," Rotabi said. "And we had Vietnam vets mentoring to the younger, what they call 'new generation' of vets. So it was a very interesting experience."
Rotabi said some of the couples were hesitant or skeptical at the start of the program but all reported satisfaction with the content by the end of the weekend.
"I had one couple come up to me and they said we weren't sure we wanted to stay the first night, but we did and now we can tell you that this was a blessing for our marriage," Rotabi said. "I had another couple say that this was the first time in five years that they been alone with each other without the kids."
Rotabi said she's developing an evaluation component to the program, which will help to determine how many of the participants have made positive changes. She's also working with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program to offer "Mission Healthy Relationships" retreats in other parts of the state.
"That's something we really need to think about because there are so many veterans living all across Virginia," Rotabi said. "They may be in a very rural place because they were members of the guard and they aren't anywhere near our installations, such as in Norfolk. And so how do we connect with them? That's a real challenging outreach model and it's one that we really need to think about."deployments and they were able to share their experiences with other couples who had less experience in the military," Rotabi said. "And we had Vietnam vets mentoring to the younger, what they call 'new generation' of vets. So it was a very interesting experience."
Rotabi said some of the couples were hesitant or skeptical at the start of the program but all reported satisfaction with the content by the end of the weekend.
"I had one couple come up to me and they said we weren't sure we wanted to stay the first night, but we did and now we can tell you that this was a blessing for our marriage," Rotabi said. "I had another couple say that this was the first time in five years that they been alone with each other without the kids."
Rotabi said she's developing an evaluation component to the program, which will help to determine how many of the participants have made positive changes. She's also working with the Virginia Wounded Warrior Program to offer "Mission Healthy Relationships" retreats in other parts of the state.
"That's something we really need to think about because there are so many veterans living all across Virginia," Rotabi said. "They may be in a very rural place because they were members of the guard and they aren't anywhere near our installations, such as in Norfolk. And so how do we connect with them? That's a real challenging outreach model and it's one that we really need to think about."
Learn more about Virginia Veterans
No comments:
Post a Comment