Life Guard: Bringing New Life to the Guard

1. Life Guard: Bringing New Life to the Guard J. Vincent Roca, PhD, CAVHS Mary Sue Farmer, PhD candidate, SCMIRECC

2. The Team • Life Guard is a partnership among CAVHS, Arkansas National Guard, and SCMIRECC. • psychology pre-doctoral interns: James Mazzone, Tim Streitwieser, & Bridget Tribout

3. A Brief History November 2005- Returning Veterans Outreach, Education, and Care (RVOEC) RFP is submitted March 2006 - RVOEC RFP funding approved March 29, 2006 - Relationship between CAVHS & Arkansas National Guard’s Family Readiness Group established. June 2006 - RVOEC staff is hired June 5, 2006 - Life Guard workshop is presented to Adjunct General Morrow. June 24, 2006 - 1st ‘Life Guard workshop: Community’ is presented at Malvern community center. Sept. 12, 2006 - Life Guard workshop is presented to Adjunct General Chastain. He requests that Life Guard workshops be conducted at armories. Nov. 4, 2006 - 1st ‘Life Guard workshop: Armory’ is presented at Sheridan armory. Dec. 12, 2006 - SCMIRECC hosts meeting to discuss outreach to community clergy. April 2, 2007 - 1st ‘Life Guard workshop: 1st-Line Responders’ is presented at church in Searcy. May 8, 2007 - Life Guard workshop is presented to Adjunct General Wofford.

4. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change • Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999 • Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life: The New Acceptance & Commitment Therapy • Hayes & Smith, 2005 • http://www.contextualpsychology.org/

5. Psychological Flexibility ACTQuestion (6) at this time, in this situation? (2) are you willing to have that stuff, fully and without defense (5) of your chosen values If the answer is “yes,” that is what builds... (4) AND do what takes you in the direction (3) as it is, and not as what it says it is, (1) Given a distinction between you and the stuff you are struggling with and trying to change diagram borrowed from http://www.contextualpsychology.org

6. Target Audiences Families • Arkansas National Guard’s Family Readiness Group Soldiers • Entire Team 1st-Line Responders • SCMIRECC

7. Presentation • What it is • Interactive • Role Playing Skits • Stories • Metaphors/analogies • Group Exercises • Volunteers • What it isn’t • Passive • Lecture • PowerPoint

8. Workshop Objectives • Participants know how to apply self-help skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, in their own lives. • Participants can usemetaphors, exercises, and demonstrations as memory aids. • Participants can use metaphors, exercises, and demonstrations as useful ways to introduce skills to others. • Participants recognize when to introduce skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, to peers about whom they are concerned. • Participants can teach skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, to peers about whom they are concerned.

9. Awareness • Notice that thoughts, feelings, and memories (TFM) are experiences we have, not actions we do. • We are NOT responsible for the TFM we have. • Notice that TFM are not the same as observations. • “Sticks & stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me!” • Notice that the person having TFM is not the same as what the TFM say about the person. • TFM cannot tell you who you are

10. Willingness • People have a basic choice in how they respond to their TFM: • Push/Pull • Must be avoided • Have to keep • Acceptance • Nonjudgmental • No preference

11. Valued Living • Here again, people have a basic choice. • We can make our lives be about: • The outcome • What is felt, thought, remembered • What we get or what we lose • Destination • The process • Quality of action • Direction

12. Centering • Bringing all 6 ACT steps together. • Skills all people can use across a wide range of life circumstances.

13. Workshop Objectives • Participants know how to apply self-help skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, in their own lives. • Participants can usemetaphors, exercises, and demonstrations as memory aids. • Participants can use metaphors, exercises, and demonstrations as useful ways to introduce skills to others. • Participants recognize when to introduce skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, to peers about whom they are concerned. • Participants can teach skills, Awareness, Willingness, and Valued Living, to peers about whom they are concerned.

14. Objectives • PLEASE INDICATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH YOU ACCOMPLISHED EACH WORKSHOP OBJECTIVE LISTED BELOW:

15. Selected Questions • Workshop objectives were relevant to my personal life. • I fully accomplished the workshop’s purpose/objectives. • The teaching strategies used in the workshop were appropriate. • Overall, the workshop was worthwhile. • I would recommend this workshop to a fellow veteran or to a veteran’s family members.

16. Selected Questions • Please rate each of the following:

17. “I would like to express my gratitude to you and your team for conducting the ‘Life Guard Training’ workshop on 03 MAR 2007 at the Clarksville armory. The presentation was professional, timely, and informative. One soldier in particular approached me after the event and stated the material was exactly what he needed. The soldier had recently, and unexpectedly, lost his wife leaving him to care for their three young children. The soldiers and families present all benefited from the interactive program. In my experience with other post-deployment lectures and briefings, none compare to the “Life Guard Training’s” ability to capture the attention of the soldier and relate on a level that is clear, concise, and understandable. I have endorsed this program to LTC Williams as well as other commanders. I truly believe this type of program is exactly what the soldiers of my company, and other, need. Thank you again for giving up a Saturday to present the workshop to my soldiers.”